by Peter Tormey

A person walks into a bar and sees a priest preparing to lead a group in prayer. Did our fellow mistakenly open the wrong door? No, this is Jack & Dan's all right, the legendary watering hole known to all Gonzaga University alumni, a stone's throw from the Spokane campus.

There he was, Fr. Rick Ganz, SJ, director of Gonzaga's university ministry, leading 55 students in prayer as the prelude to Theology on Tap.

This particular evening marked the school year's last Theology on Tap before students scattered for summer. Worrying about final exams and beginning to miss their friends, the otherwise happy crew started arriving at 6 P.M. and ordered dinner as they mixed and mingled. Some ordered beer, but most were content sipping on water or soft drinks. After all, the program is less about the beer and more about the Spirit, the Spirit of God dwelling in each of them. The program is specifically for undergrads over 21 and graduate and law students.

On this night, as the room swelled with students and Ganz was about to begin his opening prayer, he was informed of the death earlier that day of Clemy Stockton, wife of Jack (then co-owner of Jack & Dan's) and mother of former NBA star John Stockton, one of Gonzaga's most famous alums, perhaps second only to Bing Crosby. A hush fell over the room as Ganz led the students in prayer for the Stockton family and for Clemy, a kind-hearted person.

Half an hour

"What's the difference between a sermon and a homily?" Ganz asked the students, transitioning from prayer to presentation. "About half an hour," he quipped to squeals of delight from students before launching into a captivating talk about the life of St. Athanasius, a fourth-century bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. A saint, Ganz told the students, "is merely a name the Catholic Church uses to recognize a genuinely successful human being." Athanasius, one of the greatest early teachers about Christ as both divine and human, wrote a famous work on the mystery of the incarnation, still a classic for theology students.

He also wrote the first Christian biography, the life of St. Anthony of the Desert, an inspiration for generations of people, including St. Augustine, to pursue a life of holiness.

"To write a biography," Ganz said, "the author must decide what lies at the core of the subject's motivation. What Athanasius noticed and loved about St. Anthony was his unrelenting commitment to be continuously in growth, never stuck, and willing to endure the human transformations that continuous growth entails."

Embracing transformation is not easy, Ganz told the roomful of students.

"Athanasius taught that Christians are spiritual athletes, 'athletes of God,' who train daily in the discipline of good habits, undeterred by the demands of a continuous growth in holiness. Athanasius also taught that our efforts to be holy are eventually broken by God, so that we can finally receive holiness as an unmerited gift from Christ," Ganz said.

"Athanasius understood that the point of a spiritual path is to have your humanity transformed by Christ, to become Godlike, to become transformed into a likeness of Christ himself," Ganz continued. "The spiritual life means falling in love in a comprehensive way with God, whose love burning in you breaks all of your connections to things unworthy of God and of your loving relationship to others that this relationship with Christ includes."

Simplicity itself

The idea behind Theology on Tap is straightforward: gather young people in comfortable, nontraditional surroundings and let the Spirit flow. The speakers have usually been Jesuits, but Gonzaga religious studies faculty members Sr. Mary Garvin, SNJM, and Prof. Patrick McCormick have led discussions as well.

Michelle Nilsen, a senior, said she loves the program because of its focus on relevant, significant spiritual matters that matter a great deal to many students.

"It's important because it draws on the experiences and wisdom of so many different people," Nilsen said. "I go because I appreciate the opportunity to meet new people, get to know my friends better, and have conversations I might never have had if not for the speaker-all in a setting that feels comfortable and real."

"Those who may consider the coincidence of pub and deep conversation somehow questionable might find it useful to ponder why the U.S. bishops, a couple of years ago, designated the Theology on Tap programs in the country the most promising and effective means of making contact with young adults," Ganz said.

"I founded this program at Gonzaga as a way of staying in touch with the upperclassmen and graduate students," said Ganz. "I chose that pub because it is a popular place for students to congregate. In typical Jesuit fashion, we went to where the students were in order to find Christ already finding those students, loving them as they are, where they are."

Ganz also pointed out that one of the most telling examples of Christ's humility and extraordinary love was his consistent habit of going "where he was not supposed to go" to meet God's children, to eat and drink with them on their own turf, for the purpose of opening them up to God's light. "I also founded this program as a way for students to meet Jesuits in a casual, open, and convivial environment, to meet them 'with their hair down,' as persons walking the Great Way just as the students are," Ganz continued. "The Jesuits are there for students, inviting them to explore with them any questions they have about faith, spirituality, or theology."

One key to fanning students' flames of interest in matters of the Spirit is supporting them in asking questions that truly matter, and then for those students to listen to what a Jesuit priest, and other students, have to say about the topic, Ganz said. Gonzaga alumna Sarah Sharp, who runs the program with Ganz, has attended every Theology on Tap conversation Gonzaga has sponsored the past two years. She said the program helps Gonzaga reach students who may not be interested in traditional retreats and liturgy but who are keenly interested in their spirituality and want to talk with Jesuits and their peers about it.

Beer? Religion? Together? As iconoclastic as Theology on Tap may seem, it's simply a way of "going in through their door and coming out yours," a very Ignatian precept.

"Theology on Tap provides a safe environment where students can ask questions they have never really understood about Catholicism or Christianity, and they can engage in dialogue about the topic that the speaker initiates," said Sharp. She thinks that the best T-on-Ts are those in which leaders talks less than students.

"One example of this would be last spring when Fr. Ganz did one about the Holy Spirit," she said. "Within minutes, students and some Gonzaga staff who stopped in that night shared stories about when the Holy Spirit had worked in their lives and how they knew it was the Holy Spirit. They shared how they felt God had spoken to them, among other things. The conversation quickly deepened and the room was deeply connected by college students openly and honestly sharing with other college students."

Another magic moment occurred in fall 2005 when Fr. Pat Lee, SJ, Gonzaga's vice president for mission, led a session on discernment, encouraging students to find their hearts' desires and become people the world needs most, Sharp shared.

"That evening, most of the conversations were done within the tables and Fr. Lee simply asked questions, taking the students a step further with each new question," Sharp said. Fr. Brad Reynolds, SJ, led a similarly powerful T-on-T this past spring, focusing on how to pray with photographs.

"He began by discussing how we, in the Church, have historically prayed with images called icons. He then showed a powerful photograph he had *shot, teaching students how to pray with them. Fr. Reynolds ended his presentation that evening with a moving slideshow of his Native friends in remote Alaska," Sharp said. "This evening was particularly memorable because it highlighted how Theology on Tap asks the Jesuit speakers to talk about what they are natural and comfortable talking about."

Gonzaga is blessed with so much talent and wisdom with its Jesuits, and, sometimes, the school community forgets that and fails to utilize the Jesuits in the best ways, Sharp said. "Theology on Tap not only allows the Jesuits to talk about their passions, such as photography for Fr. Reynolds, but most important, it allows students and Jesuits to get to know each other and gets students to talk about those things they've always wondered about in a safe, comfortable, and fun environment," Sharp said.

Tyler Orizotti, from Butte, Montana, a senior this fall, called Theology on Tap a great way for students to connect with each other and with Jesuits.

"I love being in the relaxed environment of Jack & Dan's while some amazingly influential Jesuit explores a topic such as discernment, forgiveness, reconciliation, and the like," Orizotti said. "Each speaker knows exactly how to directly connect the topic with our lives as students exactly where we are. Theology on Tap allows any and all students, faculty, and staff to experience the beauty and greatness of Jesuit spirituality and community."

Orizotti's favorite facet of the program is the access it provides "to the minds and ideas of such great, experienced, and wise thinkers." He calls the experience "relaxed, enriched, open, and fun!"

A person walks out of a bar feeling transformed. Though he had not even a sip of beer, his face is glowing from the Spirit.

Peter Tormey, associate director of public relations at Gonzaga University in Spokane, will graduate in May with a PhD in leadership studies from Gonzaga.