GROWTH REPORT

With the first month of the fraternal year wrapping up, we are off to a good start! I have been getting notices of new emembers in the diocese just about every day! Let’s continue our strong efforts to move these guys into councils. With the “Dog Days” of summer upon us the temps are heating up, but so are the opportunities to grow our councils!

The state continues the Quick Start incentive that goes through the end of August. If your council brings in 1 new member and report 4 faith in action activities by August 31, the State Council will add $25 to your SOS (Support Our Seminarians) donation when it’s made. If you bring in 2 new members and report 4 programs, the State will add $50 to your donation. Let’s see how many hundreds of dollars we can get the State Council to give our Cleveland seminarians!

August 18 is the feast day of Blessed Michael McGivney. This is one of the times of the year that we are encouraged to hold our mandatory Church Drive. If there’s not enough time left to plan the drive around his feast day, start now to plan a church drive for October around Columbus Day. If your council represents multiple parishes, think about having separate drives at each parish. You are able to report up to two drives a year, each worth 25 program points.

I was so impressed with the large list of councils in the Cleveland Diocese that made their Supreme membership goal last year! Let’s use the Shining Armor Award to get those new members active and also continue to grow our councils. The Shining Armor Award is given to any new member to do the following in his first year:

• Attend an Exemplification of Charity, Unity, & Fraternity

• Attend 3 Faith in Action activities

• Attend 3 council meetings

• Meet with a field agent or attend a Fraternal Benefits Night

• Sponsor one new member

Finally, the state would like to encourage more councils to host in person CUFDegree ceremonies. The Cleveland Diocese has the most live teams regularly holding degree ceremonies in the state, and we thank all of them for their great work. However, there are not enough. Most teams have ceremonies every other month. It would be nice to have a second team in those districts to host degrees the opposite months, so our candidates don’t have to wait so long. If you would like to host a ceremony but can’t assemble a team, the diocesan team is willing to travel. Be sure to contact your District Deputy when planning a ceremony.

Vivat Jesus, Mike Incorvati

ORDER GROWTH

As of July 29, 2023

Ohio July 1: 54,834

Ohio Growth: 87 (4.69%)

% Growth: 0.16%

Cleveland July 1: 8,162

Cleveland Growth: 17 (6.13%)

% Growth: 0.21%%

% Growth is a measure of the YTD gain compared against the July 1st membership number.

TOP-5 % GROWTH

YTD Gain against the July 1 Membership Total

1. 10792 St. Francis of Assisi (2.35%)

2. 7970 North Ridgeville (2.16%)

3. 2362 Cuyahoga Falls (1.72%)

4. 4168 Medina (1.65%)

5. 15942 St. Mary of Chardon (1.28%)

TOP-5 TOTAL NEW MEMBERS

1. 10792 St. Francis of Assisi (4)

2. 4168 Medina (3)

3. 7970 North Ridgeville (3)

4. 774 Elyria (2)

5. 2362 Cuyahoga Falls (2)

TOP-5 DISTRICTS

1. DD #24 Tom Donovan (7)

2. DD #20 DeWitt Gober (5)

3. DD #25 Mike Rauh (2)

4. DD #23 Jim Maslach, DD #19 Tom Goodhart, & DD #32 Bob Walsh (1)