Parish Captains

We rely on parish captains to recruit attendees within their parish, request a bulletin announcement, post/handout flyers, and help organize carpools/transportation.

SIGN-UP TO BE A PARISH CAPTAIN: Please CLICK HERE.
[Note: A new browser window will open, and you'll be taken to the registration form.]

Parish Captain Contacts
Bob Gohn
Andreas Widmer
Email them at: captains@catholicboston.com

Parish Captain Promotional Materials
A Parish Captain training session was held on Saturday, January 9, 2010. A number of great promotional tools were shared and developed. Please CLICK HERE to access the promotional materials.

Role of the Parish Captain
The Boston Catholic Men’s and Women’s Conferences couldn’t happen without the hard work and generous service of many parish and regional captains. The main reason why men and women attend the Conferences is because of a “tap on the shoulder” invite from someone they know. Most of these invites will come within a parish. We would like at least one parish captain in every parish in the Archdiocese (and as many as possible in parishes in surrounding dioceses). There are no prerequisites or qualifications necessary other than a belief that the Men’s and Women’s Conferences are a good idea and the willingness to share that with your fellow parishioners. Please step up – we need you.

Activities of Successful Parish Captains
We encourage Parish Captains to take a high-frequency approach (try to ensure each person hears about the Conference in at least 3 ways). Here are a few ways that have worked for Parish Captains in previous years.

Bulletin announcement
Bulletin inserts (or handing out brochures or business cards) – best to put your contact info on the form.
Brochures/Fliers posted on bulletin boards in a church, parish hall, rectory, etc.
Personal word-of-mouth invites at Church and phone calls to friends – MOST EFFECTIVE
Asking others in the parish to work with you to recruit a certain number of attendees each (“deputize them”)
Asking your spouse and family members to spread the word
Asking Priests to mention it as an announcement at the end of mass (if that is a custom in your parish)
Email with a link to the www.CatholicBoston.com website.
Put a mention in your local town newspaper if they have a “calendar of events”
Request time on your local Cable Access Channel and run a video of last year’s Conference (contact Conference organizers for more info)
Speak for 2 minutes at any large organizations/meetings in your parish
Make it easy to sign up immediately (have pens and registration forms)
Ask each person that signs up to try to bring at least one other person (father, son, brother, friend) or to buy them a ticket as a gift.

We encourage parish captains to set a goal for parish recruitment and encourage men/women to join with you to try to meet or beat that goal! Possible parish goals:

Big parish – Fill 2 buses with 40-50 attendees each
Mid-size parish – Fill 1 bus with 50 attendees
Smaller parish – Fill a smaller bus with 15-25 attendees
Some big, active parishes might want to shoot to bring the most men and women to the Conference.

We also encourage parish captains to push for early registration (particularly with groups):

Pricing is discounted for early signup and for groups
Once people sign up, often they’ll mention it to others – so early signees usually lead to more attendees.
Some parish captains actually coordinate the taking of money and they place a big group order.
The Conferences’ logistical team benefits GREATLY from having people sign up early (so we appreciate any help you can give us on that).

We welcome men or women in parishes to serve as a captain for both conferences if there are no other captains in a parish. Ideally, though there can be a few men and a few women working together in parishes to invite as many parishioners as possible.
SIGN-UP TO BE A PARISH CAPTAIN: Please CLICK HERE.
[Note: A new browser window will open, and you'll be taken to the registration form.]