History

Beginning in 2005, a small group of Catholic Men in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul met periodically to discuss their faith and how to draw closer to Jesus Christ in daily life.
In 2009, the small group of men met with Bishop Lee Piché to discuss how to participate in the  we began Man Night events in 2010. approached Bishop in 2009 to help be part of the New Evangelization with a focus on men. The first “official” Catholic ManNight was held with a group of 25 men to discuss why so many men were not active in their Catholic faith.  What came out of the discussion were several conclusions:

• For many Catholic men, Jesus is abstract and conceptual.  Jesus is not a close personal friend, but more of a distant acquaintance.  Many men have simply not really met Jesus due to poor catechesis.
• As a result, many men are Casual Catholics; they attend church infrequently or only attend because they feel pressured by family or their spouse.
• Jesus calls us into a personal relationship.  But one can not have a personal relationship with someone without detailed and personal knowledge of that person.
• To move from being a Casual Catholic to a Committed Catholic, we need to draw closer to Jesus; to Know, Love and Serve Jesus Christ starts with Knowing.
• If we get to know more about Jesus, we can’t help be impressed for Jesus is the only Son of God; True God and True Man.
• As Catholics, we know that we can actually really meet Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.  And with 2000 years of teaching, the Catholic Church is the source of true and trustworthy knowledge about Jesus Christ.

Under the guidance of Bishop Piché, the men developed a very focused purpose for ManNight.  It is:
The purpose of ManNight is to better know Jesus and imitate Him in our daily lives.
ManNight also has a very simple formula that works.  At each ManNight:

• We gather to meet Jesus in Adoration.
• A priest teaches us about Jesus
• We can receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation
• We share a man-food feast and have some fun
• We discuss how to better know and imitate Jesus in our daily lives.

During 2010, there were held 6 ManNights with four participating parishes (St. Anne/Hamel, St. Peter and Paul/Loretto, St. Thomas/Corcoran and Mary Queen of Peace/Rogers).  Each event is hosted by the parish priest and by a core of parish men.  Each event had a specific Jesus-focused topic that was presented by a guest priest or Bishop Piché.  There is a high level of enthusiasm and men are being moved by Christ through these events.
During 2011, ManNight has expanded to 6 parishes (original parishes and St. Michael Catholic Church and Delano Catholic Community) and events are being held monthly.  Hundreds of men have attended a ManNight event.