If you’re on the Guest List, as soon as we have good introductions to send your way, or a good group, we’ll coordinate things like:
Coffee Meetups
Dinners for 12
Happy Hour Meetups
Sports and Outdoor Meetups
Parish Events
How did this start?
Before the Society had a name or a website, we were gathering people for sports, happy hours, dinners and destination retreats. They were the early chapters of a Catholic social club:
Destination Retreats
Marco started hosting destination retreats and adventures, first it was called Life Project, then xLIFE Project (we added the x for Christ, of course). Attendees ranged from devout Catholic friends, to friends that had strayed away from the church for a while, and even some Protestant friends with inspiring Christian values.
Project LIFE retreat in San Carlos, Sonora
These “intellectual retreats” would be 80% fun (sports, cooking, games, fishing, restaurants, happy hours), but also 20% vocation work (workshops, speakers, prayer, confessions, when our friend priests could make it out with us, even some volunteering and service activities).
Project LIFE retreat in Kino Beach, Sonora
Road Trips with Purpose
Not all the trips were highly produced retreats, some of them were simply curated overnight experiences designed to introduce people of faith, with similar backgrounds, to each other, which sparked many close friendships (and several courtships, actually).
Retreat in Mt. Lemmon, Arizona
Dinners for 12
All this got sparked back up by an reel where Marco talked about his “Dinners for 12” which introduced single Catholics to each other in curated, social experiences, that actually sparked some courtships. Marco began curating these types of experiences for his young adult groups from St. Thomas the Apostle in Tucson and St. Mark’s in Oro Valley.
Diner-en-Blanc at the Kino Beach retreat
As Marco concluded a couple of years of humanitarian work and travel, finally hoping to reintegrate back into the local community in 2025, he decided to host again. So, he planned a dinner experience and sent out invites to Young Adult groups from a couple local parishes.
Dinner at Marco’s with Young Adult crews
Cocktail Parties & Social Experiences
Then we started hosting some bigger social experiences, cocktail parties, and weekend pickup sports, bringing people in from Phoenix and Nogales, while still helping the local Young Adult groups.
New Year’s Party with Young Adult crews
Guest Speakers
Through different Young Adult groups, or parishes, or informally through our Catholic chats, now we’re giving it structure, a budget, to design cooler experiences for everyone, to create new, fun memories, and to help forge valuable friendships and relationships.
Catholic Talks adoration and social
Fitness Classes and Happy Hours
Marco also hosted a fitness program in the park, which turned into a happy hour crew, and into family, though all now live in different cities, to this day, they still plan yearly trips and adventures together.
Bootcamp and happy hours crew
Whether through churches or Young Adult groups, now we’re turning it into a more formal ministry. What started as a group of friends organizing retreats as excuses to go to the beach, is turning into curated introductions, brunches, dinners, sports, retreats, travel.
“Cathletics” and happy hours in Tucson
The Society of the 12 exists to cultivate communities and experiences like this in cities everywhere, for Catholics and their friends. If you’ve ever wished for a fun place to meet new people and try new things, around a community of faith, you may already belong here.
Society of the 12 