The most critical aspect of
promoting the Steubenville Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal is having at
least one representative in each parish to mobilize the men to
attend......i.e. considerable one on one personal selling. This is
so important since many men quickly browse through the church
bulletin if at all, don't notice the poster, and don't look at the
brochures and pamphlets in the back of the church. With the
abundance of fallen away and drifting Catholics, the pastor is happy
that they make it to Mass at all. Even if they are aware, we have to
overcome inertia: “I don't know; I'll think about it; Maybe I'll
go; I'll see how my schedule is; I may have to work; we'll see; I may
have something else going on” etc.
Then there are the many men who
come to Mass occasionally if at all or is on the verge of falling
away. Many others indeed have fallen away and we may have to take
advantage of a casual meeting at a football game or in a store. All
of the above are the men we are trying to reach.......the indifferent
Catholic who's happy where he is in his spiritual growth and has no
desire to get any closer to God. It's in this area where the Parish
Representative can be a true apostle and missionary. It's
evangelization at its best. The Men's Conference could provide that
spark to set them on fire and bring them closer to the Church.
THE CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE
PARISH REPRESENTATIVE
February 10, 2012
In
the southern part of our far flung diocese with the Men's Conference a month away, we're behind our pace of last year
with paid registrations. Please pray for the success of the Men's
Conference. Much of that is the distance. In comparison to
Marietta, we'll have an additional two hours of driving time. But
that makes it a pilgrimage. After all, isn't Lent all about
sacrifice?
The
Steering Committee, recognizing that some of the men will have to
travel as much as four or five hours (e.g., Ironton and across the
river in Kentucky) to attend the Men's Conference at St. John's in
Bellaire on Saturday March 10, is offering a special rate for the
nights of March 9 & 10 at the Hampton Inn if one makes
reservations by February 24. Details, directions, and registration
forms are in the brochure which can be obtained in the back of the
church or at the bottom of the home page of the diocesan web site,
www.diosteub.org. In this
way, the men can make it a week-end retreat with Stations of the
Cross and prayer (Eucharistic Adoration if sufficient interest) on
Friday night plus prayer and rosary early the next morning. Wives
could come along and spend the day in the very large St. Clairsville
Mall nearby. Pittsburgh is 1½ hours away.
If
we can get the men in good spiritual shape,
we renew the family. If we renew the family, we renew the parish and
ultimately the diocese. We let the women be the pillars of the
parish when we should be spiritual leaders in the parish and
especially in the home. It's our job to put Christ into the market
place......in our professions, on the job, and in the community.
That's why this Conference is so very important and you have a
crucial role.
We
have sent posters, brochures, and registration forms to every parish
in the diocese and is asking each one to promote the Diocesan Men's
Day of Renewal.......announcements in the bulletin almost every week
of the new year, an announcement or two from the pulpit, a bulletin
insert or two, etc. Please work with the secretary and the pastor to
make sure that all of those things are being done. Please enlist the
help of the parish organizations such as the Knights of Columbus.
We're asking the Knights and businesses for some financial help in
order to keep the cost down. It's very expensive to bring top
speakers to our diocese and to put something like this on. You could
be of great help there too.
But
the most important of all is you as a leader and perhaps a couple
of good men to help you to assure that the overall promotion is
adequate and to mobilize the other men of the parish to
attend.......one on one personal selling of the Conference and to
organize them to go as a group in the parish van, a van pool, or
hiring a bus.
That
would be great fellowship and would solidify the parish as the men
get to know each other better, especially if the pastor accompanies
them. If the distance is great, there would be a pilgrimage flavor,
especially if there's prayer and discussion of the day's events.
Pastors, already overworked, can't do it all, especially the grunt
work of promotion. They urgently need the help of the laity. Even
the women could encourage their men to attend. Promotional
materials may be obtained from me at pauls@rio.edu
or from http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com.
We'll be adding more information there.
Thus
the Steering Committee urgently needs your leadership and I suggest
that you enlist the help of a few other men to talk it up and do
personal selling. I
try to approach every man in the parish during the campaign.......
before and after Mass, at Knights of Columbus meetings, parish
events, anywhere else in town I might run into one of them. If a guy
tells me a definite yes, I try to get him to register in advance. If
the answer is “maybe”, I'll approach him again in a friendly
jovial way, hoping and praying that I don't make a pest out of myself
and come over as a telemarketer. True, that's a risk, but it does
take some persistence. I try to avoid phone calls unless one is a
good prospect a few days before the Conference. Of course, phone
calling is a good option with men whom you don't see. At the same
time, I'm enlisting the help of the guys who went last year to help
me to talk it up and promote it. They are a great testimony.
Don't
forget that to obtain the $5 discount
the registration forms must be sent in by February 15. Otherwise,
the cost will be $25. You may collect the registration forms and
send them to Steve Ishmael at P.O. Box 167; Lansing, OH 43934 by
February 15. This may also be done individually, but you have
better control as to who is going and who not by collecting the forms
and payments and sending them in together. Make the check(s) payable
to the Diocese of Steubenville and write “Men's Day of Renewal”
on the memo line of the check.
We
have a great program. As you
already know, our main speaker is Danny Abramowicz, all-pro wide
receiver for the New Orleans Saints in 1969 and Offensive Coordinator
for Coach Mike Ditka for three years in the 1990s. After falling
into the temptations of the pro football life style with alcoholism
and the high life, he underwent a conversion. Since then he is
devoting his life to helping the men into top spiritual shape through
talks around the country and his Crossing the Goal television program
on EWTN cable & satellite or on the internet at www.ewtn.com.
Danny is especially dynamic in his talks as he shares lessons he
learned the hard way in his pro football career and applies them to
the very serious game of life. We're in the Super Bowl and the
trophy is salvation as our Lord says” “Well done, good and
faithful servant......” Go to Blog #8 on our
http://diosteubmen.com for a
great article/interview with pictures of Danny Abramowicz published
in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
To
get a good turnout (each soul has immeasurable value),we need a solid
program plus MARKETING, MARKETING, MARKETING.......PROMOTION AND
PERSONAL SELLING. This is evangelization at its best.
Certainly, St. Paul and the original apostles after Pentecost would
have used every marketing tool if they would have it. I think that
they were marketers of the Gospel. May we follow in their
footsteps in promoting this Men's Conference.
If I can be of any help, please call me at 740-245-9404. Thank you
so much for your help and God bless.
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St.
Joseph, model of a true man of God, pray for us and the success of
the Men's Conference.
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