The number of parish-based men’s fellowship groups in the US is also increasing (based on the significant increase each year in the men’s group resources sold by the NFCM, and the increased interest in NFCM services). Please consider partnering with the NFCM in achieving these goals. We will do our best to work with you in this important call of God for our Church.
(Maurice Blumberg is Executive Director of the 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. You may e-mail him at info@nrccm.org.)
In some of my previous articles in the Catholic Man Channel, I have written of the movement of God among Catholic Men (See A Year of Growth for the Catholic Men's Movement and National Fellowship of Catholic Men Sponsors New Channel on CE). The US bishops have described the movement of God this way:
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 stor[ies], and celebrating [the] 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. (Catholic Men's Ministry, An Introductory Report, July, 1999)
Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, in his letter of endorsement of the National Fellowship of Catholic Men, described this movement of God as follows:
I believe there is a movement of God among Catholic men and that the Holy Spirit has placed a hunger in the hearts of many men to go deeper into their Catholic faith. The support and prayers of other men within their faith groups can play a significant role in deepening their faith and living it out as Catholic men.
So what’s going on? Why this movement of God? Why does the Church need more active faith-filled Catholic men? The National Fellowship of Catholic Men (NFCM) believes that now more than ever Catholic men need to take their rightful role in their Churches, their families, and their communities. The following excerpts from the article, “Praying for More Men: What Will Bring Them Back to the Church?” by Henry G. Brinton speaks volumes as to why this is so important. The article appeared in the December 19, 2004 Washington Post and is cited with permission.
Although the church has traditionally been a male bastion — and though men do continue to occupy leadership positions in many churches — the Christian community is now a predominantly feminine place. Women outnumber men in most Protestant and Catholic congregations, and gatherings for prayer, Bible study, spiritual growth and discussion of personal concerns tend to attract more women than men….
On the one hand, this is a positive development after centuries of male control. But on the other, it may be causing men to opt out of involvement in the church, which will have negative effects not only on their own moral development and sense of social responsibility, but also on that of their children and grandchildren, especially boys. And this in turn may have larger repercussions. If boys do not receive character education in communities of faith — education that comes largely through observing and imitating male role-models — society as a whole is bound to suffer.
In recent months, it has become clear to me that men are looking for a different church experience than women are. “Men are prone to 'do' community, while women are comfortable with 'being' community,” says my friend Dan Napolitano, a Roman Catholic layman in Gaithersburg who wishes that churches were “more focused on activities that engage men in reflection through purposeful activity.”
I'm discovering that the key to engaging men in the life of my church is not to ask less of them and make them more comfortable — it's to ask more of them and maybe even make them uncomfortable….
Church growth expert Lyle Schaller observes that in 1952, the typical Protestant worship service drew an adult congregation that was 53 percent female and 47 percent male. By 1986, the female proportion was closer to 60 percent, and the men down to 40; in many congregations the split was even wider. These losses continued through the 1990s, and a 2002 survey of more than 300,000 worshipers in more than 2,000 congregations found that Catholic services are now 65 percent female, mainline Protestant services 64 percent female and conservative Protestant services 61 percent female.
But does this imbalance have any real impact on the health of the church — and beyond that, the community? I'm convinced it does. An intriguing Swiss study from 1994 found that the religious practice of the father of a family determines the future churchgoing habits of the children. Thirty-three percent of children whose parents both attend services regularly will keep up the practice. But only 2 percent of those whose Dad is non-practicing will continue to go to church, even if Mom is a dedicated worshiper. And if Dad worships and Mom doesn't, the percentage of children becoming regular worshipers goes up to 44 percent. And consider this: A 1997 study by Northwestern University and University of Michigan researchers found that church attendance by fathers is associated with higher levels of educational attainment for both sons and daughters.
When men are involved in church, they develop a set of relationships beyond the workplace and its competitive environment. These relationships are critical to male well-being, because they provide not only acceptance and encouragement, but also accountability — they challenge men to remain faithful to their families, friends and communities. I believe that if men aren't honored for their efforts and encouraged when they struggle, they tend to shirk responsibilities and pursue personal pleasures, leaving behind broken families and communities bereft of strong male role models. Society suffers if it is full of weak and wandering men — women don't have trustworthy partners, children grow up without fathers, and young men lose a sense of what it means to be a real man.
So there are clear benefits to male involvement in parish life — but this alone is not going to bring men through the church doors. Gone are the days when men and women attended church out of a feeling of community obligation or the belief that everlasting salvation depended on Sunday morning attendance. Women still come because they're attracted to ritual and community life, but this isn't necessarily attractive to action-oriented men. To draw members today, churches have to create opportunities that meet people's personal needs — including experiences that appeal to male sensibilities….
As I said in the article, A Year of Growth for the Catholic Men's Movement, the NFCM hopes to see the lives of tens of thousands of Catholic men in 2005 impacted through its support of Catholic men's fellowships, conferences, and men's groups; through leadership training workshops; and through the sale and distribution of thousands of men's group resources and training materials. An ambitious NFCM goal is to have Catholic men’s conferences and Catholic men’s fellowships (CMFs) in every one of the approximately 200 dioceses in the US, and men’s fellowship groups in every one of the 19,000 parishes. A few years ago, this would have been an unrealistic, if not impossible, goal. Yet in 2004, there were 30 regional conferences, many of which covered multiple dioceses. In 2005, with new conferences also planned for Boston, Phoenix, Canton, Ohio, Tampa, Florida, and northern Virginia, we will have conferences covering approximately one-quarter to one-third of the dioceses. And although there may be many dioceses without conferences or CMFs, the task does not seem as daunting as it once was.
