| Efficient parish administration, a fruit of leadership, will enhance and promote the mission of the Church through the effective use of talent, resources, and time. Pastors or administrators need not be technical experts but require a sufficient level of knowledge that would allow them to competently manage the operation of a parish and to identify people with the appropriate skill sets to delegate this work. In a 2017 survey of the pastors and administrators of the parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland in northeast Ohio, the most pressing need, overall, was for resources and tools for managing personnel. Besides human resources, other topics requiring competency for parish administration include leadership (emotional intelligence), finances (fundraising, budgeting, investment, and cost savings), assets (property, buildings, furnishings, and equipment), liabilities (risk management, internal controls, insurance, and bank loans), and image (marketing, public relations, and social media). In an environment of constrained pools of vocational and financial resources, core competencies must be leveraged. The core competency of clergy is the ministry to people. Most administrative functions should, therefore, be delegated to those trained to handle them, specifically lay personnel. Efficiency is elemental of good stewardship. The Church deserves to be managed with the highest level of professionalism. |
