Are you looking to start a Catholic Men’s Fellowship group at your parish? You can do it! We offer the following suggestions to help you get started.
Preparation
- Review the principles and ideas on this web site
- Ideally, two men should share responsibility for running the initial group, to help spread the workload
- Coordinate efforts with the pastor or parish staff if your group will be part of a parish. Don’t necessarily expect the pastor or the staff to lead or participate in the group. But, it’s critical nevertheless to communicate and coordinate with them
- Contact and attend meetings of an existing Catholic Men’s Fellowship in your area, if one exists
- Attending a Catholic Men’s Conference can provide information, contacts, and inspiration that’s helpful in starting a group
Invitation
- Personally invite your Pastor/Priest to attend gatherings. It’s key that he attend as one of “the men” and not feel like he’s coming to present material. Of course, his final blessing is vital, and a reason for him to attend is the opportunity for him to get to know the men of his parish on a more personal level
- Invite men to attend the fellowship meeting. A personal invitation is by far the most effective
- Speak to other groups at the parish. Men who are Knights of Columbus or coming out of Christ Renews His Parish and Life in the Spirit Seminars are potentially good candidates for parish fellowship groups
- Communicate about future meetings in the Parish Bulletin and by email to participants or other likely men
Implementation
- Distribute each meeting plan a few days or so ahead of time. Firstly, this ensures the Leader(s) put a plan together. It also lets the men know that preparation has occurred and their time is likely to be well-spent
- Convey to the group that the Leader serves as the “GATEKEEPER” for a particular meeting and, as such, has the authority to keep things on track — even interrupting if necessary. That’s especially helpful if a man is going far afield with his comments, or, monopolizing the discussion
- Discuss the vision and purpose of Catholic Fellowship at the initial meetings. The meeting principles and guidelines should be established as soon as possible, including the need for strict confidentiality
- Remember that the size of the group is not important. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” (Mt 18:20) Functioning parish groups typically have between 4 and 15 members