Leadership Practices for Catechetical Ministry

Leadership Practices for Catechetical Ministry explores Jesus’ approach to leadership, the characteristics of servant leadership, and ways to live out a positive and compassionate approach to witness and service as a servant leader and follower of Christ. The course engages the participants in developing effective leadership practices: modeling the way through personal values and example, inspiring a shared vision, trying innovative ways to grow and improve catechesis, enabling others to act, and recognizing contributions and celebrating values and accomplishments

Course Topics

1. Exploring the biblical and theological perspectives and practices for Christian leadership and the  characteristics of servant leadership.
2. Leading from a clear set of core values and personal principles informed by one’s faith in Jesus Christ and the wisdom of the Catholic tradition.
3. Identifying personal strengths and gifts for leadership.
4. Practicing effective leadership by modeling the way through personal values and example, inspiring a shared vision, trying innovative ways to grow and improve, enabling others to act by fostering collaboration and sharing responsibilities, and recognizing contributions and celebrating values and accomplishments.
5. Developing the knowledge and skills to be an effective situational leader by diagnosing needs team members and individual leaders, and matching the appropriate leadership style to the needs and situation of the team and individuals.
6. Building the capacity of the parish—people and material resources—for implementing and sustaining catechesis with all ages.
7. Designing a leadership system for identifying and inviting catechetical leaders, training and forming catechists for their role in catechetical ministry, and encouraging and supporting catechists and leaders in parish catechetical ministry

 Course Text

• Guide to Leadership Practices for Catechetical Ministry  
• Cultivating Your Catechists: How to Recruit, Encourage, and Retain Successful Catechists. Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy. Loyola Press, 2017.

 Recommended Text

• Everyday People, Extraordinary Leadership. James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Wiley, 2021.

Course Topics

 Topic 1. Servant Leadership

 Topic 2. Exemplary Leadership: The Five Practices of Leadership from The Leadership Challenge

 Topic 3. Situational Leadership

 Topic 4. Developing Leadership 

Weekly Online Discussions

Go to the course site each week to participate in discussions with your classmates.  A discussion starter will be made as a comment to one of the topics to which you are to reply with your own response. Please read the comments of your co-learners and respond to those as if you were speaking with one another in a "live" setting. Prompts will be offered in the topics from 1 to 4, with two weeks given to discussion of each topic.

Application Assignments for Course Project

#1. Servant Leadership: Your Guiding Vision of Christian Leadership

Using the scripture passages in “Servant Leadership in the Bible,” the article “Eleven Qualities of Christian Leadership,” and your own leadership experience, write a 1-2 page statement of the vision of Christian leadership that guides your life. Feel free to include scripture verses, quotes for authors, etc. The key is that it is your personal statement that guides your life.

 #2. Exemplary Leadership: Five Practices

Use the five practices of exemplary leadership to describe how you currently practice leadership in your setting (1-2 pages) and  develop practical action-ideas that you can use to strengthen your practice of leadership (1-2 pages).

 #3. Situational Leadership

Using the worksheet (“Analysis of Teams I Lead” in the Guide to Leadership Practices: Part 2):

• First identify the team(s) you lead, the development level of each team, your current leadership style with them, your analysis of the match between your leadership style and the changes you might need to make.
• Second, create a plan with practical strategies for working with each team using Situational Leadership theory.

 Using the worksheet (“Analysis of Individuals I Lead” in the Guide to Leadership Practices: Part 2), apply the same process to individuals that you lead or supervise:

• First, identify who they are, their development level, your current leadership style with each person, and your analysis of the match between your leadership style and development level and the changes you might need to make.
• Second, create a plan with practical strategies for working with each team using Situational Leadership theory.

 #4. Leadership Development System

Use the framework of the leadership development system to develop strategies that you will employ to improve your current approach to developing leaders for catechetical ministry. (1-2 pages)

Course Project Report

Compile your work in all four application assignments into one report and submit for review on or before July 1, 2025. See the "Course Project: Report Form & Assignments" tab in the course menu for more details.