August 28, 2024 // Diocese

Theology on Tap Series Teaches Importance of Storytelling

Paula Lent

“How would you go from sitting here right now to two weeks from now being able to sit down at a bar … next to somebody, start up a conversation, and you say to them, ‘What’s your story?’ And then they turn back to you and say, ‘Well, what’s your story?’ What would you say? How would you share your story that involves grace, that involves Jesus?”

---

Click here for more photos from the event.

---

This was a challenge put to the young adult audience by Craig Gould, who spoke in mid-August at the penultimate evening of South Bend’s summer Theology on Tap series.

The series’ theme was “Stories that Connect Us,” a theme the young adult planning team landed on after the Holy Spirit gave them the phrase “storytelling” as they were discerning the series in early spring.

“This series was very much led by the Holy Spirit, who had the topic, and then the speakers fell into place,” said Jocelyn Alcala, the Associate Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and leader of the Theology on Tap planning team.

In crafting the series, they hoped to help young adults connect more deeply with God and one another.

Throughout the five weeks, which concluded on Tuesday, August 20, the storytelling topics included the Story of Salvation, Seeing God through Stories, the Power of Stories, Stories of Grace, and Telling Your Story.

Carolyn Pirtle spoke during the third week of the series. As the creator of “Behold God’s Love: A Eucharistic Musical,” Pirtle explained how her knowledge of Scripture – gained through a lifetime of encounter – helped her to craft the musical. Her talk beckoned listeners to consider how wonderful it would be if they were so fluent in Scripture that they could quote it as easily as movie quotes, and if Scripture was the lens through which they saw the events of their lives — seeing all within the context of God’s love. Participants left with a musical program so they could access McGrath’s Prayer Enrichment Guide in order to enter into different forms of prayer and engage with Scripture in new ways. They were also encouraged to find places to study and discuss Scripture with others. 

The following week, Gould, the Program Director of Notre Dame Vision, taught the basics of crafting witness talks.

Gould admitted that sharing witness talks is “honestly something that Catholics have never been super proficient in. … The other piece that we’re not super good at is … taking that story and connecting it to the story of Jesus.”

Speaking of the culture at large, he said: “In the culture in which we live, it’s our natural reaction for our stories to end with us. We’ve just kind of been trained that way, without knowing it. Like, tell our story and then let’s be the center of that story.”

“Pray for your story to lead to Jesus’ story,” he countered. “Pray and practice. … Pray for the right story to share. Pray for the right way to tell the story. Pray for those that are hearing the story.”

The series ended with a talk by Father Logan Parrish, Pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Elkhart.

In his opening prayer, Father Parrish quoted Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, saying: “We have grown used to love. And we no longer hear the tapping finger that knocks day and night at the gate of our soul; we no longer hear this question, this request to enter.”

His talk centered on cultivating an awareness of God’s daily presence. He discussed how to prayerfully examine events, regularly engaging in honest and vulnerable conversation with God, which can begin by simply asking: “Why?”

“What are you up to, Lord?” Father Parrish encouraged listeners to inquire. “Try and discover the purpose of the Lord in the context of an event.”

“There’s a path of grace, and then there’s a path of distraction,” he distinguished, explaining that if one isn’t seeking to understand what God is up to in a situation, then it becomes a distraction – not a memory of God. Conversely, if you create memories of grace, then you carry with them a living memory of God.

“Beg [God] for vulnerable friendships,” Father Parrish said. “It’s only [within] these vulnerable friendships that we can ask the question of why. We can turn every event into an experience of grace.’”

Karla Gonzalez, a postdoctoral student at Notre Dame, told Today’s Catholic that she found the series helpful.

“I liked that it gave very actionable tips and strategies for people to connect by sharing their stories,” she said. “I think young people need to know how to connect better, make friends that are people that actually know them. … I think it’s hard to dare to be vulnerable.”

She said enjoyed the discussion question prompts following the talks.

“The opportunity to practice a little bit of that afterwards in the discussion – I’ve seen it start to forge relationships that I think weren’t there before,” Gonzalez continued. “I think it can help to strengthen the social fabric in a time when we have an epidemic of loneliness among young people.”

Fellow attendee Michael Loesch agreed.

“I’ve gotten to meet more people than I expected I would and had lasting connections with those people,” he said. “I’ve been able to have actual deep conversations in the [discussions], but then they continue afterward.”

This was the first Theology on Tap series college student Jonathan Gish has attended.

“I will be going back for all the future ones, hopefully,” he said at its conclusion.

Gish said Gould’s talk particularly influenced him.

“Since then, I’ve been trying to use that practice in reaching out to other people about their story,” he said. “And it’s been giving so many insights to faith. It’s always great to share faith stories back and forth with other people, because it’s one of the greatest faith educations you can get outside of the classroom.”

Gish added: “The few strangers that I’ve [asked about their stories], it’s just been very insightful. … Some people you’d never guess their story based off of what you perceive of them just by looks,” Gish shared further. “And that’s been one of my personal crosses that it’s helping me overcome – not being so quick to judge people.”

“Everybody’s got a story that they need to tell, and it just might take somebody asking them to tell that story to get it out,” Gish added. “And it’s healing as well, sharing your story. Because a lot of people go through a lot of different things, and expressing that to other people helps them.”