(65) Backing of the Pastor Critical to Promoting the Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal

AMDG

A poster of the 2013 Charlotte Men's Conference in which Dr. Ray Guarendi participated.

            It is the role of the father to assume spiritual leadership in the family, but in many if not most cases, the mother assumes that role.  As Danny Abramowicz, 2012 Conference speaker and former All-Pro wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, says, “The men have dropped the ball”.  If the father takes the spiritual lead, the probability that the children will remain faithful to the Church in later life doubles.  The Church in American may be losing a generation of youth.  The men must become the pillars of the parish, not only the women.  The men must step up.  Thus it is crucial to reach the men and the Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal plays an important part because the enthusiasm generated is contagious.  The men witness to each other.  Setting the men on fire means stronger families which in turn means the renewal of the parish.

            The Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal will be held on Saturday March 22 from 9 am to 3 pm at St. Mary’s Church in St. Clairsville.  One may come at 8:30 am for rosary.  The featured speaker is Dr. Ray Guarendi, nationally known author, speaker, and host of his own radio and EWTN TV program.  He challenges the men to be true men as God intended.  He will help the men to become better connected with their families and thus better husbands and fathers through tips for resolving problems and fulfilling their responsibilities as the spiritual leaders of their families now and in the future.  Most men really don’t know what true manhood is.  Bishop Monforton will give a talk and preside at Mass.  Confession with a Penance Service is also offered.  The Conference will close with a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament.  A bag lunch will be served.

            The Ideal. We have found that when the pastor enthusiastically backs the Men’s Conference, participation of the men significantly increases.  The ideal is for the pastor to accompany his men; we need confessors.  This is a great opportunity to become closer to the men and know them better.  This helps parish solidarity as the men also get to know each other better.  For those in the southern end of the diocese, the distance might be great, but that makes the Conference a Lenten sacrifice and gives it a pilgrimage flavor with enjoyable fellowship, discussion about points brought out, and prayer such as the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

            For example, Fr. Walter Heinz, pastor emeritus of Sacred Heart Pomeroy was an imposing figure.  According to one of the men of the parish, he simply told the guys: “It’s all paid for and we’re going”.  They did.  It was hard to tell him, no.  He heard confessions while there and returned from the Basilica of St. Mary in time for his Saturday evening Mass.

We cannot expect the already busy and overworked pastor to constantly promote the Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal.  The pastor cannot do it alone; he needs the help of the laity.  However there is much the pastor can do with little effort on his part.

Useful Resources. The pastor can utilize our Conference Blog at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com, beginning with Blog #54 on…….trifold brochure, an overview, ideas for marketing the Conference, articles submitted to the Register, samples of numerous bulletin blurbs, sign-up sheet, bulletin insert, talk by a layman after Mass, talk by the pastor, etc.  Then there’s articles in the Catholic Register, brochures, posters, and a link to the brochure and additional information on the bottom of the home page of the diocesan website at www.diosteub.org.  Many if not most men will hardly notice all that, although they are indeed important and helpful.  What they can’t miss is the one-on-one personal selling by their peers, i.e., talking it up.  The most effective form of advertising or promotion is word of mouth.  Most effective is the witness of men who have gone to a previous Conference.

The Parish Representative.  As in any organization, the executive must delegate as much as possible.  Thus key is to ask one or two good men to be parish representatives.  If one of them is a knight, he could have access to the local council of the Knights of Columbus.  Their main job is to promote the Conference, mainly by one-on-one personal selling, register the men, and organize them to go together in the parish van, car pool or bus.  He also helps the pastor to utilize the resources mentioned in the previous paragraph as submitting blurbs and an insert for the Sunday bulletin.  The parish rep can try to talk to each man in the parish before and after Mass or Stations of the Cross or other devotions, during fish fries, at parish or Knights of Columbus meetings, and other activities.  Please send the names, e-mail address, and phone number of the chosen parish representative(s) to both “Chuck Schneider - Chair Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal” cjschn1964@yahoo.com and “Paul Sebastian” paulrsebastian@yahoo.com.

Men may register individually or the parish representative may collect the registration forms with payment and send them to Roger Huck; %Men’s Day of Renewal, P.O. Box 54; Beverly, OH 45715.  This would save considerable time waiting at the door on the morning of the Conference.  Checks for the Registration cost of $25.00 per person are to be made payable to the Diocese of Steubenville with “Men's Day of Renewal” written on the memo line of the check. 

Once the Conference is over, the clergy and religious of the diocese are invited to submit for the Conference Blog at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com articles or copies of homilies that are particularly appropriate for men’s spirituality.