Dear Brothers (and Sisters who also read the Catholic Man Channel):
I pray that this wonderful Advent season is full of grace for you. Addtionally, during the upcoming celebration of our Savior’s birth, may you have a very Merry Christmas and God’s richest blessings on you and your family in the coming New Year.
As we approach the end of this year, I wanted to provide you with an update on the Catholic men’s movement. As I have shared in some previous articles on the Catholic Man Channel, God is clearly moving among Catholic men. This has been confirmed by our bishops and by the significant growth of our movement. I am also pleased to let you know that the National Fellowship of Catholic Men's Vision — Catholic Men, Linked as Brothers in Jesus Christ and Called to Bring Him to Others — is being fulfilled! The prayers and support of Catholic men like you are helping to bring this to fruition. In particular, we are making great progress toward our goal of bringing Catholic men’s conferences to all of the 200 US dioceses and bringing men’s fellowship groups to each of the 19,000 parishes. The NFCM is also providing resources, training and leadership in support of this goal.
I believe the continued growth of the Catholic men’s movement is fulfilling the words from the US Bishops in their report, Catholic Men's Ministry, An Introductory Report, of July 1999.
“From Los Angeles to Chicago, from Manchester to Miami there is a growing hunger for God among Catholic men. They are meeting together in large and small groups, sharing their burdens, listening to each other’s stories, and celebrating Eucharist. Call it a revival, an awakening. Call it a work of the Holy Spirit at the grassroots level. The emergence of new ministries with men is a welcome development in the Church.”
Before I go over the highlights of what is occurring in our movement, I want to provide a few of the many testimonies we receive.
The first three are from the Philippines, Zambia and Canada. Because of international access to the Internet, the ministry of the NFCM is not only impacting the Catholic men in the US, but all over the world.
Of course, we continue to receive hundreds of testimonies from Catholic men in the US. Here are a few recent ones.“Congratulations to NFCM for what it has accomplished! Without your knowing about it, my community here in the Philippines (The Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen & Professionals — Bacolod City South Chapter) have been drawing its small group discussion guides from your resources. So I guess you're not just ministering to 200 dioceses and 19,000 parishes after all!”
Jimmy Montalvo
Chapter Head, BCBP Bacolod South Chapter, Philippines“Thanks be to God for your inspiring articles on the Catholic Man Channel, and the tremendous work that the National Fellowship of Catholic Men is doing in empowering Catholic men to take their right position in life. We find the work of your organization of great importance in the propagating of faith. I wish to inform that I found your two articles very befitting for our men’s conference which we have organized here in Zambia from the 6–8 May 2005 under the theme: “Catholic Men can increase or decrease community spirit.” Your articles are a great source of our formation weekend. Zambia has 10 dioceses and we expect about 60 delegates from the countryside. It’s the first time that we are thinking of putting up a council for men in parish/deanery/diocese and later we hope to have a National body.”
Gerald Tembo
National Council for the Laity Chairman, Zambia“I live in Canada and I have ordered books from your website previously. It is a great site and a great resource for Catholic Men.”
Lee Pion
Canada
“I'm entering my second year in the permanent deaconate formation program in the Diocese of Buffalo. Before my first Catholic men’s conference two years ago, I never believed I could make a difference in the Church. Now I know I can if I join in prayer and action with other men from all walks of life. Praise God for the Spirit that moved you to start this organization. Please let me know how I can be of further service to you and the Catholic men’s movement.”Receiving testimonials like these encourage and inspire us to continue with the ministry of the NFCM. I hope they were encouraging to you as well.
Mark Bofinger
Buffalo, NYI am very excited about getting Men’s Ministry going in our parish. It looks like you have some great resources to make it work.
Robert Tunmire
Waco, TX“We started our Men's Group with the sponsorship of the Knights of Columbus. About 2/3 of the participants are members of the Knights of Columbus. We actually had one man join the group last fall, who has been a regular participant, and then actually joined the Church this Easter. I must tell you that the Signposts books we got from your website have been fabulous, for not only group discussion, but for personal reflection as well. I am personally quite involved in the Cursillo Movement and after having gotten a little more than half way through the Signposts book, must say that the authors must have been involved with the Cursillo Movement.”
Mike Schreck
Overland Park, Kansas“Our men’s group (Emmaus) has received much spiritual formation from your resources.”
Enrique Dominguez
Miami Lakes, FL
Below are highlights of our progress to date in achieving the NFCM vision and goals. I hope it will inspire and encourage you to continue or even deepen your involvement in the Catholic men’s movement.
Catholic Man Channel: As you many of you are aware, since August of 2004 the National Fellowship of Catholic Men (NFCM) has sponsored the Catholic man Channel on the Catholic Exchange website. Since that time, we have provided over 60 faith-building articles for Catholic men. From the many emails and telephone calls we have received, we know that many Catholic men have personally benefited from these articles.
Conferences: Thirty-seven Catholic men’s conferences, from San Diego to Boston, were conducted in 2005 — compared to 30 in 2004. This included new conferences in Phoenix, AZ, Boston, MA, Pittsburgh, PA, Canton, OH, Brandon (Tampa), FL, Saginaw, MI, and Manassas, VA (these are all listed on the NFCM website). In 2006, over 40 conferences are planned.
Regional Catholic Men’s Fellowships: The NFCM is supporting 45 regional Catholic men’s fellowships (CMFs). This is more than double the 20 regional CMFs that existed in 2002. These regional CMFs support single or multiple dioceses/cities, and some are statewide as well. We hope to be supporting over 50 regional CMFs in 2006.
Parish-Based Faith Groups: We are supporting several thousand parish-based Catholic men’s fellowship groups across the United States. In the Cincinnati Archdiocese, for example, there are almost 200 Catholic men’s fellowship groups now established. If you are not in a fellowship group, consider joining one or starting one. Contact the NFCM for support.
Resources: The NFCM offers twenty-seven resources for Catholic men’s faith groups, as well as four training materials for starting and leading these groups. These are all available on the NFCM website. (There was a time when Catholic men’s groups had to look to Promise Keepers or other Protestant sources for resources to use in their meetings.) In 2006, some of our new resources will include a DVD-based workshop on evangelism and a workbook on discipleship.
All of this work of the NFCM within the Catholic community has clearly stimulated the continued growth of the men’s movement and has impacted, and will continue to impact, the lives of tens of thousands of Catholic men. Significantly, we believe it has also helped raise interest in Vocations. For example, at the most recent Catholic Men’s Conference in Detroit, 23 men signed up for specific information at the Vocations booth.
Once again, may God richly bless you and your family during the Advent and Christmas seasons and in the New Year.
Maurice Blumberg
Executive Director
National Fellowship of Catholic Men
(This article is part of NFCM's sponsorship of the Catholic Man channel. Contact NFCM at P.O. Box 86381, Gaithersburg, MD 20886 or email them at info@nfcmusa.org.)
SPECIAL NOTE: On the National Fellowship of Catholic Men website, we have created a new category: called, “SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR LOVED ONES.” This category has eight resources that are not just intended for Catholic men, but make great Christmas gifts for family and friends. The NFCM also offers twenty seven resources, as well as four training materials for starting and leading Catholic men’s groups. To access these and other resources, just click on RESOURCES or TRAINING. A variety of special free gifts are also being offered, between now and the first of the year for large orders (over $50 and over $100) and donations of $25, $50, and $100. Go to the NFCM website for more details. The NFCM is also offering a free commemorative magazine on the life of Pope John Paul II (while supplies last) and a free devotional magazine from The Word Among Us with every NFCM website order. In addition, we still have a Buy Three, Get One Free special on all resources ordered directly from the NFCM via the online shopping cart.
