History
It all started over in 2005 when four Catholic men from distance parishes decided to meet very early in the morning at Panera Bread in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturdays so not to be away from the family too long when they awoke. Santos Hernandez, a human resources executive, John Hutchins, a chief financial officer, Dave Ridilla, a management information system executive, and Tim McHenry, a Physical Therapist, felt a need to meet to pray, share, and deepen their Catholic faith. Through one-on-one personal invitation, the group has steadily grown where today nearly 20 men show up each Saturday morning and follow a faith fellowship format and includes a Catholic Men’s workbook, Signposts – How to be a Catholic Man in the World Today, published by the Word Among us Press. Today, the group of men numbers approximately 50 active men that organizes and sponsors events such as our annual Catholic Men’s Retreat at Bishop Connare Center, our quarterly Catholic Men’s Speaker Series at different parishes, along with our weekly Catholic Men’s morning meetings. Our growth has been steadily increasing with membership representing 10 surrounding parish communities. Some men come as far as Uniontown, Murrysville, and Indiana. Our growth continues and has sparked new small fellowship Catholic’s men groups in the surrounding parishes such as Greensburg, North Huntingdon, Harrison City and Delmont. Through our encouragement, we expect other parishes to form Catholic men’s fellowship groups. As this ministry grows one thing that is of utmost importance is that we function under the discernment and authority of ecclesial authorities of our Bishop.
We are affiliated with the National Fellowship of Catholic Men (NFCM), which is formed to help all Catholic men groups to grow in their spiritual lives, their marriages and families, their jobs, and every aspect of their lives. NFCM believes this will occur through the ongoing support of other deeply committed Christian men, and so they encourage us to become partners.