"GOOD" AND "GOOD AT IT"

I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

A hired man, whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves

the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. I am the

good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.

John 10:11-18

The Latin word for a “shepherd” is a “pastor.” As you await the arrival of the who will be shepherding this flock as your new “pastor,” it might be a good time to talk to you about the qualities of a “good shepherd” – the qualities of a “good pastor!”

As some of you know, I used to teach seminarians about “spiritual and pastoral leadership” who were about to be ordained priests, over at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. When I began to teach that course, I looked around for texts that I could use on the subject of “spiritual leadership” only to find out that there was a shocking lack of material on the particular subject. Most of the books I came across focused on personal spirituality (mostly Catholic) or parish management (mostly Protestant).  As a result, after several years of teaching that course, I decided to write this little text book for my class entitled The Spiritual Leadership of a Parish Priest: On Being Good and Good at It. The thesis of this book is that personal holiness is essential for a young priest, but it is not enough for becoming a “pastor.” The skills and ability to lead others to holiness is also needed. Even Pope Benedict XVI noted that it was easier for him to define the truth in the CDF than it was to inspire and motivate people to want to live it as the Pope.    

I define “spiritual leadership” in this book as the ability to influence people to move from where they are to where God wants them to be through invitation, persuasion, example and the skillful use of the Church’s rites, rituals and rules. The focus of “spiritual leadership” is on an internal movement to deeper discipleship.  The focus of “pastoral leadership” is on an skillful use of the external tools of the Church and the ability to coordinate the charisms within the community in making that happen.

This idea is confirmed in Scripture in Jesus’ teaching today on “the Good Shepherd.” In that Greek text, there are at least two possible words for “good,” agathos and kalos. Agathos means “good” as in “morally good,” while kalos means “good” as in “good at” or “effective at” something. The “Good Shepherd,” in the gospel” is said to be kalos, “good at shepherding.” Personal holiness and goodwill alone in a designated spiritual leader will not suffice. He must also be effective if he is to be a real spiritual leader.  In other words, today’s “good shepherds,” must not only appreciate and value green grass and flowing water and have their own supply, they must be able to seek and find it for others as well as to be able to lead their flocks to it!     

Spiritual leadership, the ability to influence people to move where they are to where God wants them to be, is critical today. Surely, there is no doubt that organized religion has lost its ability to impose unquestioned rules on behavior on our people and that one of the most pressing needs facing Catholicism today is the quality of its priestly leadership. No amount of ranting and raving about how we ought to be listened to will change this situation. We simply must get better at our ability to influence and persuade instead of blaming the victims for their lack of faith and the culture for its secularism and moral relativism. Nor can we merely collect good tools by simply writing new editions of the rule books, we must be able to use them effectively to persuade people to follow the rules in those books. 

Over the years, I have observed at least two very different ways to herd sheep. One way is to walk in front of them, gently calling them with a convincing voice, while they willingly follow to where they need to go. The other way is to bark and snap from behind, like a sheep dog, chasing and intimidating them into going where they need to go. Good shepherds lead by invitation. Sheepdogs drive the sheep through fear. It is no surprise to me, that in a time when we are losing more and more credibility, the barking and snapping seem to be growing louder and louder and gaining more popularity, especially among those newest to spiritual leadership. When one cannot influence people, with convincing voices that our people want to follow, in the style of the Good Shepherd, mark my word, he will end up becoming a barking sheepdog. Such pastors may be able to drive some sheep into the pen, but more and more of our people will, no doubt, run away from us or simply become more irritated by our barking and snapping.

Instead of facing our spiritual leadership crisis, there seems to be a growing avoidance response in the Church that seems downright curious to me, at least. I would call it a “theme park” response in which people are driven to put on period costumes of nineteenth century Catholicism and build realistic stage sets from some imagined “good old days,” while pretending that nothing has changed and attempting to convince themselves that this will somehow make all the confusion go away.

Any formation of “spiritual leaders” assumes reasonably integrated individuals, but some professionals have noted that because of the shortage of seminarians, screening and formation programs have tended, at least in the recent past, to accept and tolerate candidates with demonstrable personality traits such as dependency, avoidance, narcissism and obsessive/compulsive behavior.

Priesthood, even today, offers seductions of power, prestige and flattery. These seductions attract those who are drawn to the status and practice of ministry because it helps satisfy their need to be the focus of attention and affirmation. Is this not manifested in a new exaggerated emphasis on the theology of the priest as “a man set part,” the need to wear cassocks even in public places like airports and at sporting events and the rise in the numbers of young priests sent to treatment centers or pulled out of ministry simply because “they cannot relate to people?” This focus becomes even more pernicious if it is couched in religious language about “orthodoxy” and being “servants.”

My sense, from years of pastoral experience, is that most Catholics want to be good and serve God, but many do not know how and many of us do not know how to lead them there. It seems that the more we try to define truth for them, the more they feel uninterested and bored by it. Some leave the Church to look for greener grass in other denominations, while others simply give up the search. This crisis will, no doubt, get worse in the next generation. We have a spiritual leadership crisis and seminaries must find better ways to rise to the occasion in meeting the need for more real spiritual leaders. Our people need competent and effective spiritual leaders and they deserve them. Our whole raison d’etre as priests is to “…help the People of God to exercise faithfully and fully the common priesthood which it has received.” As priests, we must more become who we say we are. We must, more and more, “walk our talk.”  Yes, we need to be personally “good,” but we also need to be “good at it!” Yes, we need to be competent as well as holy!