About us
Welcome to Men of Christ Long Island! We are located in East Northport, New York and we host our men's group meetings and conferences at Saint Anthony's of Padua Church. We welcome all men to join us sometime to see what we're all about. Our group meets every Tuesday night at 7:00pm est., specifically the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month. If any questions, we welcome you to email us or message us through our website.
More about us:
Men of Christ is a men’s group whose purpose is to provide an environment where a man can talk to other men about his faith. Where else in the world can this take place?
Our focus is on fellowship with like-minded men, which has often led to friendships. To learn more about our Catholic faith and provide a safe space to talk about it in small groups of 6-8 men during our bi-monthly meetings. We welcome any man, any time. Whether you have just begun this journey or are comfortable evangelizing, we are all striving to become the best versions of ourselves as husbands, fathers, grandfathers, sons and friends.
We have created an agenda for our meetings to assist in this effort. Our meetings, which are held twice a month, typically have between 25 to 35 men in attendance. They are held in the lower church alcove (basement) of St. Anthony of Padua church, East Northport. The schedule for our upcoming meetings can be found below. No cost to attend, but goodwill offering to cover the costs of coffee and desserts are accepted.
Here is the format for our 90-minute meetings. After 15 minutes of fellowship, we start with an opening prayer, personal intensions and if applicable, announcements. We then watch and learn from the 15 to 20 minute video that typically is from presentations from Catholic leaders. such as are Bishop Barron, Father Mike Schmitz or Matthew Kelly.
We encourage discussions that are positive, informative and uplifting for all attendees. We strive to create a meeting environment that is comfortable for any man who wants to learn more about their faith and develop friendships with like-minded men.
Come and see if this is the answer to permit you to learn more about your faith and learn how to get closer to the God, who loves you, and created you on purpose, for a purpose! You do not have to be an active member of St. Anthony' to attend, many members come from other parishes on Long Island. You don't even have to be a Catholic - all are welcome!
How we started:
In 2013, one of our local priests named Father Frank Grieco, was re-assigned to another parish, where he became their pastor. He shared that since he was the only priest on that staff, he was looking for fellowship with other Catholic men. So he reached out about 15 former St. Anthony's parishioners and asked us if we were interested in joining a men's group that would meet with him monthly at his new parish. After a number of months, his scheduling did not permit us to meet with him any longer. Thanks to the fellowship that he initiated with this group, about half of those men agreed to meet monthly on their own, to help them on their journey to becoming better men of faith. We did so by meeting at each other's homes, typically on a monthly basis.
Before the pandemic, the 9 of us began plans to attempt to share the incredible "secrets" that we learned about becoming men of Jesus Christ with other Catholic men in our parish. But due to the pandemic, this effort was delayed till September 2021. Thanks to the support of our pastor, Father Ed Sheridan, we began our meetings to help us in our spiritual journey as well as our fellowship with other men in St. Anthony's of Padua parish. As well as to any other man who would like to join us from a neighboring parish on their journey to answer questions about their faith and life!
What are you seeking? Are you aware of the plan that God, who created you, has for your life? Do you want to become a better husband, father and friend to others? Do you know what your purpose in life is?
These are some of the many questions that our journey has answered for the nine of us. Our only desire in creating this new men's group, which we have named Men of Christ, is to bring what we have learned to other men in our area.
Our journey has permitted us to discover many wonderful video resources that we use for our meetings.
The original 9 members are Andrew Lopes, Anthony Gengenbach, Bill Becker, Charlie Butera, Craig Lukas, Jim McCann, John Tiburzi, Peter McDermott and Rick Mazur. We list them here to encourage you to reach out to any of us if there is anything that may be stopping you from joining us for a meeting. One of our 9 founding members reached his life's goal by joining Jesus in heaven in May 2022. We have a tribute to Peter McDermott on our home page. And we have also created "Peter's corners", when we break into small groups for discussion, as part of our regular bi-monthly meetings.
We believe this is what Jesus is asking us to do at this time. We welcome you to come and see if this makes sense for you! If you need to speak to someone about our meetings before coming to one, please feel free to text Jim McCann at 631-553-5161 to schedule a call.