Why Men's Conference?

Why the Archdiocese of New Orleans Men’s Conference?

The State of Men in the Contemporary Culture

Men in our contemporary culture aren’t doing very well. They are lonelier[i], more depressed, and more prone to addiction and suicide[ii] than perhaps at any time in our country’s history. Especially among younger men, the tendency to “check out” from dating[iii], from higher education[iv], from work and career advancement[v], and from religious participation[vi] is growing. Instead, men are increasingly drawn into the “virtual” world of online media, gaming, and pornography[vii].

The result is not good for men’s physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Numerous recent studies, including findings from the U.S. Surgeon General’s office which surveyed research from across multiple psychological and medical fields, found that loneliness not only contributes to psychological difficulties like increased depression and anxiety but is also a major contributor to problems in our physical health. “The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”[viii]  While the negative effects of social disconnection hold true for both men and women, women are historically far more likely to participate and find social connection within the life of the Church while men continue struggle to find reasons to engage.

As Bad for the Church as it is for Men

The Church, as a result, loses the unique creativity, resourcefulness, and focus that men in a particular way bring to the endeavors they care about. It is obvious to everyone that the Church has, for some time now, experienced a continually deepening crisis in vocations. The reasons for this are many and complex, and the debate surrounding these reasons rightly occupies an outsize share of our attention. Whatever the particular reasons, the fact of the vocations crisis alone is an important sign of the growing unwillingness of men in our culture to dedicate their to lives to Christ in service to the Church. What can be easily overlooked is that a life dedicated to the love of God and service to neighbor is the vocation of every man, of every person, not just of the clergy. When regular lay men become increasingly “checked out” of their faith, the Church’s capacity to fulfill her mission in the world suffers.

The life of the Church relies on the engagement and authentic witness of Christian men. These men rely on their friends, their family, their community, and their Church, to draw out from them their unique capacity for authentically masculine responsibility. Men become better versions of themselves, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, when they exercise their natural capacity for caring for others. What father does not work ten times harder for the child he loves and who needs him than he would just for himself? What man is not happier doing a favor for a good friend, even if it requires a genuine sacrifice, than he would be comfortably sitting at home alone in front of a screen?

Our Aim and the Strategy

The aim of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Men’s Conference is twofold. First, to inspire men to engage more intentionally in the life of the Church through the powerful witness and encouragement of other Catholic men. Secondly, to inspire the Church, from the lowest, most basic level up, to engage in sustained outreach with men that is conducive to men’s authentic personal and spiritual growth and consistent with the particular needs of the local circumstance.

It would be counterproductive to relieve men, small groups, and parishes of the responsibility to decide what exactly should be done for them in their local context. To do so would encourage men to remain passive rather than active and creative contributors to the life of the Church.  The key is the engagement of each man’s, and each community’s, God given capacity for genuine leadership, responsibility, and friendship without unnecessary interference from “higher levels” of responsibility.  Even the smallest group of three or four men, who commit to regularly meeting together for coffee in order to seriously pursue Christian friendship together, powerfully addresses the problem and opens their capacity for a unique, creative, and fruitful contribution to the life of the Church authentically inspired by the Spirit. These guys become “checked-in” and we have confidence that they will not neglect their particular vocations, their friends and their family, or the needs of the Church that they might be called to supply. They do not need higher levels of authority to tell them what exactly to do to be successful.
Our strategy, then, that we can practically supply at the level of the Archdiocese, is encouragement and a powerful witness to the value of these individual efforts. The gathering of the 1,000+ Catholic men of the ANO Men’s Conference, to pray together, to celebrate the sacraments, to be encouraged and exhorted by quality Catholic speakers, and to become inspired by one another’s presence, is a powerful symbol and a clear message to men that their witness and their participation is needed and necessary.   Their efforts to cooperate with God to become better versions of themselves, matters for the life of the Church. For, as the Church teaches, “if we continue to love one another and to join in praising the Most Holy Trinity – all of us who are sons of God and form one family in Christ – we will be faithful to the deepest vocation of the Church.”[ix] 

Conclusions

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133).

Robert Waldinger, the third director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest and most comprehensive longitudinal study on human flourishing ever attempted, said this about their findings:

“Close personal connections are significant enough that if we had to take all 85 years of the Harvard Study and boil it down to a single principle for living, one life investment that is supported by similar findings across a variety of other studies, it would be this: Good relationships keep us healthier and happier. Period. If you want to make one decision to ensure your own health and happiness, it should be to cultivate warm relationships of all kinds.”[x]  

It should be a source of comfort to every Christian, that 85 years of intense study at Harvard demonstrates that Christ’s demands of us are also the most reliable path to our happiness.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

With the Archdiocese of New Orleans Men’s Conference, we are trying our best to make this investment for the wellbeing of our men and for the renewal of the life of our local church. We hope you will join us as we set on this path once again. Please pray for us and our ministry. If you are able to help us either financially or through promotion of the Conference, we would be appreciate your assistance. 

If there is some way to help you be more successful in your outreach to men in your local community, please do not hesitate to reach out.