These are some of the ideas that came up in the workshop :
How to foster friendship in the circle
- Prepare get together well:
- Have someone other than the talk-giver lead the announcements
- Have a snack after get-together
- Foster friendship outside circle
- Pass along articles to read to others in the circle. Sometimes that is a topic for conversation at the circle.
- Helpful to have WhatsApp group or something similar
- Organize activities for people in the circle. That may include children/family. For example: camping and fishing
- Keep in mind different activities coming up (recollections, workshops), and try to get the cooperators to go together
- Encourage guys to find our whether they share a hobby
- Ensure everyone is included in conversations
How to get cooperators more involved
- Collaborate with them in initiatives (get them started). Good experience in The Woodlands, where Mariano started the father-son with a cooperator, and then the latter became the leader.
- Hold regular workshop for cooperators every six months.
- As many fun nights as cooperator circles (reading groups, scotch nights, sports)
- A good book to help with spiritual direction is: “Through Wind and Waves”, Francis Carvajal.
Facilitate one-on-one contacts and spiritual direction
- One-on-one conversations are a great help to bring cooperators up the inclined plane.
- Prepare conversations in advance by thinking and praying about them in advance.
- Follow up with people and ask them to bring their friends
- A good part of helping cooperators and others is passing on our own experience
- Before someone joins the circle, explain the expectation that the person giving the circle will get-together with him regularly (monthly?)
- com is a tool to facilitate making appointments for spiritual direction with the priest. It is being used by Fr. Paul and the young pro group.
- The group in The Woodlands has held Christmas dinners and a yearly picnic for everyone in contact in that area
Help make circles attractive
- Articulate clearly the commitment of attending a circle
- Organize Family gatherings
- Take very good care of the get-together of the circle
- Snack after recollection/circles
- Personal invitations/reminders are essential to help people be regular. Mass emails are not effective, since often they are not read