Food, music, prices and lots
of dancing will be just some of
the activities that people can
expect during The Daughters
of St. Paul Sixth Annual Dinner
Dance on October 12.
The dance will take place
at Augustine Catholic Church
Parish Hall, located on 3850 Jasmine
Ave. Culver City, from 6-11
p.m.
“It (attendance) has been
great; I say it has grown by
20 percent every year,” Sister
Marie James Hunt said. “It
started out with a core group
of Filipino friends of ours so
the food selection was predominantly
Filipino. But this year we
have added Italian and Mexican
food to the selection.”
With attendance having
reached up to 200 people, the
dinner dance has slowly accomplished
the goal it set out to fulfill:
raising funds to fix the roof
of the 25-year old building that
is the Pauline Bookstore and
Media Center.
“When it rains, we have been
having a little bit of rain drops
coming in so it (money) is all
going toward our building fund,”
James Hunt said. “This building
almost runs the whole block and
our sisters live here. It is not
only a bookstore but it is also the
convent where we live.”
The building is so large that
the roof was sectioned into three
parts. The smallest section was
completed last year and everything
is almost at the point of
being able to repair a larger
piece of the roof this year, which
would leave the final section to
be fixed next year.
Every second Saturday of the
month at 6:30 p.m. the building
serves as a movie-going place
for those interested in learning
life lessons. There is no reservation
required and people can just
arrive and enjoy the film in the
movie screening room on the
second floor.
“Sister Rose, one of the sisters
that lives here, has authored
three books titled ‘The Movie
Bible Lectionary’ and a lot of the
selections are taken from her
books,” James Hunt said. “We
also have certain Saturday afternoons
where we show movies
for kids and we have discussions
with them also. There is a theme
all year and it is part of the social
teachings of the church. There
are a lot of social issues that
come through those movies.”
What some might see as an
unconventional approach to
teaching lessons of the Church
has actually become popular
among attendees.
“Sometimes we get 30 to 35
people and they all enjoy it,” Sister
Mary Techla said. “People
like to talk afterwards and they
have a good time.”
The reaction and feedback
has been nothing but positive.
“They find that movies are a
great learning tool and there are
all kinds of lessons that can be
taught,” James Hunt said. “The
nice thing about entering the
discussion as a group is that you
go in with all kinds of perspectives
so everyone comes into
the movie and gets something
different out of it. When people
start sharing what lessons they
are walking away with, it is like a
light bulb goes off in others and
they say ‘Wow. I hadn’t thought
of that.’”
The volunteer effort behind
organizing the dinner dance
includes the Knights of Columbus,
a planning committee and
other people who offer their services
almost for free such as the
M.C., the D.J. and some family
friends that help with the catering.
Tickets are $30 and can be
bought at the door, the night of
the event.
“The sisters always like to
start the dancing so we are going
to learn the chilly cha cha dance
this year,” James Hunt said. “We
will start it off. Last year we did a
line dance and people really had
fun with that.”
There will be a raffle drawing
with the grand prize being four
tickets to Disneyland/California
Adventure (day hopper passes).
Second prize will be two tickets
to see the Lion King with free
limo service picking you the winners
and third place will receive
a 32 GB, iPad mini. Raffle tickets
can be bought at the dinner for
$5 a ticket or five tickets for $20.
There will also be door prizes.
Persons interested can visit
Pauline Bookstore and Media
Center at 3908 Sepulveda Blvd.
in Culver City or they can call
(310) 397-8676.
