Welcome to our new blog. This blog will be dedicated to helping priests become the best leaders they can be as they faithfully serve their parishes. Here we will seek to share leadership information from many sources to priests in a concise manner several times per week.
Author Patrick Lencioni, a leadership expert, said in his book, The Better Pastor, “Being the pastor of a Catholic parish is one of the most challenging jobs in the world.” I completely agree and would add that it is becoming even more challenging.
Cardinal Blasé Cupich of Chicago was quoted in an article in Time magazine (6/19/17) as saying, “The demands on their leadership are going to be altogether different from their predecessors.” Why?
- There are fewer priests available. In a study from Georgetown (CARA), it was noted that there are currently 37,200 ordained Catholic priests. That’s almost 40% less priests than 50 years ago.
- Many parishes (3500) do not have a pastor assigned; additionally, many pastors are responsible for 2 or 3 different parishes.
- On average, priests are being ordained at 34 years of age. Since they are older and there is a shortage of priests, they are being assigned as pastors more quickly and may not have the experience or expertise of their predecessors.
- Finally, the curriculum for priest formation is more jam-packed than ever with very little time left to be devoted to management and leadership.
- On page 81 of The Formation of Candidates for Priesthood from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana under “leadership development” they state, “The pastoral formation program (one of the 4 pillars of priestly formation) should provide opportunities for seminarians to acquire the basic (emphasis added) administrative skills necessary for effective pastoral leadership, recognizing that programs of continuing education and ongoing formation will be necessary to equip newly ordained priests to assume future responsibilities as pastors. (emphasis added)
There are many excellent programs that offer continuing education for priests including The Catholic Leadership Institute in Wayne, Pa, Amazing Parish.org (Patrick Lencioni) and Leadership Roundtable.org., among others.
In terms of my background and interest, I was trained as a dentist and owned my own practice. I also worked for almost 30 years at a senior executive level for a Fortune 200 Company. Finally, I am an ordained deacon and have completed a certificate in Church Management from Villanova University.
I believe our Church needs strong and effective leadership, especially in the current environment in which we live. I know that we have priests who have been well trained by seminaries to handle the four pillars of their ministry. It is my sincere hope that this blog will provide an efficient, low cost means by which priests can supplement their learning to become effective servant leaders. Thank you for joining us on this journey as we help to develop our next generation of leaders. Be on the lookout for our next post soon.