Dear Roundtable,

We’ve seen a number of changes in our country and around the world over the past few months. Media attention has particularly been focused internationally recently, which provides new teaching opportunities around global solidarity. The uprisings in a number of countries across the Middle East, in particular, are of interest to me as I recently returned from a Christian peacemaking and solidarity delegation to Israel-Palestine.

In the land often called the “Fifth Gospel,” we witnessed Palestinian Christians (whose share of the population has been reduced from 18% to 2% over the past 60 years) working with Palestinian Muslims and Israeli Jews for peace in this treasured land. Hearing their stories showed me that a spirituality of resistance is both a way of life and of hope.

“Come and see,” was the theme of the last church homily I heard in Jerusalem. It’s an invitation with a lot of relevance to the work of diocesan social action. Whether it’s through an international trip with Catholic Relief Services, a visit to a CCHD grant-funded organization during SASI, or some other form of immersion, we are reminded that to “come and see” can shake us up, challenge our assumptions, and help foster relationships with other members of the Body of Christ that ground and motivate our work.

We know that the struggle for justice is not just taking places in countries thousands of miles away but also here in our own states and dioceses. In Bishop Blaire’s recent letter offering support and solidarity with Wisconsin Bishops on affirming the rights of workers, he reiterates, “hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers.”

Now is an historic moment for a new discussion around labor focused on the worker and rooted it in the dignity of work. For that reason, our 2011 Social Action Summer Institute will be on focused on the worker and workers’ rights. Please join us July 10-13, 2011 at Loyola University in New Orleans. Some information is already available at http://catholicroundtable.org/events/sasi/ and registration is coming soon!

Throughout the April 2011 issue of the Roundtable Report, it is clear that the struggle for a more just world in accordance with the reign of God is something we’re engaged in together as a community. Read on!

We were so pleased that many of you participated in our 26^th Annual Roundtable Symposium I February on Addressing a Culture of Fear with Prayerful Conversation with Peggy Steinfels and Sr. Deborah Lorentz, S.S.S. Read some of the highlights from the Symposium and check out pictures!

Also during the Symposium, we had an opportunity to hear from 2011 Servant of Justice Award winner Tom Allio, who offered a powerful address calling for being at the table with those who do not completely embrace our principles on all issues, building a nationwide life and human dignity movement, and promoting civility and dialogue in our Church. 

And it’s already time to nominate 2012 winners – make sure to turn in a nomination form by April 20!

As part of the Roundtable Report, we always want to share resources with you that can help your work and build your capacity – and even better if those resources come from our membership itself! Roundtable member Chris Ruff has written the Discipleship Series to make justice outreach and education more “common” and communal. Read about how he came about writing this series and how it’s being used by dioceses around the country.

Just last week, the Roundtable hosted Dan Ebener for a webinar on Servant Leadership. If you weren’t able to be with us, you can read about some of the highlights from the webinar and download it online.

Teaching around environmental stewardship is a priority for many of your dioceses. In order to help resource you better, the Franciscan Action Network is offering several educational tools to Care for Creation, including a recent webcast around a collective effort for Creation Care, a six-session small group curriculum, and a series of Lenten reflections.

At the annual membership meeting, we elected four new board members. You can learn more about them here. As always, the Roundtable Roundup features much of the wonderful work that you are doing around the country.

We need your support to continue this work; please pay your 2011 membership dues soon! Thank you in advance.

May your Lenten and Easter seasons be filled with personal growth as well as renewal across your dioceses. I pray the season is filled with joy and expectant hope!

Many blessings,

Jenn Svetlik
Roundtable Coordinator

“I know a man… He didn’t have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office… He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness… Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life…
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice… We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade…And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct. It is a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it. Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity.”

- Martin Luther King, “Drum Major for Justice” Sermon, 1968

On March 21, 2011 the Roundtable hosted author Dan Ebener for a webinar discussion on servant leadership in our dioceses.

Roundtable members shared their own descriptions of leadership, which included “part coach, part backstop,” “someone who keeps the group together,” and “someone with pure motivations, following the example of the Sermon on the Mount.”

During the conversation, Dan offered some Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, behaviors we’d like to see parishioners in our dioceses engaged in, and the group discussed how leaders can facilitate an environment to enable followers to practice those behaviors.

Members shared challenges in their own practice of servant leadership, such as feeling responsible for taking care of everything on their own, or feeling that their lack of capacity prevents them from investing time into developing new leadership. They also shared ways in which the content of the conversation made them feel affirmed. One participant shared that she can see her work in this context as creating “programs that are helping people develop the right motives, then accompanying those participants on the follow through.”

Framing diocesan social action work in the language of servant leadership helped to remind members that our work involves developing leaders, which through one-on-one meetings can be like conducting a “talent search” for potential leaders to share the vision of diocesan social action. One participant shared that she would seek to engage the wives of deacons, who accompany their husbands in formation, in this work. Participants agreed there were a number of takeaways from the conversation that can enrich their work.

Did you miss the conversation? Visit the Virtual Roundtable to stream or download the webinar. – Note: Many members streaming or downloading the webinar simultaneously may overwhelm the server.

Also, check out Dan’s February 2011 article in Sojourners Magazine: On Becoming a Servant Leader – Seven myths and seven paradoxes of Christian leadership.

Thanks to many of you for participating in the online survey to select the book for the Roundtable’s Spring Book Discussion. For ournext book call, you chose Servant Leadership Models for your Parish by Dan Ebener.

Dan Ebener, former DSAD in the Diocese of of Davenport, will join us for a discussion by conference call on Monday, March 21 at 12pm PT, 3pm ET.

If you’re interested in joining us, please email coordinator@catholicroundtable.org to reserve your spot. Space is limited; we can open the opportunity up to non-members if members do not fill all the spots (so feel welcome to invite other leaders from your dioceses or parishes).

To learn more about Dan and his latest book, read his interview with the Roundtable Report in June 2010.

Paulist Press is offering Roundtable members a 30% discount on the book. To receive the discount, call 800/218.1903 or email info@paulistpress.com and mention the title of the book and your membership in the Roundtable to any sales representative. Discounts not available with web orders at this time.

PS - As always, If you have a suggestion for a future book discussion please let me know!

Dear Roundtable members,

Summer is here! We hope that you’re enjoying the warmer weather and been able to do some relaxing with friends and family, spending some time outdoors enjoying God’s glorious creation.

Much is happening around the Roundtable, and we’re happy to report about it in this issue. In early June, the Roundtable board came together for a three-day meeting to plan for the future, including next year’s activities. Check out the board report, which announces the 2011 Fagan and Servant of Justice Award Winners, as well as the theme of our 2011 Symposium, “Fear Not:  Addressing a culture of fear with prayerful conversation.” The 2011 Symposium will take place on February 11-12, just before the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering on February 12-16 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC.

This issue of the Roundtable Report offers several articles that lift up the work that our members are doing. Earlier this year, Christine Smith of the Diocese of Boise asked for help through the Virtual Roundtable regarding a Catholic Dialogue on Immigration. In May 2010, her team facilitated a Catholic Dialogue on Immigration, and she reports back to us about it, as well as shares with us her process document. It is an inspirational article and a very useful resource to help you host similar events in your own diocese!

This issue also features an interview with former Roundtable member Dan Ebener, on servant leadership and his recently-release book on the topic. He offers great insight on how servant leadership is crucial to the ministry of diocesan social action directors.

So many of you wear multiple hats in your work: coordinating parish social ministry, CRS, CCHD, respect life, and social justice education at the diocesan level. Our July 2010 Roundtable Report features articles from two of our members who offer unique perspectives because of the other ministry hats that they wear. Shirl Giacomi of the Diocese of Orange shares about social action work from the perspective of a chancellor, and Jim Merle, also in the Diocese of Orange, shares about doing social action work from the perspective of a deacon. Both articles offer great personal insight about how social action work is interwoven into so many ministries of our Church. Speaking of your many hat’s and ongoing activities, don’t miss the Roundtable Roundup with news from around the country.

If you haven’t heard from them already, you’ll be hearing from one of our board members soon; each board member is charged annually with calling the members in their region to check-in with you and see how your work is going and how the Roundtable can better serve you. It’s a great way to share your needs with the Roundtable, so thank you for sharing your time with us!

And from the reports I’m hearing back from those check-in calls by board members, the Virtual Roundtable continues to be offering that the majority of our members find most useful. Don’t forget – if you have a question you’d like to pose to your colleagues, please email it to me at coordinator@catholicroundtable.org. Your colleagues can respond to me, and I’ll compile the responses and send them out to our listserv as well as post them on the Virtual Roundtable online. And in case you missed it, the Roundtable is now offering a mentorship program for new Diocesan Directors, so please contact us if you’re interested in participating!

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Social Action Summer Institute on “Peacemaking for the 21^st Century,” on August 1-4, 2010 at Santa Clara. It should be a very rejuvenating experience!

Blessings,

Jenn Svetlik
Roundtable Coordinator

In June, the Roundtable spoke with Dan Ebener, former Social Action Director (and Roundtable member) in the Diocese of Davenport, about his work and his latest book on Servant Leadership. Read their conversation here:

Roundtable Report:  You’ve had a long history working in ministry and education. You were a diocesan social action director for twenty years, you’ve taught in universities and workshops on leadership, non-profit management, and conflict resolution, among other topics, throughout the years. Now you are director for Stewardship and Planning for the Diocese of Davenport and have recently written a book on servant leadership. How did you find yourself where you are today?

Dan Ebener: One part of my story may be of particular interest to Roundtable members. Very early in my social action ministry, at one of my very first Roundtable meetings in the 1980s, [first Roundtable secretariat] Harry Fagan got up and said, “If you’re not developing leaders, you might as well get out of this business.” That particular statement changed my whole approach to ministry.

At that time I was guilty of trying to do too much myself. I was not delegating and creating structures for others to get involved in my ministry. But from Harry Fagan I learned that we shouldn’t be doing it ourselves, we should develop the people so that the people will do it. Lao Tzu once said, “of the best leader, the people will say when the job is finished, we did it ourselves.”

This experience first changed my ideas about leadership. And now, as you can probably tell, I am very passionate about servant leadership. I feel like it’s my next calling in life.

RR: What is servant leadership? And where in Scripture do you find the foundations for servant leadership?

DE: Servant leadership is teaching and leading the way that Jesus taught and led. It’s about welcoming people and their ideas, encouraging the initiative of all, and building greater trust, commitment and cohesion among people. It about building a greater sense of mission.

I’ve been rereading the Sermon on the Mount during the past few months. Jesus says, “Where your treasure is there also your heart will be.” And I think what I’ve come to realize about the Sermon on the Mount is that it’s all about the heart.

Where the heart is, that’s a question central to servant leadership. Is my heart with the people, the mission of the organization, with God? Or is it with selfish interests and selfish motives? Is it willing to step on anybody until I get what I want? These are the questions of servant leadership that can transform ourselves, our churches, as well as corporations and society at large.

RR: In March 2010, you published a new book entitled Servant Leadership Models for Your Parish. Tell me more about that. What models do you offer for parishes in the book?

DE: My book is about how servant leadership changes how we do church. The thing that’s great about teaching leadership is that it applies to all walks of life. I teach at the graduate level and I see nurses, teachers, social workers, pastors, business leaders, coaches in my classes. All these people create an incredible learning environment to talk about and apply to leadership, because it applies to all those fields. However, we often overlook the way that leadership applies to the way that we do church.

One of the primary ways servant leadership works in a parish is that this model brings out the best in people, it welcomes their physical presence, their ideas, initiative, participation and leadership. To be truly welcoming is to open oneself up to the full personhood of those entering the parish, not just their physical presence. If people feel like they should be “seen, not heard,” that’s not welcoming.

What my research showed too is that servant leadership increased participation in parish life. When that leadership structure is in place, people are going to take their role as follower of Christ more seriously and sharpen the saw, train themselves, and develop themselves as leaders for social action. Servant leaders guide and nurture parishioners in that process.

The beginning of the book defines servant leadership. The middle is lots of stories of what it looks like in a parish. The last section puts servant leadership into various different models that could work for  parishes.  One of the great strengths of the book is the stories about how and why servant leadership works.

Roundtable Report: Can you share an example of one of the stories in your book?

DE: One story from the smallest parish in the Davenport Diocese involves a guy who showed up for Mass 15 minutes early, and he noticed that the front door wasn’t swinging properly. So he went to his truck, pulled out a toolbox and fixed the door. He went to Mass and that was the end of it. But what’s significant about the story is that first, in a small parish, you can get things done smoothly and easily. Also, if the pastor of the church had seen him doing this, and asked him to stop and go through the building committee, see if it was in the budget, and fill out the paperwork, the guy would lose his initiative. A servant leadership model gives people a sense of ownership of their parish. That guy treated his church like his home. Of course, in a larger parish there are more rules. But the culture of a parish is contingent on the leadership of the pastor. It can either encourage or extinguish initiative. That story was just one simple story, but there are lots more in the book.

Roundtable Report: What are the trends you are seeing in the field of leadership, in our church and in our society?

DE: We’re in a kairos moment right now around servant leadership.  There is interest mounting from lots of directions.

Take, for example, one organization called “Lead Like Jesus,” which was formed out of the evangelical churches. There are lots of evangelical Christians who are CEOs of corporations who are now looking at how they can lead their companies like Jesus would. This group has spurred a lot of interest around servant leadership in the for-profit world. The CEOs of these companies are realizing that they can’t lead like Jesus without changing the workplace. And, of course, changing the workplace in a significant way like this creates an opportunity to make major transformations in our society toward social justice and human dignity, particularly around the dignity of the worker, one of the principles of Catholic social teaching.

One of the first things I say in my book is, “Every leadership situation offers an opportunity to put our faith into practice.” In every leadership situation, a CEO of an organization has an opportunity to say, “Am I going to put my corporate hat on and think only of the financial bottom line? Or am I going to go with my gut and lead like Jesus would?” They are asking themselves how they can be disciples in the workplace.

And it’s had a great impact so far on a growing number of CEOs and top organizational leaders in very large corporations. Some 40% of Fortune 500 companies have adopted servant leadership as their philosophy. Walmart has adopted servant leadership as a corporate philosophy. We have strong Christian leaders in that company, southern evangelicals who want to practice their faith at work.

People want to practice their faith while at work. If we spend the greatest number of our waking hours at work, then we should be practicing our religion there. If corporate leaders want to practice the Sermon on the Mount at work, this could be a major breakthrough for us who believe in Catholic social action.

RR: How do the ideas of servant leadership and stewardship speak to the work of diocesan social action directors? How can promoting models of servant leadership support their work?

DE: In social ministry, we’re not looking for charismatic leaders.  We are looking for transformational leaders who will create structures where people will do things themselves. We’re looking for leaders who will develop the people. As a diocesan staffperson, you can’t do it all yourself. If you try, you won’t be able to get as much done, and eventually you will burn out, but you’re also taking away the opportunity from others to get involved.

Leadership is about giving people an opportunity to practice discipleship. It’s not about work that needs to get done, it’s not about checking tasks off a “To Do” list, it’s a life that needs to be lived. The sooner we can all realize that social action ministry is a part of Christian discipleship, the sooner we will transform society.

As diocesan staffpeople, our role is to empower, enhance, and enable. Sometimes we think, “If I can just have this meeting, conference, dinner, then our social action ministry is going to excel.”  But it’s not about that. It’s about the people. It’s about creating an environment where everyone practices social action ministry because it’s a part of discipleship.

When you go to community organizing school, we talk about the iron rule, which says, “don’t do unto others what they can do unto themselves.” Our role as social action ministers is empowerment. Our role is organizing, it’s not to be the leader ourselves. The best measure of leadership is not how many followers you lead but how many leaders you develop. Social action ministry just flows throughout my latest book. Everything I learned as a diocesan social action director just flows through the book.

RR: Anything else you’d like to share with Roundtable members?

DE: My bishop sent a copy of Servant Leadership Models for Your Parish to every bishop in the country. To get a copy to every pastor in the country will take diocesan work. Every diocesan social action director should know that his or her bishop has a copy of my book.

RR: Thank you, Dan, for your time and for sharing your insights!

Purchase a copy of Dan’s book from Paulist Press.

In March, we had a great membership book discussion on Uncommon Faithfulness: The Black Catholic Experience with several authors on the call.

We’d like to host another enriching book discussion this summer. On behalf of the communications committee, I’d like to offer some titles that have been suggested by members over the past few months.

Do you have a preference for one of the titles below? Do you have other suggestions? Please send them to me or add a comment below. We also welcome suggestions of papers or articles to discuss, and other “quicker reads…”

• Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice: Navigating the Path to Peace – Rev. Dan Groody at Notre Dame (Orbis) http://www.amazon.com/Globalization-Spirituality-Justice-Navigating-Perspective/dp/1570756961

• Illegal – Nafta Refugees Forced to Flee – Peter A. Geniesse http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000138884
  
• Romero – Scott Wright – in honor of the 30^th anniversary – http://catholicbooksreview.org/2010/wright.htm
• And You Welcomed Me: Migration and CST – Don Kerwin (edited)  - http://www.amazon.com/You-Welcomed-Me-Migration-Catholic/dp/0739141007
  
• Servant Leadership Models for your Parish – by former RT member Dan Ebener

And stay tuned for more information about a summer book discussion!