A Look Backwards: I

European immigrants Embattled Church Council of Baltimore Prepare for Menial Jobs Lay persons No consensus

A Look Backwards: II

The “Catholic Moment” Vatican Council Americans College-bound Religious men and women Mary Perkins Ryan Organization of Parish Religious Ed

A Look Backwards: III

Post-modern World Embarrassed(Embattled?) Church Wealth and Education Lay Persons Preference for public education New priorities Consensus?

Currently:

How will we take care of the “new immigrants”?

How will we take care of the students with the most needs?

How will we afford to take care of these needs?

How can we re-constitute priorities?

The future of the Catholic Church

Rests on the quality of its leadership.

What is our role as leaders?

What is the task at hand?

What is the task ahead?

The Hero’s Journey

Transforming our role as leaders

CSAANYS

S Carol CiminoS Carol Cimino

The Mythic Founding Every institution has a mythic past; The goal of institutions is to bring their

members into the belief of that mythic founding/past;

Once the members have assented to belief, there is consensus on the notion of re-founding;

Once there is consensus on re-founding, there can be consensus on mission.

Institutions…. Are the repositories of collective

wisdom; Have as their goal the passing on of

that wisdom; Have a duty to pass on the wisdom and

charism of the community.

The Leader:

Takes us to a place where we would never go alone.

Defines reality: the goal in terms of the mission.

Do something today

Which the world

May talk of hereafter

(Admiral Collingwood)

The Hero in Myth

Begins in a state of innocence– Has no idea of what will be demanded

Leaves Home– We have left our zone of comfort– You are THEY– You must be noticed– What makes us do this?

One can never consent

To creep when one

Feels an impulse to

Helen keller

The Hero:

Has a mission:– How does the mission get “played out”?– What is your personal mission?– How does it fit into your institutional

mission?– What drives us: mission or money?– Are we headed in the right direction?

Emmaus

Whatever you can do or dream you can,

BEGIN IT.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. (Goethe)

The Hero:

Embarks on the mission Reads the signs of the times Understands that the journey must be

undertaken.

When making a decision of minor importance,

I have always found it advantageous

to consider all the pros and cons.

In vital matters, however…

the decision should come from

the unconscious, from somewhere

within ourselves.

In the important decisions of personal life

We should be governed by the deep inner needs of our nature(Sigmund Freud)

The Hero: Makes friends along the way

– Who are our friends?– Accept all that come to us:they don’t make

lepers like they used to.– How will we make and keep new friends?– How will we call upon the wisdom within

and the wisdom without?– Who are the “keepers of the myth”?

Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!

Mae West

The Hero:

Meets monsters– Our doubts– Our culture– Our challenges:

• Diversity• Technology• Money• People to take our place

– Who are your monsters?

Whether you think you can

or think you can’t,

YOU’RE RIGHT (Henry Ford)

The Hero:

Has doubts– Are we the right people for the job?– Is the job worth doing?– Are we in the wrong forest?– Is what we are doing now what the Church

needs now?– If not, then what?

“There is no use trying,” said Alice; “one can’t

believe impossible things.”

“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,”

said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did

it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve

believed as many as six impossible things

before breakfast.”(Lewis Carroll)

The Hero:

Completes the mission and returns home changed– How will we know?– How will they know?– Will we be satisfied staying home?– What brings us “out on the road” again?– What about legacy? Who will come after us?– How will we react to the way they do it?

Chart your own journey: Where are you now?birth

baptism

schooling

Choice of vocation

ministry

Commitment to ministry

Commitment to place

Commitment to people

ministry

Choice of vocation

Choice of ????

Vocation/ministry

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done

what you could. Some blunders and

absurdities have crept in;

Forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin

It serenely and with too high a spirit

To be encumbered with your old nonsense. (Emerson)

A Final Thought:“I find the great thing in this world is Not where we stand, as in what direction we Are moving. To reach the port of heavenWe must sail sometimes with the wind and Sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not driftOr lie at anchor.”

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Another Final Thought:

We are more in need of a vision or destination andless in need of a map.

Leaders create their own destiny by following theirinternal compass.

They make their life a mission, not just a career

Stephen Covey

And yet another final thought:

I have come that they may have life and have itIn abundance.

Jesus