NCS New Canaan

Founding Chapter

A Call to Virtuous Masculinity (Fr. Louis Leonelli – 11/8/19 – NCS New Canaan)

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Father Louis Leonelli starts by sharing a bit of his life story, including his radical and miraculous conversion from a successful Wall Street businessman pursuing wealth, woman and a music career to a humble Franciscan friar serving the homeless in the South Bronx.

Father Louis then examines “masculinity”–real “toxic” masculinity, the normal masculinity that our politically correct culture has deceptively labeled “toxic”, and finally, the “virtuous” masculinity we are called to pursue as followers of Jesus. In exploring virtuous masculinity, he explains and stresses the virtues of temperance, sacrifice and humility. Father Louis ends by sharing what he believes to be the three most important priorities in the pursuit of virtuous masculinity: (1) develop and nurture a relationship with God, (2) develop and nurture relationships with the small circle of people whom we love and who love us and (3) in whatever our stations or callings in life, strive to be the very best version of ourself we can be, all to the glory of God.

12 Ways To Make Work a Prayer

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As a senior partner in a global consulting firm and a deacon in the Catholic Church, Gauthier Vincent is uniquely positioned to contemplate the intersections and integration of faith and work. He shares 12 ways he has found to ground his work in his faith, and explains how he applies these practically on a daily basis in his own life.

  1. Embrace the purpose of your work (remember all the people whose welfare our work contributes to)
  2. Realize your freedom (just follow Christ)
    Ideas 1 and 2 are about growing in gratitude and in spiritual freedom
  3. Practice a life of virtues at work (even work becomes a good habit, i.e., virtue and a school of selflessness)
  4. Do it right and make it beautiful (beauty always leads to contemplation)
  5. Always be cheerful (joy calls on Joy)
  6. Live the Gospel literally whenever you can (as you take the last seat and sub-optimize your work, you trust in the Lord)
  7. Welcome Christ in everyone (look at the Christ image in all, from the CEO to the janitor)
    Ideas 3-7 are about living the right way, as a child of God
  8. Cultivate the Presence of God during the day (turn your heart to the Lord with ejaculatory prayers, sweet words, e.g., as your watch beeps every hour)
  9. Practice the Examen (reflect on your day and look for how the Lord touched you through consolations and desolations)
  10. Begin and end your day in a contemplative mood (begin with a time for Scripture and Silence and the Silent Presence will stay with you during the day)
  11. Let the cross transform you (above age 25 one learns essentially through failures and suffering; there the Lord comes closer)
  12. Love the world and everyone in it (if you don’t work with love you deprive your co-workers, family, clients, etc.. of the real value of your work, i.e., the love with which you work)
    Ideas 8-12 are about the mystical life at work, the life of union with the Beloved

Building a Faith-Based Company (Bill Blezard – 5/4/18 – NCS New Canaan)

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Bill Blezard shares the extraordinary faith journey that ultimately led to the founding, growth and success of Packaging Technology Group, Inc., a “Kingdom” class developer of thermally engineered, transport packaging solutions for the biotech and biopharmaceutical industries. PTG is a Christian faith-based company with its core values centered on faith, relationships, courage, and creativity.

In addition to recounting highlights of his personal life story, challenges and faith walk, Blezard describes the numerous acts of faith and obedience and the miraculous events that allowed PTG to achieve profitability in its first year of operations, exceeding revenue projections by nearly 1000%. He also shares how PTG’s faith-based culture serves, and has opened doors to prayer and transformation in, PTG’s employees, suppliers and customers.

Ambition and Life Choices (Paul Michalski – 4/20/18 – NCS New Canaan)

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Paul Michalski transparently shares his amazing faith journey and the lessons he has learned about ambition, priorities and identity. He talks about a life of performance, achievement and control that had to face the reality of a marriage crisis in 2003 and near-divorce in 2004. Paul explains the promises of God that he leaned on through that crisis, the way that his life priorities were perfectly upside down, and the stages that eventually culminated in a miracle reconciliation in 2004 (chronicled in Eric Metaxas’s book “Miracles”).

The next turning point in his journey came in 2009 when he felt God’s prompting to leave his prestigious Wall Street legal practice for “a different plan”. Paul discusses what he believes to be a critical identity choice for every follower of Jesus–whether you see yourself as “what you do” or “who you are”. He also shares the implications of that choice in the workplace. Paul’s ensuing nine-year journey since 2009 has included helping NCS in its transition from a regional to a national organization and, most recently, has led to the formation of Integrous LLC (integriosity.com)–an advisory and legal practice helping faith-inspired leaders integrate their work into their faith by pursuing “Integriosity”.

Click the link below for a PDF copy of the slides Paul used in his presentation.

Ambition-and-Life-Choices-NCS-New-Canaan-4-20-18

Click the link below for a PDF of the chapter “God and Marriage” from Eric Metaxas’s book Miracles.

GOD-AND-MARRIAGE

Reflections of a Recovering Striver (Will Haughey – 4/6/18 – NCS New Canaan)

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Will Haughey shares the journey of a man who is touched deeply by faith at a young age and who dreams of being an entrepreneur. Coming from a high-achieving family, Will put high expectations for “success” on himself and went from excelling in college to landing a dream job and excelling at Goldman Sachs. He was chasing success and living a charmed life.

The next stage of the journey was joining his brother to marry his faith passion with his entrepreneurial passion through a new company, Tegu, manufacturing toys in Hondura–a “triple bottom line” venture. With expectations for continued success, Will describes how he moved painfully through the cycle of an entrepreneur, from “uninformed optimism” (certain Tegu would quickly become profitable) to “informed pessimism” (struggling with the setbacks that made him feel like he had let down his stakeholders).

With great transparency, Will explains the “absolute surrender”–the “death of Will”– that was required to find peace with the rhythm of the journey. He shares in detail the excruciating but liberating surrender at God’s altar of everything precious to him–children, family, wife, business, house. Anyone who reads “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers has read about what Chambers calls a “white funeral” or “the burial of the old life”. Will Haughey shows us what that actually looks like and means in one man’s life.  Listen and be inspired.

Click HERE to read January 15: Do You Walk in White? from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

Click the link below to view a PDF of the slides used with Will Haughey’s presentation.

Will-Haughey-Slides-4-6-18

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