“Nice Shirt. Happy Father’s Day.”

“Same to you.”

“Hey, nice shirt. Happy… Wait! What?!”

This exact exchange between men occurred over one hundred times at St. Ann Catholic Church in Coppell, Texas, on Father’s Day, leading to a joyful explosion of connection and community building.

After a deeply prayerful Lenten journey, Kristen Combo devised a plan to unite the men at our parish in a dress-alike Father’s Day prank that caught every one of them off guard. She messages hundreds of women in the parish, and they all ordered the same Chi-Rho polo from Catholic Concepts as a gift for their husbands. Then, each of these women had to find nonchalant ways to convince the men to wear their new gift to Mass on Father’s Day.

As the families arrived in the parking lot for the 10:00 am Mass, each of these Fathers had their moments of thinking it was cool that someone else had on the same shirt, only to realize that something sneaky was underway as they noticed another, then another, and then dozens of other men wearing the exact same shirt.  

You cannot watch this video without smiling. Well done, Kristen and team.  And Happy Father’s Day to all men living out the beautiful vocation of Fatherhood.