By Geoffrey Stumpo
For Proclaim!
Before beginning this update on our young adult group, many thanks are owed.
Thanks be to God for creating the universe, and thank you, Jesus, for redeeming us by your sacrifice on the Cross. Thanks be to God for the gift of life and for every new day. Thank you, Lord, for calling us to this young adult ministry and the success You have brought us.
Thank you to all the young adults who have joined us and thank you to all who have spread the word of our group. Thank you to all the local Parishes, Priests, and secretaries for supporting us in your bulletins and announcements. Thank you to all who have supported us financially, and a special thank you to all who have supported us through prayers. We appreciate the support and couldn’t do it without you all.
It is our mission to draw young adult Catholics together into a community of faith and fellowship. Since March of 2023, our Greater Johnstown Area Young Catholic Adult Group has grown to over 130 members and counting. We meet the last Wednesday of every month for Theology on Tap and have begun meeting the second Friday and/or Saturday of every month for other events.
Attendance for our weekend events is typically 12-20 while our Theology on Tap attendance is usually 35 to over 50 young adults per event. We are also typically joined by 2-4 Priests from Roman and Byzantine Catholic Rites and sometimes Religious Sisters too.
We have attracted a diverse bunch of 18–39-year-old young adults from throughout the Cambria and Somerset County areas. We have drawn members from the Diocese of Greensburg and from far as Pittsburgh, Altoona, and even Cumberland, Maryland. Postulants and Priests from the Franciscan Third Order Regulars and Novices and Religious Sisters from the Servant Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are also regular attendees. Italian and other Seminarians from the Johnstown Neocatechumenal Way are also regularly in attendees.
Our ranks encompass Catholics at all points on their faith journey including cradle Catholics, reverts, lukewarm Catholics, and recent converts. Our group also includes many non-Catholics from Orthodox, Protestant, and other denominations who are Catholic-curious or are seeking to grow deeper in their relationship with Christ. Our group also includes recent converts from Atheism and Judaism, as well as at least one member who recently joined RCIA to become Catholic.
You will find in our group students from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Saint Francis University, Mount Aloysius College, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania as well as professors from various institutes of higher education. We include everyone from musicians to business owners, lawyers to medical professionals, engineers to high school teachers, security guards to food service workers, and everything in between. Some of us are dating, single, engaged, married both with and without kids, and others are discerning religious or dating vocations.
Theology on Tap is used under license from RENEW International. We meet the last Wednesday of every month at the Boulevard Grill in Johnstown at 6pm and include fellowship, buffet-style food, and a theological- or faith-based speech followed by a question and answer and then more social time. There is a cash bar, and we collect a freewill offering to cover the cost of the food buffet and speaker as well as seek sponsors to make up the deficits. Since many of our members are students or very early in their careers, we don’t want to demand a set cover charge from young adults who attend.
Speakers have included Father Brian Norris, Father Peter Crowe, Bishop Mark Bartchak, Father Curtis Kiddy, C.P., of the Passionist Retreat Center in Pittsburgh, Father Annanias Buccicone,O.S.B., Remil Teny of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, Mother Mary Joseph Calore, SSCJ, and Father John Szada, exorcist of the Diocese of Harrisburg, among others. Sponsors have included the Knights of Columbus and Saint Benedict, Saint John Gualbert, and Saint Patrick Parishes as well as individual donors.
Our second Friday and/or Saturday events have included Benediction & board games, Rosary & bonfires, an outdoor Mass and picnic, Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy, and a hike. We have also done service projects including helping with a pool tournament for our special needs young adult members as well as Christmas caroling at retirement homes.
Many members report the joy of finding a group of Catholic friends. Others confess the group has drawn them back after a crisis of faith. Some admit they are on a journey but are opening their eyes and finding a home. Others are growing in their already strong faith. Members have started new and expanded existing Bible studies. Overall, we are succeeding in our mission to draw young Catholics together in faith and fellowship. We also helped inspired young adults from Altoona to begin their own Theology on Tap.
Upcoming events include:
· Field trip on October 12th to Saint Anthony’s Chapel in Pittsburgh starting at 9am with Mass and then a tour of the Reliquary;
· Theology on Tap on October 30th at the Boulevard Grill at 6pm with Dan Waldow PhD, Theologian and Professor at Saint Francis University, speaking on Principles of Catholic Politics;
· Benediction and Board Games on November 8th at Saint John Gualbert starting at 6pm;
· Theology on Tap on November 20th at the Boulevard Grill at 6pm with Fr. Andriy Kelt, Pastor of Saint Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Patton and teacher at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School speaking on the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church;
· Benediction and Board Games on December13th at Saint John Gualbert starting at 6pm; and
· Theology on Tap on December 18th at the Boulevard Grill at 6pm with Deacon Rick Messina, Deacon at Saint John Gualbert Cathedral and Saint Patrick Parish, attorney, and father of five, speaking on Catholic Family Life and the Holy Family.
We are also planning a Christmas Caroling service project in December.
We have formed a leadership team of six young adult members, as well as Father Matthew Baum. We recently applied for a grant from the Independent Catholic Foundation and are planning to start a capital campaign.
We created an Eventbrite webpage, utilize the GroupMe app, and created a Facebook Page entitled “Altoona-Johnstown Young Adult Catholics” as a resource for young adults in the area. We post videos of our Theology on Tap presentations to our Facebook and will eventually create a YouTube page.
Moving into 2025 we are working on some great speakers and projects. We are working to schedule Brother Isaiah Klena of the Holy Face O. Carm, a Carmelite Brother and Seminarian currently located near Boston, Massachusetts; Bishop William Waltersheid, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh; and Mike Aquilina, a Catholic author and lecturer. We are also working with the Altoona Theology on Tap group to schedule joint events like a kickball game as well as a young adult day of reflection for Lent of 2025.
Our Johnstown Theology on Tap Group meets the last Wednesday of every month (one week earlier in November and December because of the holidays) at the Boulevard Grill in Johnstown at 6pm and second Friday and/or Saturday of every month for other events. The Altoona Theology on Tap meets the first Thursday of every month at Marzoni’s in Altoona at 6pm.
Our group is excited for the future and wants to thank everyone for their continued prayers and support. Please continue to pray for us and help us to spread the word! Also, please consider donating to our ministry. All young adults aged 18-39 from all faiths are welcome! For additional information or to donate please contact Geoffrey Stumpo at (814) 659-7415 or geoffstumpo@gmail.com.
Geoffrey Stumpo is a member of Saint John Gualbert Cathedral in Johnstown.
