Recently, Saint Mary Magdalen Catholic Church started serving coffee after Mass. This is not a new idea but new to building community among Catholics. Each Sunday after 9:30 a.m. Mass a coffee bar is set up in the portico outside the church or in the lower level of the church in colder weather. The idea is to build community beyond Mass… and who doesn’t like a nice cup of coffee.
Saint Mary Magdalen has partnered with Switch Coffee Collective, a company that connects talented men from under-resourced communities and provides them with work opportunities. They also purchased their coffee bar from Anew Nature, another St. Louis based business that provides jobs to formerly incarcerated men.
Working with these two businesses in the St. Louis area not only provides Saint Mary Magdalen with a way to build community after Mass but also a way to give people a chance to reestablish themselves in society. Supporting others while building a community of faith is a mandate of any and every church.
Parishioners young and old are very excited about the new coffee bar. While in the past folks might have just headed for their cars after Mass, now people are gathering, meeting new people and sharing stories.
