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.
Another crucial aspect is
the local Council of the Knights of Columbus.
They are most important to mobilize their men to attend and to help the
Parish Representatives in mobilizing the men of the local parishes to attend
the Conference.
Then there are the many men who come to Mass
occasionally if at all or are 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. This is the New Evangelization that
St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI promulgated and Pope Francis continues
to do, especially in this Year of Mercy.
This is perhaps the first step to renew families and parishes. The men must take spiritual leadership..
Thus I
sent out the following e-mail to the parish representatives with a copy to the
pastors in my Nativity of Mary Deanery. It occupies the southern extreme of the
Diocese of Steubenville which extends over one hundred miles and 13 counties.
I also included prospective representatives throughout the diocese.
Capt. Guy Gruters
MARKETING THE 2017 MEN’S CONFERENCE AT THE
PARISH LEVEL
The Crucial Importance and Functions of the
Parish Representative
Believe me, your role is crucial
because the key to a great turnout is promotion at the grass roots: (1) at the
parish level and (2) at the level of each Council of the Knights of Columbus. We must reach the men, many of whom are laid
back and lax about the Church; are drifting, or have fallen away except perhaps
for Mass on Christmas and Easter.
Mobilizing the men of your parish to come to the Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal on March
18 at St. Stephen’s Church in Caldwell (off of Exit 25 on I-77 near
Marietta) from 9 am to 3:30 pm or so is a very important part of the New
Evangelization. The men are invited
to bring their teen age and older sons, grandsons, nephews, godsons, students,
friends, etc. An added feature is a Holy
Hour with the Blessed Sacrament at the beginning of the day.
This event is so important
because if the Lord uses this Conference to set the men on fire, we renew the
parish and ultimately the entire diocese.
In our parish we have used
bulletin blurbs, brochures, posters, etc. and many men don’t even know the date
of the Conference. All of these are
important and help, but the most effective is the one on one personal selling. That’s a lot of work.
At this year’s Men’s Conference
we have a dynamic speaker and author……nationally known Capt. Guy Gruters. He will show how his faith got him through five years as a POW at
the Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam and how he learned to show mercy by forgiving his
captors who tortured him. Capt. Gruters will apply mercy, forgiveness, faith,
and trust to our daily lives as sources of strength in difficult times and a
means to grow in holiness. It will be a great day of enjoyable fellowship and
spiritual invigoration. We’ll go
together in the parish van on Saturday March 18 at 6:30 am. We’d love to have you (and your son) join
us. Can we count on you?
That’s my sales pitch (7 lines) this year in my encounters with the guys……one on one or in small groups. You can make it even shorter and better for
your men. Even if the person doesn’t
come, the message will make him think.
In parting give him our brochure as a reminder to decide and register. A sign-up sheet is attached.
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.
At the diocesan level we’ll probably have three articles in the Steubenville Catholic
Register. On the bottom of the home page
of the diocesan website (click on www.diosteub.org)
there should be a link to (1) our brochure and (2) “Additional
Information”. Our Bishop will give a talk and preside
at Mass.
Useful
Resources. You
can utilize our Conference Blog at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com. This year the series (updated over time) will
begin with Blog #111 – Overview; and continue with 112) Ad Form; 113) Diocesan
Press Release #1; 114) Possible Short Bulletin Announcements; 115) Promotion
Ideas; 116) Functions & Crucial Importance of the Parish Rep; 117) Sign Up
Sheet; 118) Sample Bulletin Insert; 119) Diocesan Press Release #2; 122)
Example of an After Mass Talk By a Layman; 123) Possible Pulpit Announcements;
124) Diocesan Press Release #3 125) Catholic Newspaper Press Release; 126)
Secular Press Release; 127) Our Ad in the Program Pamphlet; and 128) Highlights
of the 2017 Men's Conference.
At the parish level, we’re hurting unless we
can confide in your help. With the
critical shortage of priests, we can’t count on the pastors because they are so
busy and overworked. Many of them are
responsible for two or even three parishes.
They don’t have the time to do the grunt work of promotion. Thus we ask you to cover some or all of the points
below to the extent that you are willing and able. If you can cover at least the first three
items well, your campaign will be a success. The rest of the items are bonus if you can. Only item #3 may be difficult and/or time
consuming. Samples of items #2, #5, #6,
and #7 will be e-mailed to you for possible use and adaptation to make it
easier for you.
SUGGESTED TASKS FOR THE PARISH REP FOR THE MEN’S CONFERENCE
1. *Every parish should have received a
poster and a brochure to duplicate as needed.
If they are not available in the church, please ask the secretary to run
off more. They could have been set aside
and forgotten about. Please be sure that
the posters
are posted in good spots, perhaps one in the church and another in the Parish
Hall as well as a few brochures at each exit of the church. You can duplicate the attached brochure or download
one from the diocesan website and then duplicate them in color or black and
white. The brochure contains a
registration form.
2. *Ask
the secretary with the approval of the pastor to put in a short announcement in the
Church Bulletin each Sunday of the new year until the Conference date
as long as there is space available. You
can put in a slightly different message each Sunday that makes the men think,
not the same bland just the facts every week.
I sent a number of possible blurbs which you could adapt to your parish. They are also available as Blog #114 at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com.
3. *****The most important of all and the key
is to mobilize the men one on one with personal selling of the event,
collect
the $25 fee, and register them on the form inside the attached brochure
or on one of the short forms attached (each sheet has a set of three forms). After
talking to each man, give him a brochure as a reminder to decide and then
register. Men may register individually or the parish representative may collect
the registration forms with payment and send them to Roger Huck; c/o Men’s Day
of Renewal, P.O. Box 54; Beverly, OH 45715.
Although one can register at the door, this would save considerable time
waiting at the door. 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. Early registration helps with planning as number
of lunches, etc.
Give
priority to the most likely prospects, especially when time is limited. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance as to which
men to approach during the rush to the parking lot. Enlisting the help of a couple of other men would
enable us to reach almost every man in the parish, especially those who come to
Mass only occasionally. That could be
the start of an evangelization team, which every parish very much needs. Ask the men who have attended a previous
conference to talk it up. Word of mouth
is the best form of advertising. You can
see the men before and after Mass, devotions, at family, community, or parish
functions as the Fish Fry, by phone, perhaps at work, and anywhere else you may
run into somebody you know. If there is
any unemployed man who would like to go, but cannot afford it, ask the pastor
or a parish organization for help. I
myself would be willing to pay for a few registrations if no other help is
available. Money should not be an
obstacle for any man to go.
4. Organize the men if possible to travel
together as part of a car or van pool. A larger parish or
group of parishes might be able to fill a bus if the Conference is well
promoted. That will make for enjoyable
fellowship and foment a more cohesive parish community as the men get to know
each other better and become better friends.
It would be ideal if the pastor (free of charge) could accompany the
men, thus giving him an opportunity to know his men better. We need confessors. If the distance is great, that will give it a
pilgrimage flavor, especially if the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy are
said and the men discuss the conference on the way back.
5. Put a sign-up sheet (attached) on a
clipboard on a table in the back of the church.
Ask the pastor to include the sign-up sheet in his announcements at the
end of Mass as a reminder each Sunday.
The sign-up sheet should include the name, phone number, and e-mail
address to contact for registration and confirm the time and place of departure
in the car pool van or bus.
6. Obtain
permission to put a one sheet (front and back) insert into the Church Bulletin.
This would include selling points, benefits for the men, details about
the speaker, and a registration form.
There will be an example on the Conference Blog at http://diosteubment.blogspot.com,
which you could use as is or as a model for adapting it to the culture of your
parish.
7. Ask the pastor to say a few words to support the Conference with a few
words in the announcements after Mass.
His enthusiastic support and help would be huge.
8. Perhaps a leader among the men could say
a few words after Mass with the pastor’s approval. One who has been to a
previous Conference could give great testimony.
9. Enlist the help of parish organizations
and the local council of the Knights of Columbus and its grand knight to mobilize and
organize the men. Even members of the Catholic Women’s Club and other women
could encourage their men to attend……husbands, boy friends, fathers, sons,
godsons, nephews, friends of the family, etc.
10. To obtain the best speakers in the country
(they are expensive), the Steering Committee asks for donations and/or ads for the
program booklet from local businesses or council of the Knights of
Columbus. Attached is a form with
instructions for obtaining the ads. If
the proprietor or key person in the business is Catholic, it should be a much
easier sell and his business would have exposure throughout our far flung diocese……13
counties in all.
11. Use
the Social Media (Facebook, Twitter) and the old fashioned telephone, both voice and texting to contact the
men, one on one.
If we can get
the men in good spiritual shape, we renew the family. If we renew the family, we renew the parish,
soon the diocese and ultimately the Country.
We let the women be the pillars of the parish when the men should be
spiritual leaders in the parish and especially in the home. If the mother takes the spiritual lead in the
family, there’s only a 40% chance that the children will remain faithful to the
church as adults. If the father takes
the spiritual lead, that probability doubles to 80%! 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. That’s
why it’s so important that the every pastor asks a leader in the parish to be a
parish representative for the Conference.
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 21st Century evangelization at its
best. Certainly, St. Paul and the original apostles after Pentecost would
have used every marketing tool if they would have them. I think that they were marketers of the
Gospel. May we follow in their footsteps in promoting this Men's
Conference. If we could draw an
average of ten men from every parish in the diocese, this would be a big
success.
The Conference Blog
at http://diosteubment.blogspot.com
is designed to help you promote the Conference and when it is over, to improve
and maintain men’s spirituality with excellent articles. My personal blog at http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com
has many more articles on men’s spirituality.
If I can be of any help, please call me at 740-245-9404 or e-mail me at
pauls@rio.edu. Thank you so much for
your help and God bless.
*************************************************************************** St.
Joseph, model of a true man of God, pray for us and the success of the Men's
Conference
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