Any Matthew Kelly fans here?

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I really enjoy Matthew Kelly’s books, especially his work “Rediscover Catholicism.” It actually really helped me become a practicing Catholic. Do any of you have similar experiences? I would love to know.
 
Our pastor signed up with the Dynamic Catholic Institute. Last Lent, he ordered copies of The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic and Redescubre el Catolicismo for free distribution to our parish families. Last Christmas, he gave all families a free copy of The Joy of the Gospel or Hechos para Más.

So yes, Matthew Kelly has been good to our parish. And I signed up myself, and received free CD copies of The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic and The Seven Levels of Intimacy, which I gave to my family.

A word of warning. The Dynamic Catholic Institute is a research and marketing company. They give free and cheap materials in exchange for your personal or parish details. Then they will send you advertisements, and I am fairly sure they will sell and share your contact and demographic info with other companies. So keep that in mind when signing up.
 
I don’t know much about him, but there is a lenten book on Audible he wrote that I might get.
 
Matthew Kelly is a perfect example of the diversity within our Church.

I know his books have had a positive impact on people, but I personally find his style to be abrasive on my personality. I find his books to be repetitive and superficial, but I am not his intended target.
 
I have read rediscovering catholicism and 4 signs of a dynamic catholic. I liked both of them
 
I don’t care for Matthew Kelly. I find his books very light and not full of real substance. I think he is the Catholic version of a motivational speaker. And sometimes his Catholic focus is a little camouflaged in corporate and business philosophies. I think he is a good resource to motivate someone quickly and superficially, but as a theologian he is laughable.
I have heard him speak at several events and one of them was very very good. Two others were really really bad. I believe he had a health scare a while ago and the bad ones were during that time so I feel like I can cut him a little slack there.

But in general, it is just a business motivational speaker who pines for corporate Catholicism… The 4 signs of a dynamic Catholic was a perfect example. Statistics, and how to “boost sales” was the entire point of the book.
 
Hi,

I was going to give my daughter a copy of Matthew Kelly’s book “Rediscover Catholism” as she has been away from the Catholic Church for over 6 years. This happened in college; she met and became friends with a group of evangelical protestants and the rest is history. I was all set to give her this book when I read a response about the book from Judie Brown on the EWTN site. In her post she claims that Matthew Kelly is a “bad man” and he is showing his “dissent” from the catholic church, specifically in chapters 19 and 20 where he talks about the need of the Church to “change” its ways of evangelizing and educating catholics today. I found those chapters to be very pertinent to my situation as it speaks directly to the issues that caused my daughter to leave the church. I felt that because my daughter could relate to what he is saying that it would maybe open the door to her heart. Does anyone else feel this way about Matthew Kelly’s writings? Is he a dissenter?
 
He’s not my style, but seems to be doing an effective job of outreach and evangelization in certain communities. That’s a good thing. The people who liked Peter didn’t necessarily relate to Paul . . .
 
Well, to use marketing terms as even Paul might have done being “all things to all people”.It is about the target audience trying to be reached. Maybe Kelly is aiming at Catholics who need to come or who are starting from a pretty marginal position. He’s not preaching to the choir, so to speak.

Maybe that is why?
 
JamalChristophr said:
Well, to use marketing terms as even Paul might have done being “all things to all people”.It is about the target audience trying to be reached. Maybe Kelly is aiming at Catholics who need to come or who are starting from a pretty marginal position. He’s not preaching to the choir, so to speak.

Maybe that is why?
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In many areas “mega” churches have developed a business model much like Kelly. And I think his affection for cooperate Buzz words such as dynamic, or even his patented “best version of yourself” are full of fluff and not of substance. And while this “fill the seats” mentality is probably a noble cause, there is just something off-putting and disingenuous about the whole thing. It feels, smells and sounds like many 12 step programs or even pyramid schemes…

All that being said, if someone gains faith from his approach and gains fidelity and grows spiritually then I think it is a good thing. It just is not my style. I don’t really have a problem with MK for those purposes and his talks are great. It is when someone thinks he is a theologian who is wise, or some sort of great apologist in the line of Akin, or other CA apologists that I take exception.

I find his ideas and marketing good and his knowledge lacking.
 
Yes, I attended one of his Dynamic Catholic sessions and liked it very much.
 
I don’t see anything wrong with being the best version of yourself. That’s what God wants for us, isn’t it?
But God is not too picky – He’ll use whatever works. And he seems to like us vulgar, poorly educated, gullible, unsophisticated humans, for some reason.
 
I have been involved in the Dynamic Catholic idea for a couple of years. We raised money and gave away 750 copies of Rediscover Catholicism after midnight Christmas mass 2013. Then we followed it up with a monthly book discussion group. We gave away 750 copies of Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic this past midnight mass.

Four of us gave a presentation on DC at our Diocesan Congress last summer. It was very well received.

Nothing he says or writes conflicts with Catholic teaching. For those who consider his theology “lightweight”, well his audience is fallen away Catholics and non-Catholics. He writes in a style that is easy to understand and makes sense.

Marketing? Yes. Selling your information? Doubtful. I’ve been on the mailing list for almost two years and never gotten any solicitations that I didn’t ask for. We decided early on that if a guy can get rich selling books and CDs for $2 each, more power to him.

The DC Institute also has an excellent Confirmation program called Decision Point. It’s aimed at keeping the kids involved after they are confirmed, which often doesn’t happen.

So yes, I’m a fan. No I don’t have rose colored glasses. If he’s not your style, don’t buy his stuff. He does a lot of good for a lot of people. My wife and I are attending one of his events in March.
 
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