Press Room ...
Here are some items which have appeared in the local press and present useful insight into the activities of menAlive.
Helping men to come to life
The menAlive outreach to Catholic
men continues to gather momentum.
SELINA HARRIS reports on its
remarkable success
THE name “menAlive” has become
synonymous with change and
renewal in the hearts and lives of
men – locally, interstate and overseas
– since its inception in 2003.
Co-founder Robert Falzon, of Brisbane, said
menAlive’s first gathering heralded what was
to come.
“We ran our very first menAlive with a
simple ad,” he said.
“We got 74 men just turn up out of the
blue.”
The result was an experience where
participants “found meaning and purpose …
in being together as men”.
Team member Peter Gabuer has journeyed
alongside Robert and a core team of faithfilled
others, bringing the menAlive outreach
to almost 3000.
“I’ve seen men’s lives transformed,” Peter
said.
“I’ve seen tough men … experience freedom
and joy through reconciliation with God.”
Throughout the course of a weekend
experience based on Scripture and with
heartfelt sharing about the struggles men face,
Peter said men committed to praying daily, to
meeting regularly beyond the retreat and also
to ongoing involvement in the Church.
With 20 retreats already booked for 2009
– significant because in five years they have
run 32 retreats in total – members of the
core group have shared their testimony and
“brought the Word of God to men in a fresh
way” as far afield as New Zealand.
They have had enquiries from South
Africa, Brazil, Canada, Papua New Guinea,
America, England and Uganda, and “ministry
teams” exist in Adelaide, Tasmania and far
north Queensland, and soon operating out of
Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.
The team’s most recent visit to Toowong
parish on November 8 and 9 spurred more
of the “menAlive meaningfulness” among
40 participants, organiser and team member
Mike Bennett said.
- “I just wanted to keep in touch with you and say thank-you for an awesome weekend retreat,” wrote one participant via email afterwards.
- “If you were to save one soul last weekend, I have to say that was mine.
- “Thanks … the Holy Spirit came and touched me.
- “I am now alive and living with a sense of purpose in life.”
Robert said the key menAlive message was
based on God’s love and His fulfilling purpose
for a faith-filled life.
“Your life matters to God,” he said when
encouraging men to attend.
“Your life matters to the Church.
“You can make a difference with your life.
Don’t waste your life on meaningless, don’t
waste your life on ‘averageness’.
“Invest your life on something that is going
to be meaningful and make a difference in the
world.
“That is your family, your children and the
Church.”
It’s impossible for Robert to select “a
highlight” of the five years.
“There are so many moments,” he said.
“Starting this ministry, writing the
material, experimenting with our methods
and having God just visit and bless our very
humble and ordinary efforts.
“… every weekend, seeing with our own
eyes men’s lives being transformed.
“ … the team of volunteers who are just
ordinary blokes rise up to the challenge,
capture the vision and do the most
extraordinary things.”
menAlive was recently asked, among
only two lay-led ministries, to address an
evangelisation conference in Sydney.
Robert spoke of the need for urgent action
to reach men, quoting numbers from Brisbane
archdiocese.
“There are approximately 600,000
Catholics,” he said of Brisbane.
“There are approximately 80,000 regular
worshippers … there are approximately 27,000
men who regularly worship.
“These numbers have to disturb us. They
must provoke us to action. There is a crisis for
men in the Church, so menAlive is called to
‘wake the sleeping giant’.”
Robert said the benefits in doing so were
ongoing.
“We believe if we can reach the man we
will reach the marriage and if we can reach
the marriage we will reach the family, and
if we can reach the family we will reach the
Church and if we can reach the Church we
will reach the nation,” he said.
menAlive also encourages ongoing
participation in the sacraments of Penance
(Confession) and Eucharist.
“The experience of Confession is very
profound for many of the men,” Robert said.
“In some cases it is the first time in many,
many years that the men have been to
Confession.
“There are many testimonies of this being a
life-changing experience for the men.
“Some of the priests that participate in
hearing confessions on the weekend say that
this is also a profound experience for them.
Imagine hearing 50 to 60 men’s Confessions
in a row.”
Robert said there were key learnings as
part of the menAlive experience including a
discovery that “sin is not the deepest part of
them”.
“They (the men) discover that they are
always sons, no matter what they do or don’t
do,” he said.
“They discover that their heart matters and
is worth fighting and dying for.
“They discover that they are not alone.
In fact there are many men who are going
through very similar things to them.
“They discover that they have a story to
tell, a role to play, a battle to fight and that
they can make a difference – that they can be
involved in something really meaningful …
and that they have a job in the Church and
that the Church needs them to wake up and
get active.
“They discover a sense of hope.”
In 2009, menAlive will launch “Sons of the
Father”, a weekend especially for fathers and
their teenage sons, something Robert says
there is “a massive demand” for.
This month they held a specifically
designed weekend for 18 to 30-year-olds on
Moreton Island.
“The world is waiting for us who have met
Jesus to proclaim with fervour and missionary
energy, that we have found the answer to all
they are looking for, we have found the object
of their heart’s restless longing, that we have
found the Messiah,” Robert said.
“The menAlive mission and its primary
ministry is … specifically to the men of the
Church and those who have drifted away
from the Church.”
( Copyright -- Catholic Leader, Brisbane, 14.12.08)
Men Encouraged to share their faith
MEN "encouraging and supporting each other" is what
participants will experience first-hand at the next menAlive weekend in Brisbane's west on November 8 and 9.
Organiser Mike Bennett said it would "lift up and deepen the faith level" of those present, with men as young as 15 invited.
"menAlive is a chance for men to walk the faith journey and to realise that we are all normal, we do all have the same
problems," he said.
Offering testimony from the menAlive team and encouraging sharing "otherwise not heard in the outside world", Mr Bennett said
the facilitators provided "a wealth of talent" adding, "We are ordinary people leading ordinary lives".
The weekend will be hosted by Toowong parish in Holy Spirit Church, Auchentlower, and parish priest Jesuit Father Peter Quin
encourages men of all faith levels and backgroundsto take part.
Organisers are also planning "menAlive Moreton Island" on December 5-7 particularly for those aged 18-35.
This weekend will combine physical activity (including fishing, snorkelling and sand tobogganing) with the spiritual side.
For details about menAlive in Auchenflower contact Mike Bennett on 0439 209 332, while Brendan Maloney (phone 0407 657 283) can
provide details on the Moreton Island trip. The menAlive initiative started in Brisbane in 2003 with the approval of Archbishop
John Bathersby.
( Copyright -- Catholic Leader, Brisbane, 26.10.08)
WYD08 - MAD08 Make a Difference
Men Alive hold 'Make A Difference' rally (MAD08) at WYD
The Men Alive movement from Brisbane Archdiocese held their MAD08 rally (Make a difference) in Sydney on the opening night of World
Youth Day.
Despite pilgrims having to make their way back from the busy Opening Mass, a crowd of 1000 came and assented to the call for God to
make a difference in their lives.
Men Alive is a movement that promotes young men becoming an active force again in the life of parishes and the wider church. One of
the movements’ chief architects, Robert Falzon, was the MC for the night.
The event combined the music of Roby Curtis and the Emmanuel Worship Band, along with AV presentations and a slate of charsimatic
speakers to give witness to the power of prayer and the graces that flow from making a difference in the church.
Fr Chris Ryan MGL, a priest well known in Queensland for his visits with the WYD Cross and Icon in 2007, began proceedings with a
reflection on how important prayer is to the young man.
“For me it began when I met people who talked as though Jesus was still alive,” Fr Ryan said.
“I said ‘you’ve got something I’m looking for’ and they said if you pray you can have it too.”
“It worked because at Uni I prayed to God to show me how to live. I prayed and prayed until he showed me the way to be a priest as a
Missionary of God’s Love (Fr Ryan’s Religious Order).
“I’ve never regretted the decision to follow God’s call and I wouldn’t have known it if I hadn’t learnt how to pray.
“If you want to make a difference then you have to be a man of prayer and have a relationship with Jesus everyday,” he said.
Fr Ryan strongly recommended Fr Ken Barker’s book ‘Young Men Rise Up’ which has a specific chapter showing young men how to pray.
The second speaker was Paul Mimis, the first of many lay people making testimonials on the night.
Paul spoke of the transforming power of the sacraments in his life, in particular reconciliation and eucharist. He recalled vividly
his attendance at the final Mass of WYD in Cologne.
“I remember during that Mass I received communion and prayed,” Mimis said.
“I looked around at the one million people there and I finally got it. It made sense.
“It was the same eucharist that I received every week, and sometimes I struggled with it, but here, on the far side of the
world, I understood that it was Jesus that brought us all together,” he said.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge, of the Canberra-Goulbourn diocese, was next on stage and reflected on the importance of the bible.
“Read that book and leaping from the bible is the recurring theme that when you are weak you are actually strong,” Archbishop Coleridge
said.
“It was John who said that there is no wound that cannot become a fountain. From the overcoming of that wound, or weakness, you can
make a big difference.
“So I would encourage you then to go and read the bible with big wide open ears, the ears of your heart,” he said.
The powerful testimony of Paul Hayes signaled the urgency of Men Alive and the brotherhood and fellowship it offers.
“I only came back to the church four years ago,” Hayes said.
“There was a void in my heart that only God could fill, and when I went to reconciliation I felt cleansed and as though a weight had
been lifted.
“Although there was a bit of backsliding to my old behaviours, I finally met a group of guys that supported me.
“I opened up and put to death all the things that had been binding and worrying me,” he said.
Henry Capillo talked about mission and how he had learned so much since making the most important decision of his life, the one to
make the Lord his saviour.
Capillo impressed upon the gathering the five most important things he had learned, namely :
- God wants us to know he trusts us
- God wants to build his kingdom using us
- God wants us to believe his will is the best for me
- God wants us to be bold, courageous and to change nations
- God wants us to commit and believe that with him we can make a difference
The night’s final speaker was Shayne Bennett, of Net Ministries, who talked about the Church.
Bennett recalled how as a young man he had learnt to be cynical about his faith.
“One brave priest had invited me to a prayer meeting at the end of Grade 12. I left and I hated it but one of my teachers had the
courage to breakthrough and asked to pray with me.
“I began to look at people differently,” he said.
Bennett unveiled one of his core beliefs that Jesus wants to transform the world and wishes to use us, not just as individuals,
but as a people.
“He’s chosen us to work together,” Bennett said.
“Unfortunately what is missing in church today is the potency of young men.”
“I know that sometimes the church is difficult – it’s like a family where some people can drive you nuts. And yet they are
still family, they’re the ones that you hold together with.
“There is a call on us, a perseverance that is necessary to get past it, but definitely there is a call on young men to stand
together with Jesus and make a difference,” Bennett said.
(Released by the Catholic Communications Office)
A new movement is seeking to encourage more men to
take an active role in the Church.
PETER BUGDEN reports in the Catholic Leader:
The founders of a new movement in Brisbane believe they are awakening one of the Church's 'sleeping giants' - men.
Peter Shakhovskoy, a married 51 year-old father of five boys who has a successful career in middle management in a large corporation,
looks around his parish church on Sunday mornings and wonders at the scarcity of men.
'Where are the men of our age' he asks himself. 'Where are the young men?'
The same questions have troubled Peter's friend, Robert Falzon, so they have decided to take up the challenge of doing something
about it.
Together, they and three others have developed a program called Men Alive, aimed at rousing male Catholics into living their faith
in a way that makes a difference.
And, even though it is only early days, it seems to be working.
One indicator Robert
offers is the success of a recent weekend, when many participants were so moved by
the discussions and reflection that they took up the offer of the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in years.
Robert said one man told him he had not been to reconciliation in 30 years and another 55 year-old said he could not remember his
last time because it was when he was a boy.
'They're real graces - that men would go back to the sacraments after so long,' Robert said.
Men Alive uses the words of St Ireneaus as its inspiration - 'God is glorified when men are fully alive'.
The group says the movement was founded 'in response to a great need evident in the hearts and lives of men and a great need in
the life of the Church.'
We believe the Church is waiting for men to wake up, to become fully alive and to take their place among the people of God and in
His world.
'We envisage men finding their purpose anew, becoming active, and so making the Church a more potent influence in the world.
'Our focus is the lost territory in the hearts of men and the impact this has on the life of the Church.'
The aim of Men Alive is to minister to men by providing opportunities for them to gather, initially for a weekend and then regularly
in small groups if they decide the experience benefits them.
It offers inspiration
, encouragement, a chance to reflect and ponder, and to share with one another in
groups about 'the real issues of their lives.'
Participants are motivated to take up the challenge and call 'to become a fully alive man', and to be a fully active member of the
Church'.
After an initial weekend, Men Alive encourages men to gather regularly in small groups to pray, read the Scriptures, write about
their reflections and for discussion.
Ultimately, this is to provide support, and encourage growth and action.
Ricci Barros, 41, of St Bernard's Parish at Upper Mt Gravatt in Brisbane>, was part of the Men Alive team that organised a recent
weekend for St Bernard's and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Sunnybank.
He said Men Alive 'offers something practical and down to earth that most Catholic guys can relate to.'
It gave an opportunity to break through the 'barbecue talk' with other fellas and to build a basis for support.
'If there are any spiritual issues you need to deal with there's a group of fellas with a similar mindset that you can come
back to.'
Ricci said the Men Alive
weekend gave him the chance to step back from a busy life to focus on spirituality
and to reflect on that.
Paul Risitano, 51, who attended the same weekend, said it was very rewarding.
He had found it valuable to put into practice the SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) method of nurturing spirituality
which was covered at the weekend.
The weekend experience had encouraged him to continue to reflect on how Scripture impacts on his daily living. He was looking
forward to being part of a group praying and reflecting on Scripture.
'Hopefully it will bring Scripture alive for us on a daily basis,' he said.
The two brains behind Men Alive,
Peter Shakhovskoy and colleague Robert Falzon, 48, who is married with four
daughters, have worked together in the Church for 20 years.
Peter has worked in a ministry for fathers and sons, and Robert has
run an annual weekend for men in Brisbane for several years.
'There's sort of a dream or energy in both of our hearts, a dream of lay people playing a part in the renewal in the life of the
Church,' Robert said.
Common issues they have noticed among men in the Church are loneliness, dealing with transition, marriage, sexuality and purpose.
Caught up in the 'busy-ness' of modern life, men often face 'a lack of meaningless', and Men Alive offers a chance to fill that gap
and to invite men into the 'task' of being part of Church renewal.
The movement is about
helping men realise the importance of that task.
Men Alive offers two simple propositions; Being spiritually alive and adult is of great personal value. Having a real relationship
with God, a prayer life, and being in relationship with other Christians will transform you. You are of great value to God, the
Church and the world. As you come 'alive', God will use you as a co-agent to transform the lives of others and the Church and world
around you.
In pondering the value of Men Alive, Robert thinks of one particular man for whom the movement has been an opportunity for change.
He's a truck driver in his late 40s. He's a guy who wants to make a difference, and if you scratch the tough surface, here's a guy
who's never had a chance to share in a room with other guys and to tell his own story and his own needs.
It's an incredible need in the Church but we see it as an incredible resource.
What if the men in the Church could wake up and be fully alive?
'We want them to be involved in the Church and to go to Mass because they see
they can make a difference,' Robert said.
The Church is no longer reaching the lapsed and lost. We see the lapsed, lost and discouraged can be reached.
'We see we can reach men.'
Peter and Robert believe Men Alive can engage and empower men.
They believe they can minister to men in the areas of prayer, fellowship, health and well-being, sexuality, fatherhood, marriage,
vocation (purpose), and contributing to the life of the Church.
As the group works on establishing the movement in Brisbane archdiocese, it also hopes it will spread to other parts of
Queensland and Australia.
One of its aims is for at least 300 men to gather for a major event in Brisbane next year as the group consolidates its work.
Peter and Robert are quick to stress that this is a developing movement and they are flexible about how it progresses.
They see the movement as a vocation for them, and they believe the Holy Spirit is at work in it.
(Copyright -- Catholic Leader, Brisbane)