Catholic coffee gets a bold upgrade: parish café meets the need for community and caffeine 

Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the greatest composers of sacred Christian music, famously said, “Without my morning coffee I’m just like a dried-up piece of roast goat.”

Much has changed in the three centuries since Bach’s caffeine-boosted genius flowered, but his affection for the hot drink continues to be shared by multitudes of coffee-loving moderns, Catholics included, of course.

You can certainly count the parishioners of St. Patrick’s Parish in Maple Ridge among java’s loyal fans. In fact, they’ve built their own coffee shop in a section of their parish office.

Wittily named “Holy Grounds Coffee House,” the café first opened in 2019, then closed during the pandemic, and re-opened Sept. 11 of this year. It blends a traditional Catholic appreciation for the communal nature of faith with the modern sensibilities of a coffee shop, to create a space that organically grows parish life.

Julia Hanley, the parish’s Discipleship Formation Coordinator, led the Holy Grounds project. “The intention behind the space is very much so about relationships, about inspiring in Catholics this idea that church is not just an hour on Sunday,” she told The B.C. Catholic.

St. Patrick’s pastor, Father Matthew To, said the idea for the café may have first come to him after returning from a study trip to Italy. “I … came back and thought ‘this is terrible coffee--why do Catholics have terrible coffee?’” he said.

In fact, there was more to it than that. Father To said he felt the parish needed a space to welcome people who may not feel comfortable in the church building itself.

For example, he said that, when meeting parents who desired to have their baby baptized, he found, “the first engagement is often very painful. [They] are often not married or haven’t practiced [their faith] in a while.”

He realized, “The way we approach things, from bad coffee to all these ideas about what is a ‘ Catholic person,’ [are] not welcoming.” Catholics are inclined to tell people to “behave, believe, then belong,” Father To said, but this is backwards. In reality, “people want to belong first ... You belong, you believe, and then you behave.”

Every aspect of the coffee shop was designed to foster a sense of belonging—from the creation of a beautiful space that would orient patrons towards community, to the desire to make sure that Holy Grounds sold fair-trade “Catholic” coffee (roasted by a Catholic company in Florida). Coffee is by donation, with suggested pricing under the front counter.

Holy Grounds can be serene and contemplative—a good place to get work done or to have a quiet chat with a friend. Other times, the coffee shop is awash in small children and the sounds of laughter and conversation.

 As such, the coffee shop has become the meeting place for a variety of parish groups, from Bible studies and small groups, to RCIA and the ever-lively chaos of the Moms and Tots group that meets Tuesday mornings.

“People come in, all generations, and over coffee it’s always pleasant,” parish volunteer Mike Hamaliuk said. “Stories always come up. I believe that it’s a great way to open the community in a different way.”

Volunteers built most of the shop. Father To says he learned to take a hands-off approach to the project and found letting people do what they do best led to “serendipitous” results. The Holy Spirit was always working. “As a priest, I have been amazed!”

Volunteers operate Holy Grounds on Tuesdays; office staff will make coffee for any visitor who drops by on other days.

While fostering connections remains a key goal, Holy Grounds is also part of the parish plan to build discipleship and help every person encounter and follow Jesus, Hanley explained. “Parishes are the outposts for evangelization,” she said, adding she believes that an authentic community develops when space is made for people to encounter one another and grow with Christ.

“Archbishop Miller, when he heard about Holy Grounds, asked me: ‘What are you going to do to make sure that it evangelizes?’” She said, “nothing, other than forming missionary disciples.”

Groups that want to use the space don’t have to sign up for time slots and anyone can drop in when the shop is open. This decision was intentional, and helped turn the coffee shop into what Kristine Loc, an organizer with the Moms and Tots group, calls “the modern well.”

“It’s kind of like the well … for us,” Loc said. “You get your needs fixed. You get your coffee and your tea, and you chat.”

The Mom and Tots group was grateful for a space where they did not have to constantly watch over their children like they might at a park. Similarly, Margaret Zochowski said her Polish women’s group was happy to meet in the shop instead of outside their homes, where cleaning and preparation added stress to their gatherings.

It all comes down to building a Christian community. “Father Matthew is a ... a community guy,” Hamaliuk observed. “He wants a community-minded parish.”