Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • August 20, 2021 12 ‘Cooking with Father Cooper’ on Facebook Live brings food, faith together BY BETH DONZE Catholic News Service NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- While brainstorming ways to help her fellow parishioners at Divine Mercy Church in Kenner, LA, pre- pare for Easter, Becky Delatte thought of a simple recipe she had made with her mother ever since she could remember. On Good iday, the duo would sprinkle cinnamon sugar onto a regular-size marshmallow, wrap it up into a ball of canned biscuit dough and reigerate the concoction for three days. After baking the dough ball on Easter morning, the surprise would come as soon as they bit into their breakfast treat: The cinnamon-sug- ar laced marshmallow, represent- ing Jesus’ spice-anointed body, had melted and disappeared inside its “tomb” of dough, creating a hol- low space reminiscent of the empty burial chamber found after Christ’s resurrection. “It’s a great visual for young kids to see that the tomb is empty,” said Delatte, who asked Divine Mercy’s pastor, Father Robert Cooper, if he would be willing to demonstrate the “Resurrection Roll” recipe on a Facebook Live video on Holy Thursday, as the parish entered into this year’s Triduum. To Delatte’s shock and delight, the R esurrection Roll segment, featuring Delatte’s 4-year-old daughter, Lucy, as Father Cooper’s assistant chef, received more than 2,000 views. Since then, “Cooking with Father Cooper,” a Facebook Live series produced and filmed by Delatte in her Kenner kitchen, has become a parish sensation that takes the Gospel to viewers’ homes through one of Louisiana’s favorite pastimes: food. A few days before an important feast day or celebra- tion related to a Catholic tradition, Father Cooper and Lucy go live to whip up delicious treats themed to coincide with those feasts. For example, when Delatte learned that a pretzel’s three open spaces were designed by a monk to repre- sent the three persons of the Holy Trinity, she organized a show in which the chefs made “Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels” -- to prepare parishioners for the May 30 feast of the Holy Trinity. “The church has so many cool symbols that are attached to it,” said Delatte, who, with husband Scott, has another daughter, 1-year-old Margaret. “That’s one of my favorite things about the Catholic Church.” Delatte, who is Divine Mercy’s director of commu- nications and media, believes that simple recipes, burst- ing with faith-based symbolism, can evangelize, teach and reinforce catechesis every bit as much as a panel of stained glass, a statue of a saint or a textbook. “These recipes are a fun, easy thing families can do together because they are not complicated,” said Delatte of the segments, which run 15 to 25 minutes in length and are available to watch after each live episode. Since the inaugural “Resurrection Roll” episode, the “Cooking with Father Cooper” cast and crew have followed up with installments including “Divine Mercy Brownies,” made in honor of the parish’s namesake and Divine Mercy Sunday, which was April 11 this year; “Edible Rosary,” which aired in May and paid tribute to Mary; and “Pentecost Cake,” with a dozen white candles -- symbolizing the 12 apostles in the upper room -- and one blue candle -- representing Mary -- into a cake. By July 19 the series on Facebook Live was up to its ninth episode, which featured snake cookies, “an easy and memorable family activity that helps explain sin as well as the hope we have of redemption,” said the show’s intro. But just two months into its run, the recipe pre- sented June 3 revealed the series had already become a well-oiled machine. After donning his chef’s apron and helping Lucy, a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton kindergartner, with hers, Father Cooper introduced viewers to “Monstrance Waffles” in anticipation of the feast of Corpus Christi. “A monstrance, for those of you who may not know, is one of those articles that we use to hold the Blessed Sacrament -- to hold the Eucharist -- so that we can bring the Eucharist in procession and adore the Lord in the Eucharist,” said Father Cooper, who went on to show how edible monstrances can be made om scratch or with store-bought waf- fles. “Remember, this is very hot, Lucy. We want to make sure we’re very careful,” said the priest, dous- ing the electric waffle-maker with nonstick spray. As the two waited for the waf- fle batter to set, Father Cooper updated his parishioners on Divine Mercy’s ongoing appeal for dona- tions of activity books, toys and gift cards to distribute to the fami- lies of sick and terminally ill chil- dren at Angels’ Place, a charity for families with chil- dren diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. Lucy demonstrated how to create the “stem” of the monstrance waffle -- by making a line of sugar wafers -- and added “rays” of butterscotch chips and sprinkles to symbolize the glory of God shining forth through the Eucharist. “You can use butterscotch chips, you can use choco- late chips, you can use whatever you like,” said Father Cooper, before adding one final but important touch: a circle of whip cream at the center of the waffle to rep- resent the consecrated host -- the Blessed Sacrament. “This is a wonderful way to celebrate and remember the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist,” Father Cooper said. “It reminds us, boys and girls, that we’re called to be like a living monstrance. We receive Jesus and then we’re (also) called to bring him into the world every day.” Although he doesn’t claim to be a cook himself, Father Cooper was raised in New Orleans in a Sicilian American family of talented cooks and bakers. “Pretty much everything is centered on the dinner table,” he said of his family. “It was the ‘11th Commandment’ -- you had to be there on Sunday for dinner, and if you missed, it was a grave sin.” SEE FAITH COOKING SHOW, PAGE 14 Father Robert Cooper, pastor of Divine Mercy Church in Kenner, LA, holds a plate of waffles as 4-year-old Lucy Delatte puts whipped cream on the dish as the two film a Facebook Live segment in which they demonstrate how to make “Monstrance Waffles.” The video, which aired June 3, taught viewers about the sacred receptacle before the feast of Corpus Christi. It also led to “Cooking with Father Cooper,” a Facebook Live series that is produced and filmed by Lucy’s mom, Becky, in her Kenner kitchen. CNS photo/Beth Donze, Clarion Herald