The Deacon's Table

The Deacon’s Table at The Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is an adult Sunday School Class led by Deacon Tom and Brenda McConnell that (in non-coronavirus times) meets each Sunday between Masses in the Varallo Parish Hall from 10:15-11:15am.

Please come join us to FEAST UPON SPRITUALITY at the Deacon’s Table.  Pull up a 3-legged stool and join us to learn and discuss essential elements of Spirituality: 

• an active and spontaneous prayer life,
• a personal relationship with Christ, and
• a comfortable enthusiasm with Holy Scripture. 

The purpose of The Deacon’s Table is to equip members for discipleship.  We study apologetics, Sacred Scripture, Catholic doctrine and catechism, and general topics of current applicability and interest.  You will experience prominent Catholic personalities, scholars, and presenters in varying modes such as DVD, YouTube, guest speakers, and other video/audio media.

Ours is an excellent forum to socialize and meet other parishioners, to forge lasting friendships and mentorships.  Let the “Deacon’s Table” become your extended family.  We have socials quarterly and, in the summer, include a Kids’ Table meeting separately but at the same time as the Adult Table.

For more information, please speak with Dcn. Tom or contact us through the parish office. You may also join The Deacon's Table discussion group on the myParish app.
Contact Us

While the coronavirus measures are in place at the church, we are not able to meet between the morning Masses. However, The Deacon’s Table is now having a virtual meeting most every Sunday at 5pm.  (See our Events calendar below.) If you are not already signed up with Dcn. Tom McConnell, please contact him to receive the notifications.
 

July 25 meeting and updates

Last Sunday we covered the last four of Matthew Kelly’s “Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality”.  Matthew Kelly is a noted Australian author and inspiring speaker who challenged our Catholic Spirituality with his seven pillars:  Confession, Contemplation, Mass, Bible, Fasting, Spiritual Reading, and Rosary.  We also welcomed 2 of Jack Silberman’s invited guests:  Pat Benson from St. Stephen and Reid Hughes from outside Nashville who was an Evangelical Southern Baptist Pastor for 28 years. 

We return to Sunday in-person meetings of the Deacon’s Table on 12 September when PRE starts.  We will be meeting between morning masses 10:15-11:15.  I will be asking for volunteer teams to set up since Brenda and I will not be able to do so on Sundays that we serve the 9am English mass and we are no longer “spring chickens” and need help with the tables and partitions .

 
So, that brings us to the final series of the Virtual Deacon’s Table 5-6pm the Sundays between now and 12 September.  Brenda and I will be out of town on 1 August and 5 September, so that leaves 5 Sundays for our last virtual series (25 July and 8, 15, 22, 29 August).  I had thought we’d be able to get through a Dr. Brant Pitre series on “Jesus and the End Times” but that series is too long for 5 Sundays, so we’ll save that for our in-person meetings.  I’ve chosen, instead, a series called “Common Ground” which shows what Catholics and Protestants can learn from each other.  It features Fr. John Riccardo of St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church and Pastor Steve Andrews of Kensington Community Church.  Both large churches are in Troy, Michigan, just north of Detroit.  We will be able to comfortably get through this 1 hour and 48 minute DVD containing 27 short chapters.

 We’ll start “Common Ground” this coming Sunday at 5pm..

God bless….Deacon Tom

WebEx Meeting Invitation:

Deacon Tom McConnell on behalf of James Eckhardt invites you to join subject WebEx meeting.

Meeting number (access code): 126 678 8833
Meeting password: B5Nnxh2cJ9V (25669422 from phones and video systems)

4:55 pm  |  (UTC-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)  |  1 hr 30 mins

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