RETHINKING CATHOLIC LEADERSHIP
This just in: Catholic churches have the worst preaching and music in the US
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PEW SURVEY |
“extremely or very satisfied” |
Feel Connected |
|||
|
Homilies |
Music |
||||
|
In person |
On line |
In person |
On line |
||
|
Protestants |
82% |
76% |
75% |
57% |
71% |
|
Catholics |
61% |
57% |
61% |
51% |
50% |
|
difference |
21% |
21% |
14% |
6% |
21% |
Andrew Greeley based on his research, also told us that priests are the happiest profession in the nation. And why shouldn't they be, because they don't have a wife and kids to worry about, and they have no concerns about their next paycheck. They have no board of trustees evaluating their performance. The bishop is a very busy man downtown with little time for them or their parish.
Francis is willing to put the question of married priests on the table for discernment. He has some clear principles about discerning changes in both church and society. Opposing ideas must be faced, e.g. the desire to keep the thousand-year old tradition celibacy as well as desire to adapt to modern cultural realities. We need a new vision which brings people together based not simply on ideas but more importantly on realities and which is adaptable to local, national and regional cultures.
In the American Church, we need married leaders who are engaged in the difficult task of raising a family in a culture which is often not supportive of families. A couple of decades of successful marriage should count high when considering candidates for any leadership roles in church institutions, whether lay ministry, the deaconate or priesthood.
While a poor or failed marriage might count against candidacy, the single life should not. Indeed Catholicism has a rich tradition of valuing the single life in its many forms: the solitary life of prayer lived for God alone, or a life dedicated to the service of others such as the poor, the sick, or homeless, and the widowed life of prayer and care for others.
Just being single and
declaring that one will stay single should not be sufficient for a candidate for
the priesthood. Rather what is needed is
an outstanding track record of a decade or two. The call to the priesthood
comes not simply from an interior voice, or because priest has recruit someone but from a wide community of people who say “this guy should be a
priest.”
In discerning Catholic leaders (laity, deacons, or priests. paid or voluntary) a proven track record in a non-church environment should be highly desirable. An Orthodox who wants to be a married priest must marry first. Several decades ago I got to know one well. He told me that while waiting for a wife, he took a job working in a steel mill. He said those years where the most valuable experiences for his ministry as a priest.
The Trent seminary model which formed priesthood candidates in isolation not only from secular life but also from our many Catholic institutions should give way (and in some places is beginning to give way) to a new seminary model which fosters Catholic leadership, both paid and voluntary in both church and society. This new environment would provide a wide range of experiences with Catholic leaders, both paid and voluntary in both church and society.
Robert Greenleaf, the author of Servant Leadership, was very disappointed that academia had failed to emphasize leadership in its curriculum. He proposed that seminaries become central institutions for fostering leadership. Greenleaf had a deep understanding of what leadership should be in America, and a strong appreciation of the potential of Catholicism to provide such leadership. He saw John XXIII and the Vatican Council as an outstanding model of modern organizational leadership. Having spent his work life at AT&T he understood well the leadership challenges of very large institutions.
Beginning with Pope Paul
VI and now Pope Francis we have begun to completely transform what were once
considered the minor orders as stepping stones to the major orders of deacon
and priest. We have decided that these ministries are based on baptism rather
than being derived from sacred orders and that they should be open to women as
well as men. Pope Francis has added a new ministry, that of catechist.
Pope Paul VI authorized bishops’ conferences to request new ministries for their area. Since music is central to
American worship experience, and we clearly have a music deficit in
comparison to Protestants, American bishops should establish the ministry of cantor
to encourage singers to enter into a life-long commitment to singing at
worship.
Now is the time to rethink how we recruit and form Catholic leaders in both ecclesial institutions as well as society, both voluntary and paid, whether they be laity, commissioned ministers, deacons or priests.
This should begin at the grassroots both personally and in all the various organizations and communities of our lives: especially in our families and in our work lives, and civic organization as well as parishes and other Catholic institutions. Where do we experience spiritual leadership? Where do we provide spiritual leadership? Where could we provide spiritual leadership?
By spiritual leadership I mean not only that provided under the auspices of religion but all that invokes transcendent values such as Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Justice, Compassion, etc.
How do we relate commissioning of acolytes, lectors, catechists, and cantors at the diocesan (and national) levels with the freedom and flexibility of servers, readers, religious educators, and singers at the parish level? We should be very careful of introducing more credentialing (you cannot do X unless you have credentials) into a society already overburdened by credentialing, and into a church that needs to be responsive to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The old idea of spending a certain number of years studying a subject before practicing it must give way to modern reality of constantly changing practice and knowledge bases, i.e. life-long learning.
Catholic Leadership Seminaries run by dioceses would consist of varied courses, seminars, lectures, conferences, etc. open to all Catholics. Other Catholic institutions could offer similar Leadership Seminaries. For example Jesuit colleges and universities could offer Ignatian leadership seminaries open to anyone. Benedictine institutions offer leadership seminaries based upon the Rule of Saint Benedict, etc.
Catholic Leadership Seminaries could continue to be partially residential with retreats, and even year- long sabbaticals but without any longer term housing. All Catholics would be encourage to avail themselves of its resources whether or not they were engaged in parish or other institution ministry, and regardless of whether they aspired to institutional ministries or ordination. Many of its resources should be available in nearby locations.
Individuals who did aspire to the permanent ministries or ordination would understand that they must meet certain minimal educational and life experiential requirements to be eligible. Catholics from an early age should be primed to seek to serve others spiritually in both church and society, and be assured of an abundance of resources at the parish level, diocesan and other Catholic institutions.
Children preparing for Communion should be initiated into the possibility of being servers not only at Mass, the Divine Office, the sacraments, funerals, but also assist in welcoming people at church, visiting the sick and homebound, etc. Candidates for confirmation should be initiated into Divine Office, life-long bible study, choir as well as various social ministries,
The American Church has
the opportunity to completely rethink and transform its leadership structure,
relating voluntary spiritual leadership in both church and society to an
evolving, transformed structure of ministries based upon baptism and ordination
Just a couple of thoughts, not sure I agree that Catholics have the worst preaching and music in the US. Apparently Catholics themselves don't rate them very highly. But compared to what? The result of having a bunch of relatives and in-laws who were Protestants is that I have sat through a lot of their services, mostly of the Evangelical variety. Be careful what you wish for; it's not out of the ordinary for an evangelical sermon to last 45 minutes. My eyes glaze over. The music isn't that great either, unless you like mega church praise music a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe only homilies I find offensive are when they veer into politics. Most Catholic homilies are 10-15 minutes. Almost always one can find a good thought to take away. The hearer has a part to play too, to exercise the self discipline to pay attention. Unless it is a large parish, the musicians are volunteers. If people want to improve the music maybe they need to be part of the solution.
I’m with you, Katherine. Evangelical Protestant homilies are way too long. So they become extremely repetitive. Praise music is also repetitive and not very interesting to listen to. Or to sing I would imagine. But it is easy. But as with all things music, it’s a matter of taste. We have evangelical friends who were church shopping from a limited range of possibilities when they moved to Florida. They rejected a couple (Methodists) because they were “too focused” on social justice (they are MAGA). They ended up at a Pentecostal church since they are charismatic she wouldn’t join a church that didn’t have a lot of praise music. Now they’ve moved to a new church that sounds like they’ve crossed some kind of rational divide into pure nuttiness. She has become a Prophet - officially.
DeleteSo I will stick with my preferences - 5 minute homilies during a weekday mass with no music at a Jesuit parish.
Jack, this is a very thought-provoking article.
ReplyDeleteYou may know: America Magazine recently spun up a podcast for preachers. I was listening to it last night (as a matter of fact, the host's guest was Deacon Fritz Bauerschmidt, whom you may recall from Pray Tell Blog). One of the points made in the course of their discussion was that, for many churches and denomination, the preaching is the "main feature" of the service, around which all else revolves. That is not the case for the Catholic liturgy.
I also think that, traditionally Catholics "put up with" more than many Protestants do. It's sort of baked into the culture, at least in the US: we submit to Father. Part of the spirituality of obedience and subordination (which is not all bad!). As regards preaching and music, I think one of the consequences of that strand of spirituality is that, as you note in the post, there is less incentive by preachers and musicians to raise their game (or in the realm of music, to hire and develop musicians with a raised game; most of us already are already trying our best and "hitting our ceiling", but for most of us, our ceilings aren't really that high.)
Also, I am told / I have read that preaching was actually quite a bit worse in the pre-Vatican II days. It strikes me as entirely possible that one of the reasons we don't have great preaching is that we've never had great preaching. It's hard to shift a paradigm.
I posted here, some time ago, that there also is a philosophy of liturgical music in American Catholicism which privileges homegrown amateur participation over hired professional musicians with a high "production value". The spirituality of "Let's all sing this song together while the piano and guitars play along" is different than "Let's listen, clap, sway and raise our hands to the sky as this diva blows us away in this power ballad, accompanied by the professional praise band". They're both modes of congregational participation, but they're quite different from one another.
Personally I prefer the local, unpaid talent.I’m not there to be entertained but to pray in song with others.
DeleteAnne, me too. If I want to be entertained I'll go down to the cathedral and listen to the schola do Palestrina and William Byrd (or tune into youtube). Meanwhile I don't think our parish groups do too badly. We practice and do our best. And we get some decent participation from the congregation if we sing things they know and introduce new songs gradually.
DeleteI'm pretty invested in the Catholic approach to music; I give my all, little as it is (my talent ceiling isn't particularly high, either), as circumstances permit these days. But as I noted when I wrote on this topic here at NewGathering a few months ago, the Evangelical approach, which hews closely to the ways secular consumption of popular music has evolved (think iPod downloads and stadium concerts) in the decades since the Folk Revival influenced Catholic music reform, has pretty much swamped the Catholic approach.
Delete"Pope Paul VI authorized bishops’ conferences to request new ministries for their area. Since music is central to American worship experience, and we clearly have a music deficit in comparison to Protestants, American bishops should establish the ministry of cantor to encourage singers to enter into a life-long commitment to singing at worship."
ReplyDeleteI think this could be a good idea. I'd add: there is a Catholic tradition of the cultivation of centers of musical and liturgical excellence, cf the Benedictines pre-Vatican II, and certain cathedral schools of music. During this time in which many dioceses already are overstretched trying (and often failing) to keep financially insolvent parishes and schools operational while vocations and worshiper numbers continue to deteriorate, maybe there is some wisdom in trying to cultivate some centers of excellence. We may have to settle, at least in the short term, for excellence in some places and lower standards in (many) other places.
Let me put on my Robert Greenleaf , Servant Leadership hat in place of my Andrew Greeley hat. Are not the words below a great description of what synodality should be in practice in both church and society?
ReplyDelete“The very essence of leadership, going out ahead to show the way, derives from more than usual openness to inspiration. Why would anybody accept the leadership of another except that the other sees more clearly where it is best to go?” “But a leader needs more than inspiration. A leader ventures to say, ‘I will go; come with me!’ A leader initiates, provides the ideas and the structure and takes the risk of failure along with the chance of success.” p.28-29
“A mark of leaders, an attribute that puts them in a position to show the way to others, is that they are better than most at pointing the direction. By clearing stating and restating the goal the leader gives certainly to others who may have difficulty in achieving it for themselves.” p.29
“The word goal is used here in the special sense of the overarching purpose, the big dream, the visionary concept, the ultimate consummation that one approaches but never really achieves.” “Not much happen s without a dream. For something great to happen, there must be a great dream. Behind every great achievement is a dreamer of great dreams>”
Voluntarism in both church and society is at the heart of American experience. It does for America what Francis says popular piety does for Latin America. It creates movements. It unites people. It is how we get things done. It is how we change things. It is our American popular piety.
I had a great experience as part of the most voluntary leadership pastoral staff of a parish in Toledo. That convinced me that voluntary leaders not paid leaders are the future for the American Church. Being part of such a diverse leadership group of many charisms led me to see the many diverse charisms present in people with mental illness which led to a Leadership Development Program for them, and the transformation of the Lake County Mental Health system. When I retired the Board established an annual award for Consumer Achievement and named it after me.
When I retired at age sixty (like Greenleaf) my goal was to create a sequel to his book, which I hope will be called something like Voluntary Spiritual Leadership. Greenleaf did not write his book until his seventies, looks like it will take me well into my eighties, if it is ever finished. Greenleaf’s book is really a collection of essays which he first published piecemeal. So, all I really need to do is publish an article in Commonweal equivalent of his first chapter and I will be on my way. In my seventies I knew I was on my way when I got my balance problem and walking stick; I would never be able to go on the lecture circuit. Now with the pandemic like Merton I am confined to my hermitage, but with Betty as my best friend, companion, and concelebrant of the Hours.
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ReplyDeleteBack in the Fall of 2021 at the beginning of the synodality process and the American Bishops alternative vision of Eucharistic Renewal , I drafted a Commonweal article which I called Worship, Community, and Listening. A key part of that article was the data from the Cleveland Diocese’s Vibrant Parish Life Study which unfortunately is no longer available on their website for a reference link. However, with the Pew data and Reese article I can use current data along with the rich VPL data to flesh out my argument.
ReplyDeleteThe first draft of that potential article morphed into a second draft which I call Synod of the Heart in which I claim that the most import synod is the one which each of us conducts in our hearts with God and our social networks. In revised and extended form, it will become the Introduction to the book which will talk about leadership in the context of our life long journey accompanied by social networks.
The other chapters will be 1. Leadership. 2. Human, Social, Cultural and Spiritual Capital. 3. Time. 4. Spirituality 5. Voluntarism. 6. The Bible. 7. Prayer
The repackaging of the material on Worship, Community, and Listening will be done as an article on Catholic Leadership and likely form the basis of Chapter 1 of the book.
I am not doing this alone. Indeed, New Gathering and the thirty people of the Cleveland Commonweal Local Community are the “local experts” as Commonweal readers that I need to help me. It is more than simply saying whether you think the article is worthy of Commonweal or you would like to see it there. The article needs to be life-changing for you personally. Not simply that you are inspired and encouraged by its vision, but that you can begin to see how it might work out in your lives. That is a tall challenge but the only reason to write a book. I hope we are successful.
For example, during the pandemic voluntary spiritual leadership has worked out in my life in form of Saint Gabriel Hours, a blog with daily posts of virtual resources for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer which Betty and I use to celebrate the Hours. I am going to begin sharing it with friends in the parish as I flesh out the supporting pages which tackle such practical issues as: Do I have time to pray the Hours? How much time should I spend a day in formal prayer? and How to pray the Hours? These materials are all potential drafts of Chapter 7 Prayer for the book. In other words, long before readers have the whole book, they will be encouraged to be spend time in contemplation and celebrate liturgy with the People of God as I Betty and I do every day.
Jack - it all sounds wonderful. I'm saying a prayer now that God lets you bring your plan to fruition. Let me know what I can do to support your effort.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Fortunately, we all enjoy writing.
DeleteAs in all things be supportive of those things which resonate with your experience or give you hope (what Ignatius calls consolation), be critical of those which cause you confusion (desolation) and most of all point to what is missing or could be said better, clearer, or briefer, especially the last.
Geenleaf says that we all need to know when to put our hand over our mouth and just point. A faculty colleague once said that in faculty meetings I needed to stop half way and let every join in the chorus.
This post was mainly a trial balloon on a new approach to married priests. I have always been uncomfortable with the liberal approach that we should let anybody who wants apply for the priesthood as if it were any other vocation in life. (I just picture tons of people in clerical collars) I am even more uncomfortable with the approach of both liberals and conservatives who view the clergy as the most important leaders of the church.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary I view that by baptism all of us Christians are anointed to leadership (as were prophets, priests and kings of old) and that our composite leadership out weights by far that of the clergy.
A primary example of that is the strong role played by religious women and men throughout history in church renewal. Indeed, they were probably more influential than church councils. Only in recent centuries have the male orders become clerical.
The Working Document of the Synod is out. It is unclear how much time will be given to the issue of married priests. That will probably determine how much time I give to it.
I would be fine if they had married priests similar to the way the Orthodox do it. I don't think it is a magic bullet to fix the shortage, though.
DeleteI am puzzled as to why the request to allow married priests in the Amazon, or similar places stalled out. Probably idiots throwing other people's art in the Tiber and similar stunts had something to do with it.
I don’t know if studies have been done on this. Anecdotally I know two now-40 something men who were attracted to the priesthood but decided against it because they also wanted to marry and have a family. I know one former priest who was absolutely a terrific priest in our parish who left when he had his 40 something mid- life crisis. He had always wanted a family and decided he’d better do something about it before it was too late. Being the favorite uncle wasn’t enough. The former EC priest, married, in our parish was highly sought after because he had a lived understanding of marriage, fatherhood, and grandfather hood.After his daughters husband left her because he couldn’t handle having a special needs child, this priest/father/ grandfather stepped in to provide the support his daughter and grandchild needed, running interference with the various bureaucracies that provide services to special needs kids once the parents run the gauntlet.; His daughter couldn’t handle it alone. So parishioners with family issues turned to this married priest for advice and counsel. They knew he understood the real world of marriage and family life, not the idealized version in the imaginations of the male, celibate priesthood.
DeleteI see that Mother Teresa was a fan of silence also. There is really no need for homilies and music (especially not boring homilies and liturgical music wars).
ReplyDelete"We cannot find God in noise and agitation. Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence. What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us. In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.
Silence of our eyes.
Silence of our ears.
Silence of our mouths.
Silence of our minds.
...in the silence of the heart
God will speak.
Silence of the heart is necessary so you can hear God everywhere - in the closing of the door, in the person who needs you, in the birds that sing, in the flowers, in the animals.
If we are careful of silence it will be easy to pray."
~ Mother Teresa ~ St Teresa of Calcutta
Thanks for that quote, very true!
DeleteAnne, thanks for that quote from Mother Theresa. I see her advice here to pray without ceasing, and to listen for the whisper of God in our lives - which the clamor of the world may drown out.
DeleteShe gives excellent advice here for private prayer, and it applies in some ways to liturgy as well: the spaces of silence in a liturgy are very important, for the reasons she mentions: it can be in those silences that God whispers to us.
Jack - The very essence of leadership, going out ahead to show the way, derives from more than usual openness to inspiration. …” “But a leader needs more than inspiration. A leader ventures to say, ‘I will go; come with me!’ A leader initiates, provides the ideas and the structure and takes the risk of failure along with the chance of success.” p.28-29
ReplyDeleteI am not a leader, and have no interest in taking on such a role. But as it notes here, a leader with dreams who initiates action, needs to convince others to follow. Most of us are not leaders. But we do decide which leaders to follow - or not. Not all who have good ideas, who provide a course of action, can convince others.
In thinking back on my experiences with parish life I also see another potential, and common, problem for the lay leaders in a parish ( both paid and unpaid) - getting the priests onboard so that they will let these initiatives proceed. In one parish, the paid staff member who was the Social Concerns minister was a strong leader. She expanded the number of social justice ministries and found the right people to run them. She also provided strong spiritual leadership to help motivate the parish volunteers in the many ministries, with speakers, special masses etc. . She was a big success - until she crossed the pastor. He did not tolerate opinions that went against his own. She was a bit too vocal in disagreeing with him at one point and was slapped down. He fired her. Gradually the programs she had initiated, with more than 500 parishioners actively working in the wide range of social concerns ministries at the parish, most initiated by this one woman, fell apart. It’s been pretty moribund ever since. The same pastor fired the ( volunteer) music director, who was quite good, and the Director of Religious Education. She had launched a number of successful adult education programs. Before she took the job ( she was paid) religious Ed was pretty much kids until confirmation. Once confirmed they pretty much disappeared. Having interesting adult Ed beyond the often stultifying standard Bible study, was great.She brought in people from Georgetown, CU, and various religious order houses to give a series of lectures in their specialties, or teach short courses, lead discussions. She got volunteers to help with programs that were not Bible study - book discussions, or involvement with local initiatives in the community that were civic rather than specifically religious, working with other groups associated with churches, synogogues, and an Islamic school. After she was fired, her successors were unable to keep the programs going. But they knew to not openly disagree with the pastor so they kept their jobs. A pastor totally destroyed the program I was involved with - working with our poor, “ twin” parish in the Dominican Republic. He couldn’t handle the lay parishioner who was the leader of this initiative- Fernando - a kind, gentle man, a professor at Georgetown, who dared to gently make a suggestion to the pastor that he visit our twin parish, quoting Paul. He was strongly reprimanded for this, telling Fernando essentially “How dare you. Remember - I am the priest here”. This was all done via email so all of us knew what had happened. I changed parishes then. Fernando started going to one in Georgetown. Everyone involved drifted away. And all of the work of that ministry eventually died, including the annual trip by doctors, nurses, dentists and other health professionals to that parish (60,000 in the mountains) to provide health care that was desperately needed. Gone because of the pastor’s ego.
I've seen bosses in a work situation do the same thing, they have to be in charge to the extent that other people's ideas don't matter, and they end up running a department into the ground. I don't know what it is, some combination of arrogance and fear, I guess.
DeleteI guess for priests that mentality would have to be addressed in formation. "You're not God Almighty, that position is already filled." But I don't know if you can teach people humility and discernment if the seeds of those qualities aren't already there.
I doubt that they can teach humility in seminary. I suspect that many who are attracted to the priesthood are attracted partly because the notion of power appeals to them. It has been documented that the JPII/Benedict priests actively reject the servant leadership model fostered by Vatican II, now mostly found among older priests and retired priests.The younger ( than 50 or 60) cohorts of priests also embrace the whole ontological superiority of priests over laity teaching.
DeleteThe EC parishes have Vestries. The parish Vestry has real power - the rector cannot simply impose his or her views and ideas on the parish. The rector has a vote, but so do the elected members of the Vestry. They are like a parish council, but have authority - power - not just an advisory role like the Catholic parish councils have. Perhaps changing the rules and the authority structure in Catholic parishes to more closely emulate the EC model might make possible achieving Jack’s vision of leadership in the RCC involving laity and not just deference to whatever the priests want.
I've known many very humble, servant minded priests. Also some of the other type. It didn't seem to matter what age they were. Maybe what kind of home they grew up in made a difference? I also think we have some innate qualities that are always going to be with us. But we can learn to direct them.
DeleteYes, generalizations don’t cover everyone. But there have been studies done about this. One very interesting conference was held at Boston College about 20 years ago. Another was at Georgetown. The findings then were a warning of what was to come.The majority of priests who were “formed” shortly after VII strongly outnumbered the younger priests (who were attracted to JPII and Benedict) in sharing a vision of Servant Leadership. There were surveys given to many priests about liturgy, music, etc, but the most significant were those that asked the priests about their preferred model of the priesthood. The older priests (VII priests) embraced the servant leader concept, seeing themselves as working WITH their parishioners, as partners. The younger priests did not - they believed that they should be the bosses - that their ontologically changed souls gave them privileges to impose their preferences on their congregations - that they were, by definition, superior to laity and that the laity should always defer to them. This is what the surveys done then revealed, and it has come to pass in many parishes - maybe most at this time, since the VII priests are retiring and dying. Jean’s parish is an example of this, but it’s not a rare phenomenon. As the VII parishes lose compatible pastors, replaced by the self- styled “orthodox” priests and the groupies who follow them to new parishes (which also happened in Jean’s parish, and many others), the parishioners who don’t feel comfortable with the pre-VII mindset often leave. They become a bit religiously homeless, just as many of us now are politically homeless. So some, mostly older Catholics who came of age shortly after VII, just swallow hard and go to mass and try to ignore the new regime in their old parishes, just as many of us hold our noses when voting.
DeleteOntology, the philosophy of being, I think. Have my life experiences ontologically changed me? I believe they have. However being ontologically changed and two bucks would get me a cup of coffee at the gas 'n' shop.
Delete"The younger priests did not - they believed that they should be the bosses - that their ontologically changed souls gave them privileges to impose their preferences on their congregations - that they were, by definition, superior to laity and that the laity should always defer to them. This is what the surveys done then revealed, and it has come to pass in many parishes - maybe most at this time, since the VII priests are retiring and dying. "
DeleteConservative Catholics (among whose number I probably don't qualify) have been predicting this for years: they are the ones who have large families; they are the ones who bring their kids to church; they are the ones who teach their children to reverence the church; and so on.
From a slightly different angle: Greeley thought his research demonstrated that there are two people in a young man's like who influence him to become a priest: the young man's parish priest, and the young man's mother. The priests I happen to have worked with over the last 20-30 years (during my diaconal ministry, and before that when I was a lay volunteer) almost without exception take their responsibility seriously to call men to the priesthood. Of course, they have a stake in that. I think what is missing in the formula is the mothers. I don't say that to criticize them; just observing that I don't personally know many cradle Catholic moms who actively encourage their sons to enter the priesthood. Many women have issues with the church, for reasons which have been discussed to death here and elsewhere for many years now.
Thomas Reese wrote a couple of years ago, "Finding young candidates for the priesthood, meanwhile, who support Francis and want to be celibate is like looking for Catholic unicorns".
Within the past week, Ross Douthat wrote a lengthy critique of liberal Catholics. Among his charges: liberal Catholicism has not been fruitful. He sees the overarching goal of liberal the Catholic project as reaching an accommodation with (liberal) secular culture - so much of an accommodation that Douthat questions what is Catholic about the liberal vision of Christianity. Douthat's term for that secular culture is "decadence".
Here is Reese: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/13/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-francis-papacy/
Here is Douthat: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/opinion/liberal-catholic.html
About mothers encouraging their sons to enter the priesthood, I would have been fine with either or both of my sons doing that, if that's what they felt called to do. But they didn't. And I was fine with what they did feel called to do, which was to be married. It wasn't my place, or my husband's place, to try and steer them to a particular vocation. That would have been pretty presumptious.
DeleteI read both the Reese and the Douthat articles. I don't think either of them got it exactly right. I respect Pope Francis for not forcing his particular brand, as Reese seems to think he should have. And Douthat always gives me a large pain. He said, "One natural retort is...that my tribe just reflects a partisan conservatism at prayer." Well it pretty much does.
Well, I am a mother who would have actively opposed a son who wanted to become a Catholic priest. Or an evangelical minister. A mainline Protestant pastor would be ok probably. I also would have opposed a son who wanted a to join the military unless our country was in an actual fight to save our country from a despotic regime. I used to think that was an outside threat, and pretty unlikely. Now the threat seems to be higher internally - Douthat’s tribe at prayer ( seriously - they seem to have no clue at all about what the gospels teach) represents the biggest threat to our country now IMO.
DeleteHowever a takeover most likely wouldn’t involve a shooting civil war in spite of the crazies out there and the GOPs efforts to excuse Jan 6, while they continue their work at the state and local levels to destroy fair elections and to impose their religious beliefs on all via legislation. But - a surprise - For once the trump SC came through on something. The destruction of our democracy would be more like a Mussolini takeover, accomplished without much fighting. Or Hitler - he came into power by being elected. But the SC ruling on NC has at least slowed the momentum of Douthats tribe to turn the USA into another Hungary - white christian nationalist. Florida is already well on its way to being a little Hungary but with palm trees - assuming that all of their freedom repressing laws are upheld as they wind their way to the SC.
Reese has a good column about the Eucharistic Congress at NCR.
DeleteAnn said
ReplyDelete“I am not a leader and have no interest in taking on such a role. But as it notes here, a leader with dreams who initiates action, needs to convince others to follow. Most of us are not leaders. But we do decide which leaders to follow - or not. Not all who have good ideas, who provide a course of action, can convince others.”
Greenleaf said:
“leaders will bend their efforts to serve with skill, understanding, and spirit, and that followers will be responsive only to servant who would lead them – but that they will respond. Discriminating and determined servants as followers are just as important as servant leaders, and everyone, may from time to time, be in both roles.” p.18
“I now embrace the theory of prophecy, which holds that prophetic voices of great clarity and with quality of insight equal to that of any age, are speaking cogently all the time. Men and women of a stature equal to the greatest of the past are with us now addressing the problems of the day and pointing to a better way and to a personality better able to live fully and serenely in these times. p.22
“It is seekers who make prophets and the initiative of any one of us in searching for and responding to the voice of contemporary prophets may mark the turning point in their growth and service… Then we choose those we elect to heed as prophets –both old and new – and meld their advice with our own leadings.” “But if one really believes that the ‘word’ has been given for all time, how can one be a seeker? p.23
“…if one is a servant, either a leader or a follower, one is always searching, listening, expecting that a better wheel for these times is in the making. I am hopeful…because more natural servants are trying to see clearly the world as it is and are listening carefully to prophetic voices that are speaking now.” p.23
“the only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant statute of the leader. Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather they will freely respond only to the individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants.” p.24
My opinion on leadership:
ReplyDeleteMy own discipline of social psychology sees leadership as very situational. There are very few traits that predict leadership. Only two, intelligence and extraversion, have a slight correlation with leadership which accounts for less than five percent of the variance! It probably says that if you have a very low IQ and/or are a recluse you don’t have much of chance of influencing anyone else.
Social psychologists therefore do not talk about leadership as a personality trait nor as an attribute of a position (as do some sociologists and political scientists). Rather leadership is defined as being able to influence others. Of course, we all influence others and are influenced by others. We are all leaders and followers.
Leadership in the sense of influence is a key dimension of life (the political dimension) just as exchange is the key dimension of economic life. We are always influencing and being influenced just as we are always exchanging goods and services even when we are not using money.
If we want to use theological language, we could say that leadership and discipleship are two sides to the same coin. This is particularly clear in two person relationships were A can only lead (influence) B if B agrees to be influenced (to be a disciple).
As Catholics we are anointed in the sacraments of initiation just as priests, kings, and prophets were anointed in the OT, i.e. we are anointed to leadership as well as discipleship.
There is a great Vatican II document on the laity called the Apostolate of the Laity which clearly articulates our empowerment with charisms by baptism for the apostolate both inside and outside the church (and especially the last as our particular responsibility).
Unfortunately, apostolate is not a good English word, Other words like ministry (sounds too churchy) and service (sounds to consumer oriented) are better
I would replace it with words like leadership, servant leadership, voluntary leadership, and /or spiritual leadership.
Jack, could you provide real examples from “real life” of all of this? So much of the description seems theoretical. Especially the language of being “anointed” to leadership and discipleship. This notion seems to violate the notion of free will of each of us. Most Catholics are baptized as infants - we don’t even exercise our own free will in being recipients of that religious ritual, nor very often of communion and confirmation. It is imposed on us by family usually. If leadership is reduced to being able to influence others, then it seems that a lot of successful leaders do more harm than good. What role does morality play in leadership? If one is choosing leaders/ influencers to follow as their disciples, how does one make a moral choice? Most Republicans think that following Biden’s and other Democrats leadership is morally wrong. Most Democrats believe that following Trump - a very powerful influencer - and MAGA leaders in general is morally wrong. Were Biden and Trump both “anointed” to be leaders at their baptisms? ( Is Trump even baptized?). Are baptized Catholics (who have received all the sacraments of initiation) like Abbott and DeSantis destined to be prophetic leaders because of having been subject to religious anointing rituals? They are obviously effective influencers.
DeletePersonally, I don't think the baptismal charisms of priest, prophet and king translate directly to American politics. Those Old Testament offices of king, priest and prophet were three different modes of serving God: by ruling over / administrating / protecting others; by sanctifying; and by proclaiming God's word.
DeleteIt's possible President Biden sees his presidential office in those terms, but at least as possible that he doesn't. As for Donald Trump, it seems to me vanishingly unlikely that what motivates him has any connection at all with servant leadership, but perhaps I am too jaded.
I’m still not clear on the whole idea that baptism means all Catholics are supposed to exercise some kind of leadership in the church. Obviously we’re not all meant to be priests, prophets, or kings. And when too many people in any enterprise try to be the leader, chaos often is the result. Look at our government.
DeleteHowever, the real influencers now are the billionaires and corporations who stay out of government, try to keep their identities secret, but pull the strings via owning the politicians - in both parties - via their donations.
Anne,
ReplyDeleteYou are confusing leadership, person A influencing person B, as used by social psychologists and writers like Greenleaf, with “leader” is used by sociologists and political scientists to indicate persons who hold roles of power such as president, senator, pope, bishop, etc.
People who hold power are able to control other people’s lives by making things illegal, or by paying them to do certain things, e.g. workers in corporations, or by giving or denying access to certain resources.
Trump was able to become president because he consistently provides leadership to about a third of American voters, mostly Republicans who dominate the Republican Party. Those people are followers (disciples) of Trump. However, in another way his disciples are leaders of the American people because their willingness to follow Trump enabled him to become president.
Your sociological concept of leadership puts all the blame on Trump when in fact a third of Americans by their persistent loyalty to Trump have enabled him to dominate the Republican party and American politics.
Catholic conservatives who are against abortion played a key pivotal role in electing Trump who then fulfilled his promise of appointing Supreme Court judges who then overturned Roe. They certainly exercised leadership in changing America. You cannot blame what they did on Trump or even the American bishops. Trump’s leadership merely took advantage of their views to make himself president, although it failed to win him a second term. The bishops did exercise leadership in the sense of influence in their opposition to abortion. They urged people to support pro-life candidates but have only used power in some cases of refusing communion to candidates whom they think are insufficiently pro-life.
While rich people like Murdoch have a lot of power in America because they can buy media, politicians, etc. who will then do their will, they have little influence over the average American who is often unaware of them. Recently some rich people, including Trump, have become media stars which enables them to influence Americans directly.
Those of us who voted against Trump's second term also exercised leadership although we have not been able to mobilize our leadership as effectively as the religious right.
Not sure about this. Apparently my comments and questions aren’t clear. I don’t recall raising the issue of “ blame” related to trump. Or bishops. I’m not a bit clear on how you define leadership at this point. And in what context. Is voting actually exercising leadership?
DeleteI named a few politicians and mused about whether or not their baptisms really have anything to do with how they influence people in order to exercise leadership, and perhaps then gain positions of power.
I am confused because your essay relates to all Catholics (due to baptism) becoming “leaders” in the church through volunteering. But perhaps I misunderstand what you are proposing. The distinctions between influencing and leading are unclear to me.
Anyway, don’t let my inability to grasp what you are trying to say bog down the discussion. Since the context was Catholicism though I felt that the proposed model of church is unlikely to happen, and that clericalism- the strong aversion of clerics in the RCC to share any power with laity much less treat them as equals having any real say in the church at any level - would stop a movement such as the one you propose before it gets out of the starting gate.
I am not trained in the language and concepts of either sociology or psychology. I never took a single course in either, nor have my private interests and reading led me to study these subjects. So I guess I don’t understand the underlying basic definitions of your essay.
DeleteJack, I think your general vision is great. But I’m thinking too about your comments over the years about how your ideas were greeted in different parishes. In one they were welcomed, and your gifts were appreciated. But in another they were not. I see the potential opposition of the clergy in parishes ( and maybe too paid laity on the staff) as the biggest obstacle to implementing your ideas. Do you have ideas about how to deal with clerical and staff recalcitrance?
DeleteThomas Reese has a good article on why Americans mostly don’t get what the Synod is really all about.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/why-synod-synodality-confusing-american-catholics
I thought that was a good article, "the journey is the point".
DeleteJack, are you and Betty ok?
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking. I am fine. Betty had a little health scare in the past couple of weeks.
DeleteWhen she got up from the couch, she experienced dizziness for the first time in her life. She often experienced light headedness because she has low blood pressure. The dizziness persisted. She had visions of having chronic balance problems like myself.
When she went to the doctor, it was immediately diagnosed as due to air pollution! Her swollen sinuses had affected her inner ear. Basically, it could no longer determine what direction was up.
The doctor gave her some exercises to do in bed before going to sleep. They mildly challenge the inner ear to help correct its sense of balance. The problem slowly went away.
I’m so glad that you are both ok. I am also glad that the cause of Betty’s dizziness is transient ( those fires will be put out eventually). One of my sisters experienced multiple falls before she was diagnosed with hypotension. Fortunately the medications have it under control. She is the only person I know whose doctor encourages her to eat salty food. ;)
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