Ruth: Chapter 20: Leadership
This chapter hit me in the heart. The beginning of this chapter brought out how the American church lacks strong leadership which is evidence by the recent scandals and the national press. Kelly states, "in the absense of this desperately needed leadership, the Church will have to content herself with mere survival...... the lack of leadership.... sends up a red flag" "It is this 'questioning' that caught the Church unprepared and that put the Church on the back foot." How accurate Matthew seems to be. The generation of priest that were ordained in the 60's - 80"s question authority as much as society and therefor seem afraid to exert faithful leadership. They seem to be afraid to take a firm stand for the truths of the church. Our leadership does not seem to take a stand against the secularism of society but to follow it. This lack of leadership hit me in the face this past week when I found out that "Priest for Life" tried to come to Dubuque and not one parish would let them preach the Sunday masses. (http://www.priestsforlife.org) They have now offered to come in October and two pastors have agreed to let them speak and Fr. Dan has agreed to let Fr. Quinn speak at Faith and Fellowship. Preist for Life stands firm on moral issues. What leadership do we find in our diocese on moral issues? As you can see this topic hit me at a good - bad time. Matthew's definition of a good leader should be what we all strive for. We can't blame the priest for being weak kneed when they have so little support for their vocation and efforts. Let's be sure to thank our leaders when they show faithful leadership. Lord, help us all to faithfully fulfill the leadership roles we are called to. "What we need is authentic leaders. Men and women willing to lead humanity along the right path with the example of their own lives. Authentic leaders lead by example." Lord, make us into the men and women you want us to be.
- posted by Ruth @ 9:16 PM