Another benefit to parish volunteers seeing themselves as ministers? Sweetser has found that they substantially increase their contributions to their parish. Sweetser reminds parish staffs that they can’t be the only doers. They’re there to find partners themselves. “The laity have a lot of resources already, but they’re not empowered.” At St. Pius X in El Paso, finance committee members don’t just advise, they vote on long-term and short-term plans for the 3,000-family parish. The parish’s ministry council decides on major projects. “But this isn’t just about finances, it’s about training people to take their roles in the church,” says Bañuelas. “This is an inspiration of Vatican II. Because of our baptism, we all have a part to play in the mission of the church. One of the greatest gifts of a leader is to bring out the gifts of everyone else and put them to work for the good of the community.” Thomas Harvey, a former head of Catholic Charities and now director of Nonprofit Business Development at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza Business College, has a key maxim he practiced at Catholic Charities: Never rely on behavior if you can solve a problem systemically. “The collection isn’t counted by one person,” he says. “You may have to borrow tools from a nonprofit library. Use an assessment tool for volunteers. Hold people accountable. As people are coming on, they need to sign a conflict of interest statement.” For child safety, he recommends the protocols set forth by the Council on Accreditation, which offers an evolving blueprint of policies and procedures. If, for instance, a child has to go to the dentist, there must be more than one chaperone in the car. Harvey says Catholic Charities and accredited child welfare agencies have almost no pedophilia because accountability is built into the system. “There’s a protocol, not just a handshake.” Father William J. Byron, S.J. has suggested parishes consider themselves as family businesses. Family businesses train their members in a more personal, more caring way than would a big corporation. Additionally, everyone in the family has a right to know how the business is doing and has a say in decisions. Craig Franco, president of the Catholic Business Network in Salt Lake City, sees this happening. “The church is coming out of this horrible period of abuse of power,” he says. “It’s reaching out and becoming more of a true community. So businesspeople will be able to do even more for their congregations. There’s so much talent within a parish—a lot of good is left untapped.” Growth chart Many parishes across the country already embody best practices. At Holy Trinity in Oregon, for instance, the books are always open, available to anyone. But even Gutmann had to learn some of his current competence the hard way. He winces at the memory of having discovered embezzlement at a previous parish only after several thousands of dollars had disappeared. The NLRCM’s programs and those offered by Boston College, Mendoza, Villanova, and several other institutions, aim to give lay administrators and pastors the tools they need to avoid having to live through cautionary tales of their own.
2011 Media Report Villanova School of Business Page 120