Priests Perceptions Of The Leadership Styles Of U S Catholic Bishops

Catholic priests in the U.S. and around the world are usually silent in discussing their superiors’ leadership relating to the child sexual abuse scandal. This nonfiction book, Priests’ Perceptions of the Leadership Styles of U.S. Catholic Bishops is a representation of rare but unique perspectives of the U.S. Catholic priests’ opinions of the bishops’ leadership styles in handling the child sexual abuse scandal. No other author has ever asked the question of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ leadership styles relating to the child sexual abuse scandal. The child sexual abuse scandal’s quagmire in the Catholic Church constitutes the question of leadership that the author examined in this book from the perspectives of transformational, transactional, charismatic, and servant-leadership styles. The author, Fr. Dr. Aloysius Ndeanaefo, traveled to the various areas within a Midwestern diocese interviewing priests as a way of gaining a deeper understanding of their opinions. Catholic leadership around the world needs to use the findings in this book to facilitate more effective leadership styles when handling and preventing similar future crises while collaborating with the clergy, the religious, the faithful, and the law enforcement officials in creating and sustaining awareness of child abuse prevention policies to avert future harms.

In the past thirty years, the Catholic bishops of the United States have made headlines with their statements on nuclear disarmament and economic justice, their struggles to address sexual abuse by clergy, and their defense of refugees and immigrants. Despite many similarities, the nearly two hundred U.S. bishops are a diverse mix of varying backgrounds and opinions. The last research- based book to study the bishops of the United States came out in 1989, since which time the Church has gone from Pope John Paul II to Benedict XVI to Pope Francis and undergone dramatic shifts. Catholic Bishops in the United States: Church Leadership in the Third Millennium presents the results of a 2016 survey conducted by the Center of Applied Research for the Apostolate (CARA). It reveals the U.S. bishops' individual experiences, their day-to-day activities, their challenges and satisfactions as Church leaders, and their strategies for managing their dioceses and speaking out on public issues. The bishops' leadership has been tested by changes including the movement of Catholics from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West, the arrival of huge numbers of Catholic immigrants, and the ongoing decline in the number of priests and sisters serving the Catholic community. This book provides a much-needed, up-to-date, and comprehensive view of who the U.S. bishops of today are, where they are from, and how they are leading the Church in the United States in the era of Pope Francis.

Aning Amoah's Leadership Styles and Spiritual Traits of Catholic Priests explore the relationship between leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire) and spiritual traits (self-directedness (SD), cooperativeness (CO), and self-transcendence (ST). The quantitative correlational study sampled 93 catholic priests from Ghana in active ministry. The results showed a statistically significant correlation between transformational leadership and spiritual traits, a nonstatistical correlation between transactional leadership and spiritual trait variables, a negative statistically significant correlation between laissez-faire leadership style with self-directedness and cooperativeness, and a positive statistically significant correlation between laissez-faire leadership style and self-transcendence. Thus, the more catholic priests provide guidance, counseling, teaching, and shepherding among congregation as a transformational leader, the more likely they will be reliable, mature, effective, helpful, compassionate, and spiritual. Contrary, the more catholic priests become laissez-faire leader, the more likely they will be weak, blaming, ineffective, emotionally unstable, lacking internal organizational principles (low SD), self-absorbed, intolerant, critical, revengeful and self-regarding (low CO), and absorbed in what they do, spiritual and capable of adapting to situation of pain and suffering (high ST).

During the past 25 years the Church has gone from Pope John Paul II to Benedict XVI to Pope Francis, and the Catholic Church in the United States, along with its bishops, are dramatically different. The bishops of the United States have had their leadership tested by the sex abuse scandals, the movement of Catholics from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West, and the arrival of more Catholic immigrants than they have seen in a century along with the ongoing decline in the number of priests and sisters serving the Catholic community. This text provides a unique and comprehensive view of who the bishops are, where they are from, and how they are leading the Church in the United States in the era of Pope Francis.

Aning Amoah's Leadership Styles and Spiritual Traits of Catholic Priests explore the relationship between leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire) and spiritual traits (self-directedness (SD), cooperativeness (CO), and self-transcendence (ST). The quantitative correlational study sampled 93 catholic priests from Ghana in active ministry. The results showed a statistically significant correlation between transformational leadership and spiritual traits, a nonstatistical correlation between transactional leadership and spiritual trait variables, a negative statistically significant correlation between laissez-faire leadership style with self-directedness and cooperativeness, and a positive statistically significant correlation between laissez-faire leadership style and self-transcendence. Thus, the more catholic priests provide guidance, counseling, teaching, and shepherding among congregation as a transformational leader, the more likely they will be reliable, mature, effective, helpful, compassionate, and spiritual. Contrary, the more catholic priests become laissez-faire leader, the more likely they will be weak, blaming, ineffective, emotionally unstable, lacking internal organizational principles (low SD), self-absorbed, intolerant, critical, revengeful and self-regarding (low CO), and absorbed in what they do, spiritual and capable of adapting to situation of pain and suffering (high ST).

This is the first single volume on the U.S. Latina/Latino religious experience. It features a comprehensive treatment of this large ethnic group, including thematic chapters detailing the roles that cultural phenomena such as art, film, and politics play in the U.S. Latina/Latino religious experience.

This title tackles issues relevant to leadership in the realm of religion. It explores such themes as the contexts in which religious leaders move, leadership in communities of faith, leadership as taught in theological education and training, religious leadership impacting social change and social justice, and more. Topics are examined from multiple perspectives, traditions, and faiths.

These essays explore team-based parish leadership theologically, sociologically, and pastorally in a variety of cultures and circumstances. The result is an extended conversation, both practical and deeply reflective, emerging from the collaboration of theologians, social researchers, organizational development specialists, and pastoral ministers. Collaborative Parish Leadership draws on the experience, strengths, challenges, and insights of the long-term pastoral-academic partnerships out of which it has grown. These include “Project INSPIRE,” a pastoral team-formation project sponsored by Loyola University and the Archdiocese of Chicago and funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc., as part of its Sustaining Pastoral Excellence initiative. Another partner initiative is the international pastoral minister exchange “Crossing Over,” involving several Catholic dioceses in northwest Germany and based at Ruhr Universität, Bochum. Authors of these essays have also been involved in Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership, the Congregational Studies Team’s Engaged Scholars fellowship (both also Lilly Endowment funded projects), and other projects. Collaborative Parish Leadership employs practical-theological methods, rooted in pastoral experience and integrated with scholarly reflection. Opening essays deal with the current situation of U.S. parishes, the parish consultancy model of Project INSPIRE, and a case study of several parishes that benefited from the project. The following chapters present comparative case studies of collaborative leadership in various settings: multicultural parishes in different parts of the U.S., parish clusters consolidating into single parishes using very different processes, and parishes in Chicago and Mexico City meeting similar urban challenges. Three authors associated with CrossingOver and its participating dioceses assess the general state of parish reorganization in Germany, and the potential of the unique approach to team leadership taken in the French archdiocese of Poitiers. The final chapters reflect on the theology of parish leadership from pastoral and systematic perspectives, and on the future needs and possibilities of collaborative approaches. Overall, Collaborative Parish Leadership engages and challenges academic and pastoral leaders in diverse social and ecclesial situations, suggests multiple models for cultivating collaboration, builds connections between collaborative action and theological development.