Catholic Networkers Manifesto

Catholic Networkers is comprised only of true Catholics that believe in living a life of abundance.

By “true Catholic” I mean you:

• Follow the tenants of the teachings of the Pope and the Magisterium.
• Attend Mass weekly.
• Tithe to the Church.
• Believe in the Trinity.
• Believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
• Believe in the True Presence of the Eucharist.
• Support life, PERIOD.
  

By “abundance” I mean abundance in all aspects of life and business:

• Work
• Money
• Thought
• Prayer
• Family
• Play
• Health.
  

Members of Catholic Networkers are PRODUCERS and CONTRIBUTORS, not MOOCHERS or COMPLAINERS.

Purpose

The purpose of our community is to foster faith and business growth and prosperity first among ourselves, and then in our communities and then the world, by praying, learning, brainstorming, masterminding, networking and when mutually beneficial, purchasing from and and one another.

When our fundamentals are strong, when our foundation is solid, when our roots are deep, it is then we will grow appropriately.

Support: Faith

We are Catholics first. We will pray together and for one another. We will be active in ministry in our local communities. We will learn, know and grow in our faith together.

Support: Business

We will encourage and support one another in business. We will give more than we take. We will provide value and not be ashamed, embarrassed or hesitant to charge a fair price for our products and services. We will refer business to one another when appropriate but we must all EARN the referrals.

Prosperity

We will track the total revenue, profits and resulting tithes and donations, which can be time, treasure OR talents, that are generated both between and among members as well as from ideas/products/services acquired from members and put to use outside of our group.

During these challenging life, economic and political times it is more crucial than ever to “dig our wells before we are thirsty”. By that I mean we must get to know one another so we know that we are not alone, that God loves us, that our neighbors love us, that life is indeed good, that God did make man and woman in “their” image and that at our cores we are good, caring, loving beings brought into this world to help share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes, when everything seems to be going against us, it helps to have someone we trust remind us that God does not do “to” us, only “for” us. That despite the trying times we may be facing now it is temporary and “this too shall pass.” Not only will it end but these times that cause us to strain and exert effort are actually strengthening and preparing us for something bigger and better in our future.

Growth

We will invite and recruit fellow Catholic business people around the world to join us daily. We will have:

• 1,000 members by December 31, 2011
• 10,000 members by December 31, 2012
• 50,000 members by December 31, 2013
• 100,000 members by December 31, 2014
  

As amazing as those numbers may appear to you let me give you a few statistics that will help you realize that those growth numbers are actually timid. There are over 67,500,000 Catholics in the US alone. (We are 22% of the U.S. population.) There are over 1 billion Catholics worldwide.

The U.S. has 195 archdioceses and dioceses and 18,634 parishes. 3,238 parishes do not have a priest and would benefit from a faith, financial, and community perspective by having access to Catholic Networkers. In 2007 alone there were 92,975 adults that were received into Full Communion with the Catholic Church in the U.S. Do you think those new members would benefit from belonging to a group such as ours?

Industry: Networking, Both Social and Business Social Networking, a.k.a, LinkedIn, Facebook.

Facebook has 750 million active users as of July 2011. In under five years LinkedIn had members from all Fortune 500 corporations and an average of 25 new members join every minute. From 2010-2011 membership grew 61% to 116 million and they have revenues of $121 million.

The Business Networking Market

Business Networking International (BNI) is in 41 countries with over 120,000 members in over 5,400 chapters. In 2010 BNI passed over 6.5 million referrals, which resulted in a total of $2.8B in sales revenue for the members.

LeTip employs 15 Regional Directors who oversee more than 525 chapters in the U.S. and Canada.

Service Organizations

Rotary has over 1.2 million members in 32,292 clubs in 169 countries. Lions Club has over 1,289 million members in 44,467 clubs in 202 countries and geographic areas.

Apologetics/Adult Catholic Faith Formation

A Google search for “Catholic Apologetics” generates 438,000 results. Catholic Answers, one of the largest online resources for Catholic apologetics and evangelization, has over 200,000 members on their forum alone.

Transparency

We are not a secret society but you MUST be a practicing Catholic in full communion with the Church to be a member.

Salvation

The salvation of our souls is our ultimate goal. It is best achieved together as a community because God is community. That is why we read God saying in Genesis 1:26, “Let us create man in our own image.” God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is community formed and manifested through love.

God created us to spend all eternity in heaven loving and worshipping Him. When we bring new life into the world and/or bring others to Him we are sharing in His plan. So come together here at Catholic Networkers. Grow your business. Grow your faith. Grow the number of occupants in heaven. Together we can change the world.

May God Bless You,

Wes Schaeffer

Founder, Catholic Networkers