It鈥檚 a striking statistic: Catholic colleges and universities educate just 10 percent of all college-age Catholics, but the graduates go on to account for 40 percent of active parishioners, and 70 percent of all financial contributions to the Church.
That鈥檚 according to pastoral research cited by Michael Pratt, the Carroll School鈥檚 O鈥機onnor Family Professor of Management and Organization. 鈥淎s a return on investment, that鈥檚 pretty good,鈥� Pratt said at an April 29 panel discussion in Devlin Hall, sponsored by Boston College鈥檚 Church in the 21st Century Center, or C21.
Pratt lent an unmistakable management perspective to the forum, titled 鈥淩evitalizing Our Church: Ideas from Professors in the Pews.鈥� The other two panelists hailed from theological realms: Professors Hoffsman Ospino, associate professor of Hispanic ministry and religious education (School of Theology and Ministry), and Kristin Heyer, a professor of Christian ethics (Theology).
The served as a distressing backdrop to the discussion. After the other panelists spoke of how the Catholic Church is at a critical turning point, Pratt said, 鈥淚 tend to see the issues in the Catholic Church organizationally.鈥�
Offering a reality check on the likelihood of swift change in the institutional Church, Pratt noted that even relatively young organizations that he has studied and advised would need about two or three years to undergo a cultural change. 鈥淚magine organizations that are thousands of years old,鈥� he said, referring to Roman Catholicism. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big challenge, a big ship to steer.鈥�
Still, Pratt alluded to what many see as the Vatican鈥檚 glacial response to fresh revelations of sexual abuse in the Church, and shared advice he鈥檇 give to any organization in crisis. 鈥淪ometimes any action is better than no action. It may not be perfect, it may be flawed, but it鈥檚 better than taking a year or two to figure out what鈥檚 the most proper response,鈥� he said later on, during the Q&A.
Beyond crisis management, the Church also needs to look at its system of rewards and punishments, said the professor, whose research has focused on how individuals connect with their work and organizations.
Citing the example of Catholic priests, Pratt pointed out that the Church serves as a near 鈥渢otal institution鈥� for the ordained鈥攑roviding their food, clothing, shelter, and a paycheck, while serving for many as their family. 鈥淧riests are in a difficult bind,鈥� he said. 鈥淐an you imagine how difficult it is for a priest to be a whistleblower? You lose everything you have.鈥� He added in an interview that the Church needs to somehow provide clergy with incentives to report wrongdoing by fellow clerics.聽
鈥淧riests have a high degree of power in the Church, and very little accountability to the people in the pews,鈥� said Pratt, who is a parish council member of St. Ignatius Church, adjacent to Boston College. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a recipe for disaster. The ingredients are there.鈥�
In addition to a 鈥渇undamental cultural change鈥� in the Church, restoring trust is what鈥檚 most needed, he explained. Pratt mentioned his three high-school-age children鈥斺�淭hey鈥檝e only known the Church in crisis,鈥� having grown up in the wake of abuse scandals that first erupted nationally in 2002. And building trust is hard enough with millennials, because they鈥檙e 鈥渓ess connected to institutions in general,鈥� he told an audience of around 100 students, faculty, staff, and members of surrounding communities.
Listening to the faithful can go a long way, and in fact has helped renew relationships at St. Ignatius Church, according to Pratt (the parish held listening sessions with different groups of parishioners over the past year). Greater transparency is a must (鈥渨e live in an age when people expect it鈥�). Better marketing and communication would also help: Pratt said too few Catholics realize that the Church even adopted what he described as 鈥減iecemeal鈥� reforms following the original cascade of scandals (such as removing accused priests from ministry), and new cases of reported abuse have dwindled since then.
A 鈥淭rustee鈥� Model for the Church?
Moderating the panel was Karen Kelly Kiefer, director of C21. Pratt is a member of the organization鈥檚 advisory committee, and he recently participated in a summit called by the , a national organization that seeks to connect Church leaders with lay expertise in management, finances, communications, and related functions in the Church.聽聽
In other settings, Boston College President William P. Leahy, S.J., has suggested that the Church might want to consider the 鈥渢rustee model鈥� in use at Catholic colleges and universities. In other words, primarily lay boards of trustees would oversee the managerial aspects of running Catholic dioceses, parishes, and other institutions. Pratt has picked up on the notion, saying such boards could handle parish budgets and human resources, for example, while leaving sacramental and similar religious duties to the clergy.
鈥淧riests aren鈥檛 trained in seminary to do everything, and they shouldn鈥檛 be,鈥� Pratt observed in the interview. 鈥淥n top of that, we have a shortage of priests, so we should be asking what tasks they could give up, and let priests do what they do best.鈥�
William Bole is senior writer and editor at the Carroll School of Management.