Pinoy Priest Cooking Show

“It looks like such a shtick: a priest cooking show! But I know the only way I can reach your hearts and minds is through your stomach.”

Fr. Leo Patalinghug

“But few Catholic priests are in the public eye in that way, and Patalinghug says it’s time to try something new to engage people and their faith. It is part of a movement among traditional Catholics who are pushing what Pope John Paul II called “the new evangelization,” an effort to use mass communication to draw people to the Church.”

When I read these lines from The Washington Post, I remember a fellow blogger named Brother Utoy, a self-confessed foodie himself, and his top-grossing post Mga Sure-Fire Tips para hindi Antukin sa Misa. If you haven’t read the post yet, go and read it and figure out where the late Pope’s vision and Utoy’s down-to-earth advises meet. For the meantime, let’s get back to the feature of this post. A Filipino priest born in the Philippines but grew up and educated in the US. His name is Fr. Leo Patalinghug, a very Cebuano-sounding family name. We have heard of singing priests, running priest, biking priest, blogging priests. But this priest is trying something different to advance the Kingdom (also Chefdom). How? What’s so special about him? Again, here are some quotes from The WP:

“Mass had been over only a few minutes and the Rev. Leo Patalinghug had already traded his green and gold robe for an apron, his priest’s collar poking out over the top. He was chopping onions with the speed and flair of a celebrity chef –which he is.

Sort of.

The unusual cooking demonstration occurred on a recent afternoon at a Catholic bookstore in downtown Washington. About two dozen people took their lunch hour to see the compact, smiley 39-year-old show how to make penne alla vodka, with dramatic flames of burning liquor and a dose of spiritual encouragement delivered in a snappy, chatty manner.

“This is my favorite sound!” Patalinghug proclaimed as he popped raw onions into a pan of hot oil. “That, or ‘Go in peace and serve the Lord.’”

For a fuller taste of his ministry and chefdom, you may want to visit his site Grace Before Meals. Thanks to The Deacon’s Bench blogsite for this heads-up.

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Photo credit: trypnotic