Faith and Food: Catholic Priest Competes on ‘Worst Cooks in America’
Father Adam Young is among those who need help in the kitchen.
Food Network is often on in my house, and I like to find Catholic angles on food and enjoy celebrating food-related feast days (baking always beckons me upon St. Elizabeth of Hungary’s feast day every fall, for example).
In the last few weeks, I have been tuning in to see a Catholic priest compete on Worst Cooks in America.
It’s not the first time a priest has appeared on Food Network; but that other time the priest, Father Leo Patalinghug, beat Bobby Flay.
Now Flay is overseeing cooking boot camp for a gaggle of recruits deemed “worst cooks,” and Father Adam Young is among those who need help in the kitchen — and he is trying his best to learn from all of the cooking challenges. In fact, culinary adventures in the Greek realm aired Sunday night.
Father Young said he views being a contestant as positive PR, as he related to his local Catholic newspaper:
“The church needs good PR. When some people think of the Catholic Church in the last few months and recently, it’s an automatically negative idea, and we deserve it. But there are so many good priests, religious and laypeople out there. It was good that this could be a positive presence.”
If his Twitter feed is any indication, he is committed to being an ongoing positive presence — he posts moving images for Corpus Christi and stands up for the dignity of life (here and in plenty of other posts).
And he lives up to his “church_nerd2010” handle, as he celebrates his nine years of priesthood and his love for Church history and saints (such as a feast day shoutout to St. Polycarp and by planning St. Paul-inspired festivities).
This priest is committed to witnessing his faith — including through a cooking competition on cable TV.
“I was grateful to meet the other contestants,” he also told the Rhode Island Catholic. “We all got close, and many were Catholic, so I would offer Mass in the hotel. I got to have some nice spiritual conversations. Some of the other contestants had never met a Catholic priest before.”
Way to witness, Father Young!
I will keep tuning in on Sunday nights, seeking St. Martha’s intercession on his behalf.
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- cooking priests
- faith and food
- food network
Amy Smith Amy Smith is a Register senior editor who edits features for the “Culture of Life” section and online. Fueled by prayer and coffee, she enjoys writing about everything from Jane Austen to saints for the Register. She is the author of The Plans God Has for You: Hopeful Lessons for Young Women (Emmaus Road Publishing). Her writing has also appeared in various other Catholic publications. She has a master’s degree in journalism and a B.A. in English.
