RECOMMENDATIONS

Provide structured feedback opportunities for leaders

Leaders who receive feedback are stronger and better equipped to lead.

• Ensure that all parishes and dioceses have active advisory councils, including finance councils.

• Ensure that all senior leaders and council members systematically receive feedback from parishioners so that accountability and inclusion of diverse perspectives is a hallmark of their approach to leadership.

• Construct a communications network for best practices in pastoral leadership, i.e. a forum for sharing and receiving insights for creative pastoral practice for parishioners to give feedback as to how their pastor and pastoral staff is working within their community.

• Prioritize ongoing enculturation formation to all priests serving in the United States — beginning in seminary — specifically in relationships with lay leaders, women, and people of ethnic and racial backgrounds different from their own.

• Create an avenue for parishioners, diocesan officials, priests, etc. to provide seminaries with feedback on clergy who are in their first few years of parish life.

Create agile, responsive leadership structures

Leadership structures cannot remain as they are if the Church is to continue to heal, strengthen and thrive. Rather, it must adapt to be transparent and responsive while still meeting the needs of those the Church serves.

• Explore methods of shared governance utilized in other sectors and evaluate what could be applied to Church leadership structures.

• Learn from different models of parish governance that include a priest-moderator and lay professionals working in partnership.

• Pay living wages to employees of parishes, dioceses, and Catholic organizations, and hire people with competency in what they are employed to do.

• Clarify the scope of authority of senior leaders in parishes, dioceses, and Catholic organizations.

• Facilitate regular contact between those in leadership and the broader stakeholder community, and encourage leaders to seek counsel, input, and guidance from those who they work with and serve.

• Ensure decision-making bodies that advise bishops include individuals with expertise in governance and management.

• Align and communicate clearly the purpose of diocesan offices to serve parishes and ministries, and ensure transparency and responsiveness in this primary mission.

Invest in young adults and people of color as leaders

Young adults, Hispanics/Latinos, and people of color have been historically excluded from leadership. The Synodal process has presented the opportunity for the Church to invest in and include these communities going forward.

• Provide multiple ways for young adults, Hispanics/Latinos, and people of color to connect with parishes through social, recreational, and service events in addition to liturgy and worship opportunities.

• Actively welcome young adults, Hispanics/Latinos, and people of color to parishes and encourage them to welcome others.

• Create mentoring and leadership training programs for young adults to transition into leadership roles.

• Create and promote programs and opportunities at Catholic institutions of higher learning that provide pathways to education for Hispanic/Latinos and other young people of color.

• Revise policies to actively include positions for young adults on advisory and governance councils of Catholic organizations, dioceses, and parishes.

Encourage and support innovation

A key part of the Synodal process involves openness and commitment to expanded and innovative methods of leadership, governance, outreach, and evangelization in the Church. Encouraging and supporting innovation is part of how the Church will remain relevant and agile in carrying out its mission.

• Foster a culture that is open to new ideas by supporting new initiatives with leadership and funding.

• Invest in leadership capacity assessment for lay and clergy leaders of parishes and dioceses that includes personalized ongoing formation and leadership development.

• Create platforms for innovators in ministry and the apostolate to meet, inform, and support each other.

• Conduct periodic analyses and listening exercises to understand the emerging needs of the institution.

• Provide resources (budget and personnel) to support innovative methods of evangelization, communication, and formation.

• Create space at the parish level to encourage and support innovation, welcoming those with new ideas and perspectives, along with a budget for pilot implementation.

• Be open to change, disruption of the status quo, failure, and discomfort as part of the process of innovation.

• Identify what fuels innovation within parishes, dioceses, and Catholic organizations and work to eliminate barriers so that creativity can flourish.

• Develop methods to ensure a broad range of voices contribute ideas as part of the decision-making process.

• Provide structured mentorship to leaders with a goal to create space to foster growth, creativity, and innovation.

• Integrate innovation, skill-building, and change management into leadership formation.