FAQs

“Who the heck is Patrick Madrid, anyway?”

We’re glad you asked. Click here for Patrick Madrid’s bio.

“What topics does Patrick speak on?”

Patrick has numerous dynamic, high-impact, faith-building seminar topics on Catholic themes for you to choose from. For a complete list of topics, please click here. Several new seminars have been recently added.

“How can our parish bring Patrick here to speak?”

It easy. Just fill out the seminar request form and send it in to Dan Lord. The date(s) you request will be checked against Patrick’s speaking calendar to see if they are available. If they are, he will be able to reserve the date(s) for you. If the dates you request are not available, he will be happy to offer you an alternative date(s) which may also work for you. He can then tentatively reserve the date(s) your group wants.

Once your parish or group is ready to confirm the selected available date(s) it wants to reserve for the seminar, the pastor or the head of the hosting organization faxes, mails, or e-mails Patrick a letter of invitation including the date(s) and time, location of the seminar, contact information number, agreement to the speaking fee, and any other pertinent information. A non-refundable deposit of $1,200 is required to secure the date(s) requested by the parish or group. As soon as Patrick receives the letter of invitation and the deposit, he will permanently reserve the date(s) for your group and publish it on his calendar of events.

If your group or parish is interested in hosting a one-evening seminar during one of Patrick’s already scheduled speaking visits in or near your area (i.e., within driving distance of another scheduled event), please contact his seminar coordinator, Dan Lord, (phone: 614-500-3112; e-mail: dan at patrickmadrid dot com). Our mailing address is: PO Box 640, Granville, OH 43023.

Honoraria (speaking fees):

WEEKEND EVENT (Saturday or Sunday, within the U.S.):

$3,500 honorarium, plus transportation and lodging.
ONE-EVENING EVENT (within the U.S.): Monday through Friday

$2,500 honorarium, plus transportation, meals, and lodging.
COMBINATION FRIDAY-EVENING / SATURDAY-DAY EVENT (within the U.S.)

$2000 per day, plus transportation, meals, and lodging.
NOTE: A non-refundable deposit of $1,200 is required in order to secure the date(s) requested by the parish or group.

“How do I check for available dates on Patrick’s calendar or find a seminar taking place in my area?”

If you’d like to plug in to an existing seminar by hosting a one-night seminar at a parish near a currently scheduled event, please check Patrick’s event calendar for details and then contact us at your convenience. We’ will be happy to make the arrangements.

“How long in advance should I start planning a seminar?”

The further in advance you reserve the date(s) for your seminar, the better. By planning early, you’re much more likely to get the date(s) you want, and you can also take advantage of many different ways of promoting the event. Most parishes and conferences reserve their date(s) at least four months in advance, some even a year in advance. We recommend that you reserve your date(s) at least two months in advance.

“Is it okay to invite non-Catholics to a Patrick Madrid seminar?”

Absolutely. Non-Catholics are always warmly welcomed at these seminars. Patrick’s talks are respectful toward non-Catholics, even though issues on which Catholics and non-Catholics disagree are discussed.

“Should our seminar be open to other parishes and to the general public?”

Yes, definitely. It’s always better to invite the entire community, especially fellow Catholics from neighboring parishes. This will make your parish’s Surprised by Truth Seminar even more of an effective outreach to those outside your parish, and it will help you build community on a broader level.

“How should we get the word out and promote the seminar?”

There are several effective ways to promote the seminar once you have reserved the date(s):

Arrange for your pastor and the associate pastors of the parish to announce the event at the Saturday night and Sunday Masses for the two weeks immediately prior to the event. If the pastor is enthusiastic in inviting and encouraging the parishioners to attend, many will. This is a very effective way to generate interest (and attendance) among the parishioners. We respectfully encourage the priests of the parish to personally announce the seminar and invite the parishioners to attend. Making this announcement at the end of the Masses during the two weekends prior to the seminar is perhaps the single most effective means of generating attendance.

The hosting parish or group should prepare and widely distribute an 8.5″ X 11″ information flyer for distribution to the parishioners and other local-area Catholics.

To receive a customized version (i.e. with your parish’s contact info, dates, etc.) of the above professionally produced flyer/poster, please contact our artist, Ted Schluenderfritz, at: ted at 5sparrows dot net. For just $40, Ted will create and e-mail to you in PDF format both the 11″ x 17″ poster and an the 8.5″ x 11″ flyer (both in full color) for you to use in your promotion of the seminar.

Please note that using this inexpensive graphics service from Ted Schluenderfritz is by no means mandatory, but it will save you a LOT of time, energy, and money!

To download a hi-resolution publicity image of Patrick Madrid for use in promotional materials, please click here.

It is also very effective to display copies of an 11″ X 17″ information poster in various locations within vestibule and elsewhere on the grounds of the hosting parish (as well as at other parishes that agree to post it) to help raise parish awareness of the seminar.

PLEASE NOTE: Long experience has shown that to achieve maximum turnout it is important to distribute the flyers parish-wide on each of the two Sundays immediately preceding the event.

One way to distribute the fliers so that they have maximum impact is for the ushers to distribute them at the conclusion of Mass as the pastor or associate pastor make the announcement from the pulpit.

We have found that having the ushers put the flyer directly into the hands of the parishioners is far more effective than leaving the flyers in stacks near the entrances.

We recommend you display the 11″ x 17″ posters in many places throughout the parish buildings, especially at each of the entrances to the church. Please encourage your neighboring parishes and Catholic-owned businesses to also display the posters.

Arrange for other parishes in your area to also make the announcement about the seminar and, if the priests at those parishes are amenable, arrange for fliers to be distributed at those parishes on the two weekends preceding the event.

Place a space ad in your local secular and diocesan newspapers. This type of announcement will incur some cost, but it is another very effective way to get the word out to the wider community beyond your own parish.

Send a press release to both your local secular and diocesan newspapers. This kind of announcement is typically free, though it may be limited to a text-only format (i.e. a news brief).

Please feel free to download and make use of this sample press release as a basic template for your own seminar press release. Feel free to modify it as needed.

If the location of your seminar is in a major metro area, it’s also a good idea to place a paid ad or a press release (or both) in national Catholic publications, such as the National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor Newspaper.

If you have local Catholic radio, contact them to see if they will allow you to place a free “public service announcement” on the air announcing the seminar. Most stations will do this for you. Ditto for many secular radio stations.

Place the posters in and around the parish church. Some parishes will have a banner made to display on the grounds facing the street so passers by in cars and on foot will see the announcement. This is also very effective in getting the word out.

If your budget permits it, direct mail the announcement flier (or even a simple announcement postcard) to all registered families in the parish. Experience has shown that this technique also works very well in generating a large turnout.

“What’s the format for an all-day Saturday seminar?”

Saturday seminars typically begin at 9:00 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. and last until 4:00 p.m., depending on the parish’s Saturday evening schedule of Mass and confessions. Patrick is completely flexible on the subject of schedules and is happy to accommodate the needs of the parish or sponsoring group.

The lunch break typically runs from noon till 1:00 p.m. There are brief intermissions between the different talks to allow for coffee and restroom breaks. The typical all-day Saturday event comprises a total of four complete talks (two in the morning and two in the afternoon) plus a full-length “Open Forum Q&A session.”

Here’s a typical all-day Saturday seminar schedule:

9:00 a.m. — Talk # 1

10:00 a.m. — Break; approximately 20 minutes is needed for a break so the audience can use the restroom, stretch, buy books, and get refreshments (if served).

10:20 a.m. — Talk # 2

11:30 a.m. — Q&A session

12:00 p.m. — Lunch break

At this point, if there is to be a free-will offering, the collection is taken up by the ushers, before the audience leaves for lunch.

1:00 p.m. — Talk # 3

2:00 p.m. — Break

2:20 p.m. — Talk # 4

3:15 p.m. — Q&A session

4:00 p.m. — Conclusion, closing prayer

“What’s the format for an evening seminar?”

A one-evening seminar typically lasts two-and-a-half hours, usually beginning at 7:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m. — Welcome, opening prayer, introduction of speaker

8:00 p.m. — Talk concludes

Intermission Break

At this point, if there is to be a free-will offering, the collection is taken up by the ushers. During this time, Patrick Madrid will speak for a few minutes about some of the books & DVDs available on the tables. The intermission typically will last for approximately 20-30 minutes so members of the audience can use the restroom, stretch, socialize, buy books, and get refreshments (if served).

8:30 p.m. — Q&A session begins

9:30 p.m. — Conclusion and closing prayer

“What’s Patrick Madrid’s policy about books, DVDs, and CDs ?”

Book sales at a recent parish seminar

Providing good Catholic books, CDs, and DVDs to the seminar attendees is a good way to help deepen their love for Christ, and expand their knowledge of the Catholic Faith. These resources will help perpetuate the excitement and commitment gained from the seminars.

Patrick Madrid will bring his own books & CDs to sell at the seminar. The parish or sponsoring group will provide three 8′ tables for his books, located in or near the room where the seminar is held. We also ask that the parish designate four people to help at the tables as volunteers.

We request that no other bookstore or other group sell books, CDs, and DVDs at Patrick’s seminars. If that is impossible, the parish or hosting group is required to ensure that none of his book, CDs, or DVD titles be carried by any other vender at the event, so that his materials will be available exclusively at his book tables.

The hosting parish or group is required to handle getting the remaining books & CDs shipped back to Surprised by Truth Seminars expeditiously — ideally, within 2 business days of the conclusion of the seminar. This includes performing an inventory of the remaining items, re-boxing them into the fewest number of boxes, and sealing and weighing the boxes. We will then fax or mail pre-paid UPS shipping labels to the parish (i.e., shipping costs are billed directly to Patrick Madrid’s UPS account, not to the parish).

“Will Patrick be available for signing books at the seminar?”

Get your books signed by the author!

Yes indeed. He’ll be happy to sign books, CDs, and DVDs during all the breaks and after the seminar, for as long as time permits. Feel free to bring any of Patrick’s books you may already own. He’ll cheerfully autograph those for you as well.

And for discriminating bibliophiles who want that extra special book-signing experience, for a nominal fee, Patrick will personally inscribe your books with a name like “Scott Hahn” or even “Archbishop Fulton Sheen”! Just imagine how impressed your fellow parishioners will be when you show them.

“What’s the policy about audio and video recording?”

The parish or hosting organization may record the seminar(s) in audio or video format but only by agreeing to the following stipulations:

The parish or hosting organization agrees that the sole copyright owner of the recording(s) made of his seminar(s), both audio or video, is Patrick Madrid. The parish also agrees not to give or sell, license, gift, or in any other way convey copies of the recording(s) to any third-party organizations (e.g., a tape distribution apostolate, bookstore, or other organization) for reproduction, sale, distribution, loaning, storage, website download, or any other purpose.

The master copy of the audio and/or video recording(s) will be given to Patrick Madrid at the conclusion of the event or shortly thereafter, depending on what arrangements are made in advance of the seminar, though the parish may keep on hand a duplicate master for the purpose of making copies of the recording(s) for the benefit of the local parish members.

The parish or hosting organization may duplicate and sell copies of the recording(s) of the seminar at the seminar itself, if agreed upon with Patrick Madrid in advance, and the proceeds will go to the parish or hosting organization, minus a 20% royalty payable to Patrick Madrid (i.e., 20% of the amount of all gross revenues generated by the sales of the recording[s], whether in audio or video format).
If the parish or hosting organization wishes to continue reproducing and distributing tapes of the event after the fact, it must agree in writing in advance that such distribution will be limited to only the local parish (i.e. not to other groups, and not through advertisements in publications or on the Internet or in any other manner), and a 20% royalty will be paid quarterly to Patrick Madrid.
“What’s Patrick’s policy regarding payment of the speaking fee?”

As mentioned, a non-refundable deposit of $1,200 is required to secure the date(s) requested by the parish or group, and the remaining balance of the honorarium, plus any travel and/or lodging expenses, must be paid in full by the parish or sponsoring group on the day Patrick arrives for the event.

If requested, Surprised by Truth Seminars will submit an invoice for Patrick’s honorarium. Please contact us to arrange for this to be sent.

The parish or hosting organization may duplicate and sell copies of the recording(s) of the seminar at the seminar itself, if agreed upon with Patrick Madrid in advance, and the proceeds will go to the parish or hosting organization, minus a 20% royalty to Patrick Madrid: i.e. 20% of the amount all revenues generated by the sales of the recording[s], whether in audio or video format).

If the parish or hosting organization wishes to continue reproducing and distributing tapes of the event after the fact, it must agree in writing, in advance, that such distribution will be limited to only the local parish (i.e., not to other groups, nor through advertisements in publications or on the Internet), and a 30% royalty will be paid quarterly to Patrick Madrid.

“Our diocesan policy requires all outside speakers to provide a letter of recommendation from the speaker’s pastor. Does Patrick have one?”

Yes. If this is required by your diocese or parish, please contact us to request a copy of a letter from Patrick’s pastor verifying that Patrick is a registered parishioner “in good standing.” If such a letter from Patrick’s home diocese is requested, that can also be obtained by contacting us.

“What if I have other event-related questions that are not covered here?”

No problem. We’ll be happy to assist you with any additional information you might need. Please contact Dan Lord 614-500-3112 (dan at patrickmadrid dot com) at your convenience and ask away.Thank you & God bless you.