Florida Catholic | Better Leaders, Better Priests

Better leaders, better priests

The “Good Shepherds, Good Leaders” course helps increase the confidence of priests while strengthening their vocational identity and ministry.

BOB REDDY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC VENICE BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 04.25.08

We already know they are good leaders. We are giving them leadership enhancements skills that will be used in service of the people of God.”
– Barbara Eckert

VENICE | The education of priests is a process that continues from the day they take their first theology class to the day they receive last rites.

Twenty-six priests from across the Diocese of Venice are participating in that continuing education process in a two-year program run by the Catholic Leadership Institute.

The mission of the “Good Shepherds, Good Leaders” course is to help increase the confidence of priests, while strengthening their appreciation for their vocational identity, ministry and sense of growing fraternity, the institute states.

The April 14-17 session at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Retreat and Spirituality Center was the first of several sessions the priests will participate in before they graduate in October 2009.

Barbara Eckert, learning leader for the course, said the first goal is to help the priests find the leader within them.

“We already know they are good leaders,” Eckert said. “We are giving them leadership enhancement skills that will be used in service of the people of God. This is done by self-examination, one-on-one discussions, teamwork and relationship building. When they are done with the course, they will be ready to handle any challenge.”

According to the Catholic Learning Institute, the course uses Jesus Christ as the ultimate shepherd and role model of leadership. The curriculum is specifically designed to help Catholic priests overcome the challenges of more complex circumstances for priestly ministry today.

The goal is to minimize the frustration and energy spent on their administrative roles and maximize the joy and time spent on the pastoral duties for which they were uniquely ordained. The impact will be more holy, healthy and happy shepherds of vibrant parish communities, leading more people to a deeper relationship with Christ.

Father Mark Heuberger, pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Cape Coral, said he was learning a great deal in just the first few days of the course.

“It is important for each of us to create a balance between our roles as spiritual leaders and as leaders of the parish,” Father Heuberger said.

As the priests go through the course, Eckert said, they will grow both personally and spiritually in ways they never thought.

Father Jim Simko, parochial vicar of Sacred Heart Parish in Punta Gorda, said he has already grown.

“This is such a wonderful opportunity for each of us,” Father Simko said. “I am the type of personality that wants to please everyone. I know that I can’t be that way if I want to be an effective leader.”

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