May 18, 2000
Board Governance/Growing Questions Whether Laity Are Mission Focused
Washington D.C. ----- Are increasing numbers of lay people who share governing responsibilities for hundreds of educational and social service institutions able to preserve the religious character of those enterprises?
As numbers of priests and vowed religious continue to dwindle, concern is spreading that Catholic boards are doing woefully little to compensate for the loss of their leadership through formation and education efforts for lay members.
This is the conclusion reached in a newly published volume of conference proceedings entitled: Trusteeship, Governance and Institutional Mission. Papers delivered during a conference sponsored by FADICA last January 28, sketch out the leadership challenges that wide sectors of Catholic educational and charitable institutions now face.
"The traditional accountability -- where a major superior of a religious order governed a structure where everyone knew their role from the representative perspective - just does not exist anymore," declares John Lore, Vice President of Ascension Health Care Corporation, and one of a dozen speakers reflecting on board leadership challenges for a foundation audience.
"Trustees are confused by what it means to be a trustee of a Catholic institution in health care," says Vicentian Father David Nygren, an advisor to Catholic Health Care West, the largest employer in the state of California. "I do not think we have given serious thought to the exact equation that is gong to help us survive as Catholic enterprises and thrive as trustees," he adds.
The conference proceedings touch on education and Catholic social service as well and document similar problems in these fields. "We are still digesting the move to independent, predominantly lay boards of trustees," reports Joseph S. Appleyard SJ, commenting on a thirty year trend among Catholic universities. Father Appleyard offers twenty-one questions that can be used by Catholic colleges and institutions to evaluate whether they are adequately preparing their boards for the future.
At the present time foundations in FADICA are working on a variety of projects to help the Catholic church adapt to a new environment in which laity will be transitioning to more institutional leadership positions and sponsorship arrangements.
In the conference proceedings Jesuit Father Fred Kammer notes that the religious pluralism at work in Catholic charities agencies "creates another set of pressures on the mission and identity of our organizations." Board selection, education and training are essential to maintaining the relationship to the larger church, he tells foundations in FADICA.
Other speakers included in the sixty-seven page publication include:
Bishop John J. Leibrecht, Nathan O. Hatch, William J. Byron SJ, Joseph F. O'Connell SJ, Marsha V. Whelan, and Andrew J. McGowan. The proceedings can be ordered from FADICA.
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