Fr. Leo Patalinghug, a speaker, break-dance choreographer, third-degree black belt martial arts instructor, radio personality and acclaimed TV chef, addressed a crowd at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Wednesday night. Staff photo by Clay Schuldt

NEW ULM — Wednesday night St. Mary’s Catholic Church hosted a speaker with a background as a break-dance choreographer, a third-degree black belt martial arts instructor, a radio personality and an acclaimed TV chef. He is also a Catholic priest.

His name is Fr. Leo Patalinghug. He was born in the Philippines but was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is currently based. He gained attention for founding the Plating Grace movement, an international apostolate designed to strengthen families and relationships through God’s gift of a family meal. Through his cooking show, Fr. Leo teaches families the tools they need to make simple recipes.

Fr. Leo opened his talk with the most powerful prayer he knew: “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.”

Fr. Leo said this prayer is one of the most powerful prayers because it identifies you as a Christian. In addition to prayer, Fr. Leo cited the family meal as one of the greatest ways to keep family together in faith.

He said that eating together is a form of communion and he drew many parallels between the life of Jesus Christ and the breaking of bread.

The consuming of food is seen as an important part Christ’s life. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which translates to “House of Meat” in Hebrew and “House of Bread” in ancient Greek. One of Christ’s first miracles is turning water into wine. Later he multiplies a few loaves of bread and fish into enough to feed thousands. During the Last Supper Jesus told his disciples to eat of his body and drink of his blood.

“I use the food and faith analogy because that’s how Jesus did it,” Fr. Leo said. “We need to see ourselves as people who are hungry.”

Fr. Leo acknowledges that planning family meals was difficult because it took time and work, but feeding a family was a sign of generosity in faith.

Fr. Leo closed with a quote from St. Teresa of Avila, “Our Lord is moving among the pots and pans.”

Fr. Leo has published three books “Grace Before Meals,” “Epic Food Fight,” and “Spicing Up Married Life.” He is also hosted “Savoring Our Faith” on The Eternal World Television Network (EWTN).

On April 2 he will launch a new podcast called “Shooting the Shiitaki with Fr. Leo.”