St. Joseph of the Lakes

I just read an article by Ines San Martin in Crux magazine talking about a Leesburg, Virginia couple that has been leading the Trinity House Community, “a non-profit inspiring families to make their home a taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture,” according to its website. To do this they opened their house into a cafe that serves breakfast and lunch to anyone who chooses to visit them. Their goal is about leading with beauty, so that others can eventually experience “truth and goodness”.

The founder, Soren Johnson, says: “I think that new evangelization is to begin with reconversion of our own hearts in our own homes, because as Pope John Paul liked to say, the future of humanity passes by way of the family.” Soren and his wife Ever feel called to let others know that following Christ in daily family life is not only possible but beautiful, and an experience of the faith in its fullness.

Trinity House Café evangelizes people from the moment they walk in and find beauty both in the décor and the products on offer, as well as through an experience of welcoming hospitality. “We tell our baristas that their job is to create an encounter with the Holy Spirit when they are preparing a coffee, and to welcome people in a way that they sense that God loves them,” Ever said. “The faith is not in-your-face in the café, but it is available if you want to go deeper, with Catholic gifts, books, and art that speak to our faith, the inspiration for the place,” Soren said. “It’s like you’re stepping into a beautiful Christian living room.”

“Some of the joys of this ministry at Trinity House Café is that we are open to the public six days a week, over 20,000 guests per year, and you don’t know who’s coming in next,” Soren said. “And so for us, it’s all about that welcoming presence and offering a lot of prayers to the Holy Spirit.” Part of the reason they opened the café, Ever said, was to serve people with love and not worry about having an argument with anyone, because “it isn’t really about ideas, but about helping people feel the love of God.” (Ines San Martin, Crux, June 21 2022).

Too often when we think of evangelizing we immediately turn to “churchy” things, both in the buildings as well as the programs. In doing so we are usually evangelizing the already evangelized and we miss the whole point of the call to communicate the Good News of Jesus to the rest of the world. I found this couple’s approach to living the faith as both enlightening and challenging. Ever and Soren Johnson are showing in their unique answer to the call of evangelization there are other creative responses that the faithful are capable of.