CANFP Members Guide Our Course

I believe the first time I met CANFP Member Tom Spencer, and his wife Cheley, was almost twenty years ago, when they spoke for us at the four day convocation CANFP provided on God’s Design for Married Love, for almost 100 clergy of the Diocese of Fresno. And now, almost 20 years later, two of their sons are themselves priests! In this special Year of St. Joseph, this edition features the insights of Tom, along with his son Fr. Matthew Spencer, and son-in-law Kevin Darr. Their devotion to St. Joseph shines brightly in their lives, and even though they spoke primarily from their perspective as men, I found many takeaways for my own life.

It has always been abundantly clear to me, that our members and supporters are CANFP’s greatest resource! In that spirit, we recently surveyed our members/supporters, seeking to benefit from their collective wisdom and experience. In such ventures, one is always warned to expect a low response rate—people are busy, emails get lost in mounds of correspondence (if they even make it to the inbox), and the best of intentions to respond are often overshadowed by other obligations. But the commitment of our members was apparent not only in the excellent response rate (about 50%!), but also in the thoughtful and comprehensive content, and passion for the mission of CANFP to share the good news of NFP throughout California!

Indeed, when asked why they support CANFP, the clearly dominant motivation for membership is to support the vital work of CANFP, with most rating that as THE “extremely important!” reason for being members! That explains their faithful support, with the majority of respondents having been members for ten years or more! While they do acknowledge as well the importance of the networking and benefits they receive as members, clearly what motivates our supporters, is not what they GET out of CANFP, but what they can GIVE, through the work of CANFP.

Survey respondents reflected the range of our membership, with 54% being professional members, including NFP teachers, clergy, physicians, and 32% are invested on a more personal level, as individual users and advocates. We also benefitted from feedback and encouragement of the staff of both Archdioceses in California (Los Angeles and San Francisco) and two parishes. The diversity of roles of respondents alone says much about the mission of CANFP to unite these constituencies to achieve our common goals. It also speaks to the challenge of doing so, as the needs of NFP users are different of course then the needs of a parish member or a physician, and at times these differences were reflected in their priorities and responses. And yet, despite our different roles, we do indeed share a common purpose, and there was very clear consensus on top priorities. See the insert in this edition, for a summary of the feedback of our California NFP community.

Some expressed interest in discussing further their responses to our outreach, and we are in the process of reaching out to those respondents, to dialogue further regarding how to most effectively advocate for NFP in California. If you wish to add your voice to that discussion, whether you completed this survey or not, we welcome and value your input! Please reach out by phone or email, to share your feedback, encouragement, suggestions, and/or ideas!

The survey feedback from our members was explored in detail by the CANFP Board at an all day meeting, and enlightened and informed our planning and priorities—as will the continued input we receive. Thank you to our members—you ARE our most important resource!