Dear
faithful Pastor:
First of all, thank you so much for
giving your life to the God, His Church, and to us. Your work is so important and crucial in
being another Christ in bringing us Mass, the sacraments, counseling us,
teaching us, overseeing parish groups, and managing the parish, an enterprise
just as challenging as running a business enterprise or other
organization. Your duties in running one
or two or even three parishes often with a school and other services can be
overwhelming while keeping up with the indispensable Liturgy of the Hours. Through your most noble vocation over your
career you will have brought the Lord’s mercy to hundreds if not thousands of
souls and help them along the narrow and often difficult road to salvation. May God reward you richly and use all of the
trials, crosses, and frustrations of your crucial job to make you a saint. Again my deepest gratitude.
May I ask your help in promoting it
through a parish representative and other laymen. A deacon or associate pastor can also
help. We realize that you cannot do it
alone with all of your many responsibilities.
Please permit me to impose upon your time with the following write-up of
mine on the importance of the Steubenville
Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal and
resources for promoting it. By now you
should have received at least one poster and packet of brochures for each one
of your parishes. If not please contact
Roger Huck by e-mail at huck4816@roadrunner.com or call him at home 740-
984-2234 or his cell at 740-336-9128.
The following bulletin blurb may be helpful as a starting point
according to your space limitations:
Diocesan Men's Day of
Renewal Saturday, March 23 from
9 am – 4 pm at St. Stephen’s Church in Caldwell (off of Exit 28 on I-77 a half
hour north of Marietta). The theme is “The Cross as
a Source of Strength and Path to Ultimate Victory Over All Adversity”. The
main speaker is Mark Nehrbas, former director of Franciscan University
conferences and noted speaker himself, will give a testimony regarding his
victorious six year battle with stomach cancer and miraculous healing at
Lourdes. More important, he will teach us the lessons he learned
from his suffering, how to confront it, and how it can you a saint when it’s
your turn to suffer as part of the human condition. The $25
Registration could be a belated Christmas gift for the men in your extended
family. Contact Name of Parish Representative (phone no.
& e-mail) (e.g., John Doe (245-9404 or jdoe@gmail.com) to
register. Enjoy the fellowship by going in the parish van, which
leaves at 6:30 am from the Parish Hall.
BACKING OF THE
PASTOR CRUCIAL FOR THE DIOCESAN MEN’S CONFERENCE
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
instead of the mother, the probability that the children will remain faithful
to the Church in later life doubles or triples. 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 as the men
witness to each other. Setting the men
on fire means stronger families which in turn means the renewal of the parish. Taking a day off for the Men’s Conference
would be a great Lenten sacrifice.
The
Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal will be held on Saturday March 23 from 9 am to 4
pm at St. Stephen’s Church in Caldwell.
The theme is “The Cross as a Source of Strength and Path
to Ultimate Victory Over All Adversity” with St. Joseph, model of a true man of God, as the Conference’s
patron.
The
Conference will open with a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament. The featured speaker is Mark Nehrbas, a speaker at many
conferences. The morning talk, “Victory of the
Cross in My Battle With Cancer”, will include his testimony of his six
year battle with an aggressive form of stomach cancer and his healing at
Lourdes, France. In the afternoon talk, “Victory Over Suffering: Lessons Learned
From the Cross”. Mark Nehrbas
will explore the mystery of suffering, why God permits it, how he confronted
it, how he grew from it, the lessons he learned, how it can be very productive,
how it can make you a saint, and tips on how to cope when it’s your turn to
suffer. Sooner or later every one of us
must suffer.
The crux of his talk is
redemptive suffering, a concept which Protestants and most Catholics do not
understand. Doctors recognize that patients
who spiritualize their suffering do better.
Uniting our cross with the Lord’s cross and offering it up as a dynamic
prayer for our country, our Church, and our loved ones makes suffering
productive and gives it purpose.
 |
| Mark Nehrbas |
Mark
Nehrbas has served the Lord by working on the campus of Franciscan University
of Steubenville for 32 years until his retirement in August of 2017. He was administrator for FIRE, a Catholic
ministry that provided evangelistic rallies in cities across the United States,
Canada, the Philippines, England and Ireland.
Nehrbas served as Director of Development raising over ten million
dollars for student financial aid, buildings, and special projects. As Director of Christian Outreach for 13
years, Mark led the summer conference operation at the University, overseeing
the growth of conference participants from under 25,000 to over 41,000 per
year. Mark is a dynamic speaker and
given talks at local, regional, and national conferences as well as in Jamaica.
Bishop
Monforton will preside at the Mass and give the homily. Confession with a Penance Service is also
offered and you are asked to be one of the confessors. A bag lunch will be served. This is a hard sell for many men, but the Lord will help
us. If we can mobilize an average of 10
men from every parish in the diocese, this event would be a smashing
success!
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.
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
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. We are
grateful that many promote the Conference as bulletin blurbs, the brochure as a
bulletin insert, including a prayer for its success in the Offertory Petitions
at daily and Sunday Mass, give plugs from the pulpit after Sunday Mass,
etc. 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.
You and the parish representatives you appoint can utilize our Conference Blog
at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com. The 2019 series of resources begins with Blog
160) A General Overview
of the 2019 Steubenville Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal; 161) Form to Place an
Ad in the Program Booklet; 162) Diocesan Press Release #1: Cancer Survivor to
Show How Suffering Can Make You a Saint; 163) Possible Short Announcements For
the Church Bulletin; 164) Promotion Ideas; 165) Functions &
Crucial Importance of the Parish Rep; 166) Sample Sign Up Sheet; 167)
Sample Bulletin Insert & Facebook Entry; 168) Diocesan Press Release #2:
Urgently Needed: A Few Good Men to Promote the Men's Conference; 169) Backing of the
Pastor Crucial to the Men's Conference; 170) Role of the Deacon in
Promoting the Men's Conference; 171) Example of an After Mass Promotional
Talk By a Layman; 172) Examples of Possible Pastor Announcements
Supporting the Men's Conference; 173) Diocesan Press
Release #3: Men Asked to Make a Lenten Sacrifice to Attend the Men's Conference; 174)
Mobilization of the Knights of Columbus Councils to Attend & Help Promote
the Men’s Conference; 175) Invitation to Parishes in West Virginia to
Attend the Men's Conference; 176) Invitation to College Students to Attend
the Men's Conference; 177) Press Release to
Catholic Newspapers; 178) Press Release to Secular Newspapers; and 179) My Ad in the 2019
Program Booklet; Numbers
165 – 179 will be added in the next few days.
They correspond to numbers 141- 155 of 2018 which are similar in principle to the
current year.
The
diocesan website at www.diosteub.org
has a link to the brochure and Additional Information. Hover over the “ABOUT” Menu at the top of
home page. Then hover on “Men’s
Ministry” and click on “Men’s Day of Renewal”.
The link to our brochure and “Additional Information” are on the bottom
left under documents. You should have
received in January a poster and a packet of brochures for each of your
parishes. If not, please inform me. For your convenience you will find attached 1) Conference Brochure 2) Registration Forms,
3) Additional Information, 4) Sample Bulletin Announcements, 5) Promotion Ideas,
6) Functions of the Parish Representative, and 7) Sample Bulletin Insert; 8)
Sample Sign Up Sheet to put in back of the church.
There
are also interesting articles on men’s spirituality at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com, along
with summaries of past talks, promotional resources, and other
information. After the Conference and
throughout the year, articles will be added to help the men keep in good
spiritual shape. Clergy, Religious, and
knowledgeable layman are invited to submit to me for the Conference Blog articles
or copies of homilies that are particularly appropriate for men’s spirituality. For a greater variety, go to “A Little Bit
for God and His People” at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com.
Many
if not most men will hardly notice the brochure in the back of the church,
poster, bulletin blurbs, etc. 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 important
is the witness of men who have gone to a previous Conference. What is needed is a little “arm twisting”
figuratively. And of course there’s
Facebook, Twitter, texting, and the old fashioned phone calling.
The
Parish Representative is crucial. As in any organization, the executive must
delegate as much as possible. The key is
to ask one or two good men to be parish representatives. If one of them is a member of the Knights of
Columbus, he would have access to the local council. The main job of the parish rep 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 “Don Coen - Chair Diocesan
Men's Day of Renewal” donandmargcoen@yahoo.com and to me at paulrsebastian@yahoo.com.
The deacon may be the parish representative as in the
case of St. Paul’s and Christ the King in Athens. Or the deacon may supervise the promotional
efforts of two or three laymen.
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. If any
man would like to attend, but can’t afford it, we’ll find a way.
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