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16 November 2011
BALITMORE--The incoming chair of the US Catholic Bishops committee on Catholic education told brother bishops gathered at a strategy session hosted by the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management in Baltimore on Sunday that "the wind is at our back" but the moment to act to save Catholic schools is now.
Most Rev. Joseph McFadden, bishop of Harrisburg, thanked the Leadership Roundtable for its contribution to Catholic education, and said that while there is no "silver bullet" to save Catholic schools, a serious focus is needed from key stakeholders on issues of marketing, development, and the mission of Catholic education.
"Our commitment to teaching the Catholic faith" will solve the crisis, McFadden said. He said that "there is much to learn" about the tools and resources used by parishes, dioceses, and Catholic nonprofit organizations locally, and that the next step is connecting key stakeholders to one another nationally to share ideas and best practices. In addition, he said, it is imperative that priests share in the vision of strong Catholic education, as their voices are "very important in terms of leadership."
McFadden was responding to a presentation by John Eriksen, superintendent of schools for the Catholic diocese of Paterson, NJ. Eriksen chairs a Leadership Roundtable ad hoc task force charged with collecting the best solutions to strengthen Catholic schools in the US in 9 key areas. In addition to the three McFadden highlighted, others are finance, management, best practices, philanthropy, governance, and diversity. The target areas each house 6-8 specific, actionable recommendations conceived by experts in Catholic education, business, law, higher education and other fields who were part of a national summit on the topic held this summer at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
Catholic schools was one of the particular issues discussed at the Leadership Roundtable meeting held during the fall assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Other topics included updates on a Lilly Endowment-funded Leadership Roundtable initiative that trains new Catholic pastors in an executive style management seminar called The Toolbox for Pastoral Management as well as a campus ministry program empowering young adults to be evangelizing leaders in the Church today called ESTEEM, Engaging Students to Enliven the Ecclesial Mission.
The full set of recommendations from the summer meetings, as well as transcripts of presentations and workgroup findings, are available online at www.TheLeadershipRoundtable.org/Schools.
The Leadership Roundtable is an organization of laity, religious, and clergy working together to promote excellence and best practices in the management, finances, and human resource development of the Catholic Church in the U.S. through the greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity. It brings together leaders from the worlds of business, finance, academia, philanthropy, non-profit organizations, and the Church to serve the Catholic Church in the United States. The Leadership Roundtable serves the Church through its For more information, visit www.TheLeadershipRoundtable.org.
Read more about the Leadership Roundtable's vision for Catholic education here.
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