In Christendom times, the Church was a trusted lighthouse for society. The common cultural assumption was this: it must be right because the Church is teaching it; it must be good because the Church is doing it.
Within a Christendom society, the Church was encouraged to extend her influence beyond parochial life. So, the Church began supervising schools, managing medical facilities, and administrating social agencies. These initiatives were considered by the majority as a benefit to society, not because it was well discerned necessarily but because the Church was doing it, so it must be right. More evidence that the Church was a trusted lighthouse for society.
In 2022, the relationship between the Church and society is rapidly changing. A recent study by Angus Reid confirms the concern that many prophetic voices within the Church have been speaking for years. There is a growing number of people that believe that the further society flees from the influence of the Church, the better off society will be. More and more people are cautious about the role of the Church in culture. These concerns have not evolved into intolerance of the Church’s place in society, but definitely leaning that way.
If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we will recognize that the Church cannot keep utilizing practices and methods that originated decades ago. As my friend, Fr James Mallon says, methods and mindsets developed for ministry in Jerusalem, when living in Babylon, is not a very effective approach.
The Church needs to get more comfortable leading with questions, not leading with answers and assertions. Church leaders, as well as all leaders, often assume that people are looking to them only for answers – bold assertions that build people’s confidence in their competence. However, in times of manifest uncertainty, providing answers only, erodes trust in leadership.
A recent Harvard Business Review article suggests three reasons why leaders lose trust when they fail to ask questions and only provide answers and assertions.
Reason #1. By not asking the big questions, leaders may convey that they have no appetite for deep transformation and prefer to keep things status quo, which is the antithesis of leadership.
There has never been an inspiring leader committed to maintaining the status quo. The best leaders are continually animated by a spirit of holy discontent. These leaders lie in bed at night dreaming about the way things could be and should be. When they wake up in the morning, these leaders ask all kinds of questions in the pursuit of total transformation and renewal. How do we make this better? How do we have more impact? To transform our ministries, we need to ask new and questions. We cannot keep approaching our ministry as if we live in Jerusalem when we now live in Babylon.
Reason #2. By not asking the big questions, leaders may appear indifferent to the massive changes going on around them, which is the cardinal sin of leaders.
Nobody is blind to how quickly the relationship between the Church and society is evolving. In a rapidly changing culture, irrelevance sets in when the changes in methodology within the Church do not keep pace with changes happening in the culture outside the Church. Asking the big questions will help the Church operate with an appropriate level of urgency and drive the proper level of innovation which is so necessary in the Church today.
Reason #3. By not asking the big questions, leaders may appear to lack the humility needed to ask questions or solicit help from others, which disempowers others who can help and do have answers.
Nobody expects the Bishop of a Diocese or the Pastor of a Parish or the principal of a Catholic or the Executive Director of a Soup Kitchen or any other Pastoral leader to have all the answers. When it comes to tackling huge problems, there is one rule: no one of us is as smart as all of us. Some leaders fear that by asking a sincere question – to which they have no answer – the leader will appear that they do not know what they are doing. On the contrary, research has shown that expressing vulnerability and asking for help is a strong signal to others that one is trustworthy. After all, after one says, “I do not know the answer,” they are more believable when they say, “I do know the answer.”
Some big questions that can be asked:
What will it take to transform parishes into missionary outposts capable of impacting culture?
How do we support families to become both resistance cells to post-modernism and spiritual outposts capable of powerful evangelization?
In what ways should parishes start up again after COVID and in what ways should they start over?
When it comes to decreasing the number of parishes and schools in North America (as most Dioceses are considering), is the goal to manage decline or re-structure in a way to enable a new missionary impulse? And how will we do that exactly?
How does priestly formation, in the seminary and in an on-going way, need to change to better prepare men for the new cultural realities?
How can we better support Bishops with opportunities for solidarity in the mission not just burdening them with more and more administrative duties?
How can we transform Catholic schools and tertiary institutions into centers of evangelization and disciple-making?