Beta
You finished Alpha. Here's where the story keeps going.
Alpha asked the big questions, is this real, is this for me. Beta is for those who want to keep asking questions. This time with more depth, more of the "why" behind what we do, and more people to wrestle alongside.
Faith, like anything living, needs tending. Some seasons are about planting; this one is about watering. Spending real time in study, in Scripture, in the Church's tradition is how what was planted in you takes root and grows.
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." — Acts 2:42
That's the shape of every Tuesday night. 40 minutes of teaching, 20 minutes in small groups working out what it means for you, 15 minutes of just being together over food. Head, heart, and table. The same rhythm the first Christians lived by, still forming us today.
Each season, Beta turns to one thread of our Catholic faith and spends real time with it. Not a refresher of Alpha, but a focused formation series, offered once, that won't return in quite the same way.
Fall 2026 BETA Offering:
At the Table: The Eucharist Through the Ages
Picture a small room, oil lamps low, the smell of bread and wine, a handful of voices praying together in the dark. No incense yet. No altar, no gold, no soaring ceilings. Just a table, a memory, and a promise: do this in remembrance of me.
That's where the Eucharist begins. You've received it a hundred times but have you ever wondered how that small room became the Mass we know today?
In this five-week series, we'll trace the Eucharist from the upper room and the house churches of the early Christians who gathered at real risk to their lives through the councils, theology, and reforms that shaped how the Church has understood and celebrated this sacrament across two thousand years. We'll walk through moments of controversy and clarity, all leading to the altar you'll kneel at this Sunday.
This isn't a history lecture. It's the story of how a shared meal became the source and summit of Catholic life and it will change the way you receive the Eucharist next time you're in the pew.
Led by Todd Williamson, Director of the Office of Divine Worship for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
More Than a Series, A Way In
Beta isn't just a class you attend and leave. It's five weeks with the same small group, the same table, the same people and for many parishioners, that's where belonging actually starts. Some finish Beta with five new friends at Mass. Others feel called to go further like leading a small group next season, serving as a lector, greeting at the doors, or helping behind the scenes at the very Eucharist we're studying.
If something stirs in you along the way, we'd love to talk. You don't need it figured out before you show up — just come to the table, and see where it leads.
📍 Fireside Hall, Saint Clement School
🗓️ Tuesdays, Oct 6 – Nov 3 | 7:00–8:15 p.m.