Dynamic Catholic Reviews

My whole time there, I had this pervasive feeling, "It's kinda cult-ish here." There's some major hero worship of Matthew Kelly goin on. He has delegated tasks more over the years, but the company is still way too tied to his wagon. I also didn't like the air of triumphalism, with all the talking down and belittling other Catholic apostolates, just because they don't speak to the same audience as Dynamic Catholic. Thirdly, and this is a big one, I don't think there's much room for dissent here. We'll never really know why 25-30 people were let go. But, when you consider that: - these people who lost their jobs were doing some of the best work in the entire building (so it wasn't motivated by performance) - many of them had won "Employee of the Month" awards and were very highly regarded by all their peers (so it wasn't a matter of not fitting in with the culture) - their positions were apparently "no longer aligned with the vision," yet now you'll find that many of these same positions are being advertised again on various job sites (so it wasn't a matter of "mission creep" or extraneous positions) - DC is not strapped for cash -- the ability to give away books and programs for free is evidence enough of that (so it wasn't financially driven) ... the only other reason I can think of is that some of the people who were fired were too critical of the direction of the company, and the rest were just hapless victims of a bizarre about-face that only makes sense in the collective mind of the leadership (or what's left of them). Before the gauntlet came down, some top leadership people started going elsewhere. We're talking the very top, the people who had been there the longest and were in Matthew Kelly's trusted circle. Why leave unless there was a massive disagreement about the direction of the company and they couldn't, in good conscience, stay anymore? Of course, they saw the writing on the wall and were able to come out smelling like roses. The "commoners" who had 15 min to pack up and leave? They weren't so lucky. I feel sorry for all the good people that were let go, and I feel sorry for the people who remain, too. How can you go into work and feel good about what you're devoting your time and talent to when a bunch of really good people, your friends, were let go for some inexplicable reason ... and you could be next? I don't see how anyone could be "committed, coachable, and aware" after that. One final con: Let's be real, these books we were giving away like pancakes are repetitive, derivative, fluffy, and full of filler. If you do decide to work here, make sure you live and breathe Matthew Kelly books. But, you really shouldn't work here. As great as everything may appear on the surface, there's something rotten in Denmark, and it's probably better that you don't move across the country to little Erlanger, KY (it's just a PO Box in Cincinnati) so that you can be a part of it.

It’s uncomfortable to write this review. If you are reading it, please know that this I am not writing this as some sort of revenge on Dynamic Catholic, an organization that is filled with many great people and was the source of my happy employment for many years. In fact, it’s my greatest hope to see the true mission of Dynamic Catholic succeed; to see the Church be re-energized. However, after much investigation and several years with the company, it is my conclusion that Dynamic Catholic is not truly ordered towards that mission. Therefore, I am writing this review to warn you that if you are passionate about revitalizing the Catholic Church in America, you ought to be looking elsewhere. This is why I resigned from my role. While Dynamic Catholic may appear to be singularly committed to building the Church, it is my conclusion that it is in fact ordered towards promoting CEO Matthew Kelly’s work, resulting in millions of dollars of revenue for Mr. Kelly and the for-profit entities that he owns. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. For years, I served at Dynamic Catholic doing what I considered to be my dream job. Unfortunately, it became apparent that not all was as it seemed. In fact, it became obvious that there is a systemic and intentional practice of lying and dishonesty that has become deeply ingrained at the highest levels of Dynamic Catholic. Serious questions about multi-million dollar conflicts of interest listed in the company’s public tax documents (form 990) were met with dismissals and lies from Dynamic Catholic leadership including members of the senoir leadership team. What’s more, on several occassions I was instructed to mislead my colleagues, offering them watered-down, spun versions of company news so that they wouldn’t become restless. Further, there is a general laxity with data that exists at Dynamic Catholic. While ostensibly the most data-driven of Catholic apostolates, Dynamic Catholic in fact notoriously fudges the numbers. Much of the organization’s foundational data — especially surrounding the impact and reach of the organization, but also the so-called “Four Signs” research that makes the case for why Dynamic Catholic exists — is either inflated or imagined. In sum, this is not about restoring the Church. It’s about money. Dynamic Catholic will abuse you for your ideals. They will sell you on dreams of helping the Church become the best-version-of-itself. They will dazzle you with numbers. They will lie to you to keep you happy. And then, in the end, after they have gained all that they can from you, they will discard you. You are worth more than that, and your fervor for the Church should not be wasted here. Please consider working elsewhere.