Above: Journeymen gather July 23 in Cary. Each gathering includes unstructured time for dinner and conversation. Photo by Greg Mintel.
Around a dining room table somewhere in Raleigh, you might find a recent college graduate, a grandfather in his 80s, an OCIA inquirer, a man who attends daily Mass and others. Some are single, while others are married, divorced or widowed. Some have no children, and some have grandchildren. Before the evening is over, they'll share a meal, laugh together, pray together and speak honestly about the joys and struggles of following Christ.
That unlikely fellowship has become one of the defining characteristics of Journeymen, a men's small group that began quietly at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Raleigh. As new participants joined, the group evolved naturally. Matthew Kane, who attended the third meeting, quickly became one of its strongest champions. His hospitality, enthusiasm and conviction that more men could benefit from authentic Christian friendship helped shape the group's early culture.
"I feel really good about Journeymen and what it's done for the men at St. Francis,” said Kane. “It has impacted so many men's lives, building friendships and building faith."
The Journeymen have had great success in providing men, and now women in the associated Women at The Well group, a way to build friendships and faith. Ironically, none of its founders set out to create a ministry.
"We weren't trying to launch a program," recalled Jacob House, who started the first group with Tim Hetzel. "We were simply looking for a place where Catholic men could be honest about life, support one another and grow closer to Christ."
Kane said that when he came in "there were five guys gathered around a big table in the Founders Room at St. Francis on a Sunday afternoon in 2019. I remember thinking, there's a lot of potential here but, to attract men, you have to make it fun."
He jumped in and suggested that the next time they met, they could meet on his porch.
At that next meeting, he made a big pot of spaghetti and had beer and wine. The guys enjoyed a meal, had a drink, and sat on the porch to get to know each other.
“It went marvelously,” he remembered. “I think we had at least a dozen guys sitting on my porch and sharing deeply. I'm thinking, ‘This is amazing; we opened with a prayer and some introductions, and now the guys were willing to be transparent.’ They wanted to get together and share things that were important in their family life, in their work life and in their faith. I thought, ‘Wow! I believe we've got something here!’"
Kane and House moved toward the idea of a home-based model where they would meet every three weeks in a different home. “We start with a simple dinner and then, halfway through, transition to a faith-based discussion. As time went on, we did say, ‘All right, let's try to keep this as a Catholic men's group focused more on our shared Catholic faith. People who were from St. Francis, that was our audience. The Journeymen group touched people in their hearts.”
From that small beginning, Journeymen has expanded into three groups at St. Francis and the Women at the Well, a group formed from some of the spouses of Journeymen.
Andrew Novak began Journeymen in January of 2025 with the second cohort, or iteration of the newly formed model of fellowship.
“Journeymen 1 had been around for years before the second group started,” said Novak. “They had a long roster and had become pretty close-knit, and the format ideally needs to be around 12-15 people at each meeting.”
For those who participate, that's the sweet spot where it's big enough to welcome different views, but still intimate enough to feel like they can share and have a meaningful discussion.
Kane really spearheaded a question about getting another stand-alone group of people.
“He was out there reaching out to a lot of guys in the parish who he thought may have interest,” said Novak. “I didn't know Matthew, but he talked with me and some other young guys who were at the same table at an adult formation session.” He remembered, “Several of us at the table said, ‘Journeymen resonates with us.’ I think what attracts the guys is having a closer connection to the parish community; a way to make new friendships with other Catholic men in the parish. With so much busy family life going on, it's difficult to make new friends as adults.”
The ‘Women at the Well’ group began when Rosemary Somich, whose husband Mike was in Journeymen, felt women could have the same experience.
“We invited several Journeymen to our first orientation dinner to get us started, and while they offered to return in future weeks, the women agreed they were ready,” she laughed. “Women are more organized than men, so we were really good at getting started. We actually talked at that next meeting about what expectations were of the group, and then one of the members actually plugged those expectations into an AI model and generated a list of discussion topics. We threw out some and rearranged others.”
Women at the Well has the same format as Journeymen: Someone hosts at their house, and someone else offers to lead the meeting or lead the topic.
“As with Journeymen,” Somich said, “there's no designated leader of the group, but we've all shared that leadership. I'm really excited about it. It's a sisterhood; I would say it is like a family that God has brought together. I didn't know most of these people before.”
The key is keeping each new group at a relatively fixed membership, as Novak said, to keep them effective.
Journeymen 3 is now forming, and Mike Ament is a member.
“We are now looking for another 10 people. Everyone can't make it every time, so we want a few more people so that we always have a lively discussion,” he said. “I really like it. The one thing that struck me is how the guys from Journeymen 1 and 2 have stepped up to host us in their homes as a group of strangers they probably won't continue to see and take time out of their lives to prepare a topic, to discuss it and facilitate that discussion.”
This is really the recipe: current Journeymen work to seed the newest group by leading and mentoring for the first few meetings to demonstrate ‘the model.’
“From what they said and what they shared with us about how much the group meant to them,” said Ament, “it was a testimony to how important it was to them and what a difference it made. Getting that wisdom and those testimonies from smart, caring, loving Christian men touched me. It's just not the kind of people you get to meet on the street every day.”
Jacob House is the first to point out that none of this would have happened through one person's efforts. Tim Hetzel, Matthew Kane, Andrew Novak, Rosemary Somich, Mike Ament, and many others have each helped shape the story. "That's always been one of Journeymen's strengths," House said. "People don't come to follow a leader, they come to walk with one another."
Those involved hope to spread the Journeymen idea to other parishes in the diocese. “I'd be disappointed,” Kane said, “if, at the end of this journey, we don't get contacted by people in other parishes who say, ‘I love that idea, and we want to reproduce that.’”
Photos
Photography by Greg Mintel.
