Leadership Resources

This page offers links and printed resources on leadership. Readers of this page are invited to submit additional quotes to appear on this page by contacting:  Dan Krodel (dkrodel@archdindy.org).

Links

• "Framing The Conversation: Essential Characteristics of Ecclesial Leadership" by Bishop Frank Caggiano click here to view a copy.

• To learn about the experience of Fr. Michael White and Pastoral Associate Tom Corcoran in rebuilding their parish in Timonium, Maryland – via their book and follow-up resources, click here.

• Practical Strategic Planning Tools
  • A simple process to link the vision for your parish/organization to your strategic priorities.
  • A S.W.O.T analysis to review the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing your organization.
  • A 30-minute conversation with your leadership team to answer the questions: In order to maximize the impact of our mission with the resources we have: What should we keep doing? What should we stop doing? What should we start doing? Try using an "impact/effort analysis tool" to answer these questions.
• Yeshua Catholic Leadership Institute
  • One can sign up for the “The Weekly Catholic Leader” email which offers short articles – often from sources such as the Harvard Business Review – and occasionally a “4 Minute Tune Up” video on as aspect of Catholic leadership. The e-mail is written by Dr. Owen Phelps, the author of The Catholic Vision for the Leading like Jesus: Introducing S3 Leadership: Servant, Steward, Shepherd. – see below under Print Material.
  • To see Owen's 9 Core Leadership Principles, click here
  • Matt Hayes (Project Director for the Empowering Leaders for Excellence Project) wants to alert you that the Yeshua Institute has released an 8-part series of free webinars with the theme “Better Leaders, Better Parishes”. Presented by Dr. Dan Ebener, the series’ content is based on his book, Pastoral Leadership: Best Practices for Church Leaders, published by Paulist Press and produced through the Center for Church Management and Business Ethics of the Villanova University School of Business. Information about and links to these free webinars can be found here.

• Home Page - Leadership Roundtable
  • The Leadership Roundtable promotes best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications, and human resources development of the Catholic Church in the United States, including greater incorporation of the laity.
     
• http://thecrg.org/
• The Congregational Resource Guide (CRG) is an online tool designed to help leaders of all congregations find the right resources to address their challenges and opportunities. The CRG is a program of the Center for Congregations and is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. Since 1997, the Center has helped Indiana congregations address their needs through resource consulting, educational events and grants. Center staff and consultants have evaluated and picked the CRG resources and serve as CRG resource experts. In more than 16 years of resourcing congregations, the Center has learned that congregations have the best chance of flourishing when an outside resource is used in concert with the congregation’s own assets and creativity to address a challenge or opportunity. It is our hope that the CRG will enhance the capacity of faith leaders to blend excellent resources with their own ingenuity.
   
• http://catholicstandardsforum.org/
  • This forum is an online learning community for Catholics interested in, and making use of, best management practices in the Church. Based on the Leadership Roundtable's Standards for Excellence program this forum facilitates the sharing of ideas, practices, and management challenge.
     
• https://vimeo.com/123782803
  • Patrick Lencioni delivered this keynote “A Real Leadership Team” at a recent “Amazing Parish's Conference” in Denver.

   

  Evangelium Consulting Group
  • Evangelium Consulting Group, using the proven methodologies of Patrick Lencioni (founder of Amazing Parish and best-selling author ofThe Five Dysfunctions of a TeamandThe Advantage), uniquely "Catholicized" for Catholic organizations, offers consulting, training, and coaching to Catholic leaders and their teams in the areas of organizational health and leadership team development. Their goal is to help leaders increase organizational health by overcoming silos, confusion, and unhealthy team behaviours: factors that hinder effectiveness, joy, and apostolic fruitfulness. can Short, free articles on the intersection of faith, leadership, and organizational health can be subscribed to at: http://evangeliumconsulting.com/subscribe.

• Amazing Parish
  • This site applies insights and practical tools developed by Patrick Lencioni, author of such books as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage.  The home page of the site reads: Helping Catholic Leaders Build Amazing Parishes “What does an Amazing Parish look like? If you’re ready to build an effective leadership team and improve the organizational health of your parish, we hope you’ll join us. Amazing Parish gives busy pastors and their teams the tools they need to transform their parishes—moving from maintenance mode to mission communities that are truly alive!  Amazing Parish exists to revitalize the Church by equipping her pastors and leaders with the training, resources and support they need to create vibrant and thriving parishes.”

     

• Examination of Conscience for the Administrator

• Parish Catalyst
  • Parish Catalyst is a non-profit organization that identifies pastors across the country who are leading vibrant Catholic parishes and who are eager to grow their parishes in innovative ways. Pastors and key members of their parish pastoral teams are invited to join a Learning Community. Through a process of facilitated exercises and peer collaboration, the Parish Catalyst process gives parishes opportunities to capitalize on one another’s insights and experiences, igniting new ideas and strategies for parish ministry. Innovations developed in our Learning Communities are shared by Parish Catalyst via email newsletter and website postings. Some of the results of Parish Catalyst research to date are explained in a new book by co-founder William E. Simon, Jr.—Great Catholic Parishes: How Four Essential Practices Make Them Thrive. Discussion guides for small groups are available to download for free on the Parish Catalyst website:  https://www.parishcatalyst.org.

 

• The Importance of the Art of Reflection

• Click Here to read (from the Harvard Business Review) about 7 practices for a leader to ensure there is time for reflection within the culture of the organization.

Articles

• “Take a Look At Yourself:  Self-in-System Sensitizers”
  • “The purpose of the Self-In-System Sensitizers is to help us become more aware of our typical patterns of organizational behavior.” (page 3)
     
• “Total System Power:  Developers, Fixers, Integrators, and Validators”
  • “What each of us can do in our multiple roles as Tops, Middles, Bottoms, and Customers to create a system with outstanding capacity to survive and develop.” (page 2)
     
• “The Universal Civics Course” by Barry Oshry
  • “The business of trusting or distrusting Tops is truly a phony issue. It’s as if the issue is about their trustworthiness.  But the issue of system membership is not about “Them,” it is about “Us.”
     
• Conflict Resolution Skills
   
• Covey Time Management Grid
   

Books

• Kouzes, James, and Barry Posner, eds.  Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 2004.
   
• Phelps, Owen.  The Catholic Vision for the Leading like Jesus: Introducing S3 Leadership: Servant, Steward, Shepherd.  Huntington, IN:  Our Sunday Visitor, 2014.
   
• Lowney, Chris.  Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads.  Chicago, IL:  Loyola Press 2013.
   
• Greenleaf, Robert.  Servant leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness.  Mahwah, NJ:  Paulist Press, 1977.

   

• Holmes, Paul A., ed.  A Pastor’s Toolbox:  Management Skills for Parish Leadership.  Collegeville, MN:  Liturgical Press, 2014.

• Heifetz, R., and Linsky, M.  Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

• Lencioni, Patrick.  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 2002.

• Blanchard, Ken and Waghorn, Terry. Mission Possible. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1999.

• White, Fr. Michael. Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost and Making Church Matter. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2013.

• Mallon, Fr. James. Divine Renovation: Bringing Your Parish from Maintenance to Mission. New London, CT: Twenty-third Publications, 2014.

• Garrido, Ann.  Redeeming Administration: 12 Spiritual Habits for Catholic Leaders.  Notre Dame, IN:  Ave Maria Press, 2013. More information about this book.

• Garrido, Ann. Redeeming Conflict: 12 Spiritual Habits for Christian Leaders. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2016.
  • Redeeming Administration Small Group Guide click here.
  • Redeeming Conflict Guide for Pastors and Preachers click here.
  • For a one hour webinar by Ann on dealing with conflict click here.

• Castrilli, Michael and Zech, Charles. Parish Finance: Best Practices in Church Management. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2016. More information about this book.