AMDG
Dear Parish Rep:
Thank you so much for having attended past Men's Conferences of the
Diocese of Steubenville. It's a real sacrifice to make the trip all the
way from Ironton. That's well over a three hour trip. That makes
you both ideal parish representatives to promote the Diocesan Men's Day of
Renewal in Ironton. It's very important for the Ironton churches to
participate because that solidifies the diocese and gives it greater
unity. There's little time left before the March 7 Conference. But
if you, Randy can't coordinate the promotion as the parish representative at
St. Joseph's or you, Jim in St. Lawrence, or vice versa please find someone
else and inform me.
Since 2010, 11 men from Ironton have attended at least one Men's Conference.
Five attended last year. Hopefully you can improve on that number.
By comparison 37 men from St. Louis Church Gallipolis attended since 2010 and 9
last year, but we're less than two hours away and I try to approach every
man in the parish one on one with a sales pitch.
You can adapt the following for a bulletin blurb:
1. Diocesan
Men's Day of Renewal Saturday, March 7 from 9 am
– 4 pm at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption in
Marietta. In the
first talk Dr. Hahn will draw upon his conversion experience to help us to be
more effective in the New Evangelization, which applies to
all of us. Hopefully the men will leave
with a sense of mission to show fallen away Catholics within their extended
families and circle of friends what they are missing by drifting away. Every Catholic has a part, small or large, in
bringing non-Catholics and unchurched friends to the Faith. Critical is selling them on the
faith........Why be Catholic despite the scandal we have suffered through?
2.
Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal Saturday, March 7 from 9 am
– 4 pm at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption in
Marietta. In the second talk Dr. Hahn will draw upon his experience
as the father of six, including two in the seminary. Scott Hahn can give us some great tips on how
to make your home a domestic church as advocated by St. Pope John Paul
II. Certainly Scott Hahn has had his struggles as we all do in forming our
families and keeping our marriages healthy. He has given considerable
thought to the Domestic Church in writing his book, "The First
Society", which today is in a grave crisis.
Attached to assist you are: 1) Conference Brochure; 2)
Registration Forms; 3) Additional Information; 4) Sample Bulletin
Announcements; 5) Promotion Ideas; 6) Functions of the Parish Representative;
7) Sample Bulletin Insert; 8) Sample Sign Up Sheet to put in back of the church.
Below is a write-up on the functions of the parish representative and
tips.
Thank you so much for your
help and God bless.
CRUCIAL
FUNCTIONS OF THE PARISH REPRESENTATIVE
SET THE MEN ON FIRE AND THE PARISH IS RENEWED AND
ULTIMATELY THE ENTIRE DIOCESE. EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD STARTS AT THE GRASS ROOTS……FIRST IN YOUR FAMILY
AND IN YOUR PARISH.
The most
critical aspect of promoting the Steubenville Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal is at
the parish level…….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, don't look at
the brochures and pamphlets in the back of the church, and hardly listen to the
end of Mass announcements.
Since
the Parish Representative cannot talk to every man even in small parishes, he
can use all the help he can get to reach every man in the parish. Thus we recommend that the Parish Rep form
a team of men who have attended previous Conferences.
With the abundance of fallen
away and drifting Catholics, the pastor is happy that the men make it to Mass
at all. There’s a lot of evangelization to be done and the pastor can’t do it
alone. He needs help. One vehicle for deepening the faith of the
men is mobilizing the guys to attend the Diocesan Men’s Day of Renewal. We have to overcome inertia: “I don't know if
I can go; 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.
The Parish Council should make the Men’s Conference, and the Women’s
Conference, and the Youth Rally an important part of the parish pastoral plan
and program.
Also
crucial 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 sports event 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. 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.
Dr. Scott Hahn
MARKETING THE 2020 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
23 at St. Stephen’s Church in Caldwell (off of Exit 25 on I-77 near
Marietta) from 9 am to 4 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 my 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. Thus the parish rep should form a team of men
to it, preferably those who have attended previous conferences.
At this year’s Men’s Conference we have Mark Nehrbas, a speaker at many conferences. He has fought a six year battle against an
aggressive form of stomach cancer. He
went to Lourdes and was healed. He will
give his testimony of what he went through.
This is very relevant to us because we’re all going to suffer sooner or
later. He’s going to give us tips on how
to cope with suffering when our time comes.
He will show how suffering can make us saints. By uniting our cross with the Lord’s cross
and offering it up to God as a dynamic prayer for our intentions, suffering can
be very productive. It will be a great
day of enjoyable fellowship and spiritual invigoration. We’ll go together in the parish van on
Saturday March 23 at 6:30 am. We’d love
to have you (and your son) join us. Can
we count on you? Here’s our conference
brochure.
That’s my
sales pitch (10 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 like to have three
articles in the Steubenville Catholic Register.
Go to the diocesan website (www.diosteub.org)
and 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. Our
Bishop will give a talk and preside at Mass.
Useful Resources. You and the parish representatives you appoint
can utilize our Conference Blog at http://diosteubmen.blogspot.com. The 2020 series of resources begins with Blog
#184) A
General Overview of the 2020 Steubenville Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal; 185)
Form to Place an Ad in the Program Booklet; 186) Diocesan Press Release #1:
Cancer Survivor to Show How Suffering Can Make You a Saint; 187) Possible Short
Announcements For the Church Bulletin; 188) Promotion Ideas; 189)
Functions & Crucial Importance of the Parish Rep; 190) Sample Sign Up
Sheet; 191) Sample Bulletin Insert & Facebook Entry; 192) Diocesan
Press Release #2: Urgently Needed: A Few Good Men to Promote the Men's
Conference; 193) Backing of the Pastor Crucial to the Men's
Conference; 194) Role of the Deacon in Promoting the Men's
Conference; 195) Example of an After Mass Promotional Talk By a Layman; 196)
Examples of Possible Pastor Announcements Supporting the Men's
Conference; 197) Diocesan Press Release #3: Men Asked to Make a Lenten Sacrifice
to Attend the Men's Conference; 198) Mobilization of the Knights of Columbus
Councils to Attend & Help Promote the Men’s Conference; 199)
Invitation to Parishes in West Virginia to Attend the Men's Conference; 200)
Invitation to College Students to Attend the Men's Conference; 201) Press
Release to Catholic Newspapers; 202) Press Release to Secular
Newspapers; and 203) My Ad in the 2020 Program Booklet; Numbers 184–203 will be added in the next few days.
They correspond to numbers 160-179 of 2019 and 136-155 of 2018 which are similar in principle to the
current year.
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
(attached), and #7 are on the Conference Blog at http://diostuebmen.blogspot.com. They will be e-mailed to you for possible use
and adaptation to make it easier.
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 #163 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). Before
approaching each man, ask the Holy Spirit to help you choose good prospects and
say a silent prayer for success. After
talking to a prospect, give him a brochure as a reminder to decide and then
register. If he won’t commit himself,
then ask again at another time. 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. If one of the men
cannot pay your parish or our steering committee will absorb the cost.
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. Enlist the help
of a couple of other men; get the local council of the Knights of Columbus to
help; even better, form a team of guys who have attended previous
conferences. That would enable you 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 other 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. He also can
simply show up at the door and say that he can’t pay. 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 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.
*********************************************************************************
St. Joseph, model of a true man of God, pray for us
and the success of the Men's Conference
