Clearly, Again

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

-1 Corinthians 11:23-26

This past weekend, I had two opportunities to return to my alma mater, Benedictine High School, for celebratory events. Additionally, I edged my lawn for the second time in the past three weeks. Finally, yesterday's gospel reading, from Matthew 10, included a line from the gospel on the Feast of St. Barnabas, which took on special meaning during a meeting with leaders last Thursday (Mt. 10:5-8)

Jesus said to the Twelve: "As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."

At first glance, these three occurrences have little in common. However, all three afforded opportunities for repetition. And, these repetitions allowed me to clearly remember my Benedictine formation, literally becoming a member again of the Benedictine way: ora et labora (prayer and work). These repetitions allowed me to more clearly define the limits of my yard and keep the sidewalk path clear from overgrowth of grass and earth. These repetitions clearly illuminated a message Jesus needed me to hear - I am an apostle sent out on mission to do His work. Go do it.

Repetition stands as the mother of all learning. Good readers re-read. Fluency with math facts results from repetitive drills. Nailing a speech happens after challenging ourselves to remember the order, flow, and main points. Musical performances, dance routines, hitting a baseball, creating a piece of art rise to new levels of excellence when we practice and practice and practice and practice and practice.

Repeating our efforts to clarify the identities of our organizations (similar to edging more frequently than I typically edge) helps to eliminate and keep away the creep of bad habits, loose policies, and ways in which our behaviors misalign from our mission and beliefs/pillars/values/charisms. Much like the impact of brushing and flossing our teeth daily as opposed to less frequently, clarifying and reclarifying and overcommunicating who we are and how we behave makes it more likely for our communities to remember what's expected. Edging a second time took significantly less time and effort than my first go and it looked significantly better. 

Finally, opportunities to remember our foundation - my time in Catholic education started in at Benedictine High School and I've been in Catholic education ever since - help us to become members again of those ideals and values. Reunions, halls of honor, and retelling the stories of our heroes and pivotal points of our schools' histories brings us back to these pivotal moments of our lives, clearly reminding us again what we value, what we believe, and why we do what we do.

As often as we need to, let us remember, clearly, again.

Human Flourishing Through Catholic Education

 "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."

-John 10:10

I recently learned that "authority" comes from the Latin word auctoritas which means to give growth, to augment, to help people flourish.

As people who have been given authority over Catholic schools, individually and collectively, we would do well to use this as our leadership frame: are those under our authority - faculty, staff, students, community members - better because of our leadership? Does our leadership help them to flourish?

In the podcast titled, Leaders in the Resistance, Rick Popp and Albert Faraj (from Acts XXIX) outline these three main tasks of leaders:

1. Impart identity
2. Speak with authority
3. Love unconditionally

Impart Identity

Imparting identity acts as the first task of a minister with authority - the responsibility to help others flourish. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the leader clearly communicates what gives the organization purpose and what makes it unique. From consistent declarations of the school's mission to explanations of what the various component parts mean (shared language AND shared understanding) the leader imparts identity by reminding the community exactly what has importance. The leader points members to the school's collective beliefs and values. These statements and their accompanying rationale provide the identity that proposes the school as unique: the manifestation of the school's charism(s), the inspiration and implications of school's patron saint, the school's stories, heroes, traditions and rituals that carry significant weight and meaning.

Through prayer, discernment and dialogue, the leader imparts identity by saying: this is who we are.

Speak with Authority

The leader, with the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit, must make decisions about how the organization will operate. Most often this occurs during moments of tension - a community member misaligning with the school's identity, a policy not followed, what to do when two goods conflict (i.e. we believe that collaboration is a force multiplier AND that leadership matters). The leader speaks with authority by declaring we will move forward in this way. From budgeting to personnel and admissions/enrollment decisions to programming, procedures, and policies, the leader speaks with authority when they decide and act - in sometimes unpopular ways - this is what we will do.

Love Unconditionally

Loving unconditionally reorients the leader to helping others to flourish. When we lead with the authority given to us by God, we follow in the loving and selfless footsteps and example of Jesus Christ. We lay down our lives in service to those we lead. This unconditional love inspires us to approach our ministries with a service-orientation: how can I make others - those I lead - better? How can my leadership help them to flourish? We love unconditionally by offering clear and objective feedback on performance, one of the most loving actions of a leader "for the Lord disciplines those who He loves" (Hebrews 12:6). We provide supports - resources, formation, training, coaching - and patience to help others improve. We see every person in our communities as a beloved child of God and act accordingly - offering respect without first receiving it, biting our tongues after/while getting bitten, and loving despite how unlovable others might act.

As a leader with authority - the responsibility to help others flourish - let us impart identity, speak with authority, and love unconditionally.

And as we do, may we point our communities to the One who imparts our identities, speaks authority into us, and loves us unconditionally, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.