A leadership and conversion course for priestsWhat can you have in common with St. Paul, Napoleon Bonaparte and Atletico de Madrid? Apparently nothing; but yes, there is one thing: leadership. It is true that the three of them, the apostle, the statesman and the glorious club are great in history, and you may not even make it out of your family album. But you are a leader.
Let's see, the word leadership, in Spanish, has a bad press: it sounds like competitiveness and capitalism; but in reality, the word "leadership" has a bad press. is a biblical conceptHow else would you define Moses, David, Daniel, Nehemiah, Deborah, Judas Maccabeus, Paul...and many others?
In the Church, the Pope, bishops and priests occupy undisputed positions of leadership. It has been our lot. But... are we the only ones called to exercise leadership?
If leadership consists only of "commanding", then we are in a bad way.
Absolutely NO. If leadership consists only of "commanding", then we are in a bad way. But leadership is not about commanding. It has more to do with ability to influence people in one's own environment to work with "with enthusiasm towards the achievement of its goals and objectives. It is also understood as the ability to delegate, take the initiative, manage, convene, promote, incentivize, motivate and evaluate a project, effectively and efficiently..." (see Wikipedia, voice Leadership).
Ability to influence. Let's keep that - is it just for clerics?
There is one thing I have learned and one thing I am absolutely certain of. I have learned that in the parish everyone expects me to do everything. Everyone expects me to preach well, to organize well, to attract the young people, to attend to each one as if there were no one else in the world, to be always available, day and night..., to remember to turn on the heat... and to turn it off, etc.
What if we clerics, who are in increasingly short supply, were to devote ourselves to - attention: buzzword - "empowering" the laity?
What I am absolutely certain of is that I alone cannot do everything. If everything depends on me and the others are only collaborators, what will happen when I am gone? If I am the only one in leadership, what will happen if I die?
Ephesians 4:11: "He appointed some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, that they might labor to perfect the saints, fulfilling their ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ." Apostles, prophets... Did he say prophets? Yes, prophets..., evangelizers, pastors, doctors... A little earlier it says that "grace has been given to the extent that Christ wants to bestow his gifts"..
Are these gifts exclusive to clergy? Can there be among the laity apostles, prophets (sic), evangelizers, pastors, doctors? OK: successors of the (12) apostles are only the bishops, but are there no more apostles?
What would a parish be like if it had a dozen apostles, three or four prophets, a couple of dozen evangelizers, many pastors and a few doctors working to perfect the saints in fulfilling their ministry for the edification of the body of Christ? What if we clerics, who are in increasingly short supply, were to devote ourselves to - attention: buzzword - "empowering" the laity?
