Fr. Leo Patalinghug is a break dancing, black belt fighting, gourmet cooking priest (is it me or did that sound like a B movie) Fr. Leo Patalinghug of Grace Before Meals.
Born in the Philippines and raised in the Baltimore area, Fr. Leo actually developed his love for cooking while attending the seminary at the North American College in Rome.
He was ordained in 1999 and served as a parish priest for five years at St. John’s Church in Westminster, Maryland. He was often invited to his parishioners’ homes for dinner. To their surprise, he would turn the table and cook for them, using these opportunities to build friendships and engage in relaxed conversations in the kitchen. Those memorable and unstructured times spent making a meal together provided the inspiration for Fr. Leo’s first book, Grace Before Meals: Recipes for Family Life.
Currently, he is a member of the faculty at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary where he directs the Pastoral Field Education Program for future priests.
Fr. Leo E. Patalinghug and the Grace Before Meals movement has been featured on the front page of the Washington Post, Fox and Friends, ABC News, Denver Post, Martha Stewart Radio, CBS Morning Show as well as Food Network’s hit show, Throw Down with Bobby Flay, where Fr. Leo defeated world renown chef, Bobby Flay, in a steak fajita cooking competition.
Greg Willits
Greg Willits is a media creator, radio host, podcaster, Catholic New Media trailblazer, co-author of The Catholics Next Door: Adventures in Imperfect Living and author of The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid (Servant, 2013). He is the founder of New Evangelizers and the former Chief Operations Officer of the Star Quest Production Network and spends his time between tech development and Catholic Media Leadership and Productions. Greg currently serves the Archdiocese of Denver as Director of Evangelization and Family Life Ministries. He and his wife, Jennifer, have been married since 1995 and have four boys and a daughter.
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