Finding faith in the bottom of a glass

More than 100 young people seeking answers crowded into Metro 53, a bar on Manhattan's East Side, one night in January to hear the Rev. Richard Gill answer questions about faith.

A red hue bathed the watering hole, cast from 4-inch portal lights along the ceiling. The cash registers jingled. Patrons relished the half-price drinks.

As Gill moved from person to person, shaking hands and answering questions, papal scholar George Weigel stood in the back, in the shadows, and lectured about Catholicism’s future in Europe and America.

“A bar is just the perfect setting for this,” said Mark Welsh, who lives in Queens and works for the federal government. “We’ve got beer, we’ve got faith--we’ve got everything we need.”

It’s all part of Theology on Tap, a program run by the Archdiocese of Chicago that sends priests and religious scholars into bars and taverns. There, they lead discussions on faith and answer frank questions from men and women in their 20s and 30s about Catholicism, morality in America and the uncertainty of their own futures.

And it’s growing across America at a time when the Roman Catholic Church is seeking an increased presence from its youngsters.

On most nights, Metro 53 caters to the single, after-work crowd. The venue throws its doors open to Theology on Tap on the first and last Mondays of each month.

Welsh said that he sees new faces at Metro 53 all the time.

“Most of the same people are here,” he said. “But the youth in this city are so transient that you’re always seeing new faces coming in and getting involved.”

Turnout at Metro 53 has grown from about 75 people to as many as 150 in the five months since Gill moved to New York from Washington, where Theology on Tap programs regularly draw more than 350 participants.

“A lot has to do with this place, New York City,” Gill said about the rise in participation at Metro 53, New York City's sole Theology on Tap venue. “It can be a cold place. A lot of people feel lost here.”

According to program coordinators, Theology on Tap is active in 65 communities ranging from major cities to rural municipalities. This summer, about 70 people packed Steve’s Restaurant in Waterville, Maine, a small town of roughly 17,000, to talk with Bishop Richard Malone of the Archdiocese of Portland.

Malone cited the literature of Flannery O’Connor and James Joyce and the theories of Sigmund Freud in addressing the modern problems of the Catholic Church. The discussions touched on such issues as women in the priesthood, the principles of celibacy and the sex-abuse scandals that rocked the church.

Kate DeVries works for the Archdiocese of Chicago as associate direcctor of the Young Adult Ministry Office. She has been involved with Theology on Tap for 19 years and coordinates the program across the country. Cities seeking to start an official Theology on Tap program must contact DeVries and adhere to the model provided by her office.

Participation has been the strongest in the Midwest, DeVries said. In the Chicago area, events are held simultaneously at 50 locations at least once a month. The average attendance of the coordinated events, roughly 3,000 people, dwarfs the turnout in other major cities, she said.

Catholicism is the largest religious denomination in America, with 65 million people having been baptized by the church. But other religious groups are growing more rapidly, and some feel that programs like Theology on Tap can help spread Catholicism.

Between 1990 and 2001, the number of Catholics in America increased by 11 percent, while the number of Muslims increased by 109 percent, the number of Buddhists by 170 percent, and the number of Hindus by 237 percent, according to the American Religious Identity Survey, a study carried out by professors at the Graduate Center at City University of New York.

James Hill, a New York City resident, began attending Theology on Tap events in Washington after he graduated from college. He knows that finding a way to become involved in the church can be difficult for young adults.

“It's a double-edged sword," Hill said. "Parishes don't cater to college kids, but lots of times college kids don't go to church. I think we need to see more parishes just for young people."

Theology on Tap aims to fill that role. “Parishes across the country are generally geared toward the established,” DeVries said. “We had a young man who once said that the church was for people with roots. When we asked him what that meant, he said, ‘For people with a mortgage and a kid.’”

The goal, DeVries said, “is never to lose anyone.”

Gill sees a reason for hope in the fact that more people are packing Metro 53 and other bars across the country to talk about religion.

“Theology on Tap provides a place to talk,” Gill said. “People don’t have to huddle in old church basements to talk about issues of faith anymore.

“Here is where the people are,” he added, with a quick laugh. “Here is where the sinners are.”

E-mail: grb2104@columbia.edu