We had a presentation on Pastoral Leadership and Community Animation by Fr. Alex Sdb, for all the Rectors, Vicars and the Ministers of the communities of the province, from 8-10 of June at Mattoor. All the inspirational inputs can be summarized as follows. As religious who are called to follow Jesus more closely, in our animation of the community we are called to follow the leadership style of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. It means, knowing the community members personally, uniting them together, nourishing them, leading them and loving them to the extent of laying down one’s own life. A good superior is a spiritually integrated person, a saint, whose sanctity is the greatest gift to the community. Such a superior makes everyone feel at home in the community. Being a man of authenticity he has a moral authority over the community members and his life speaks louder than his words. Further he is a visionary and he shares his vision with the community and motivates them to carry it out. In this way he exercises his leadership effectively. For, “leadership is the ability to articulate a vision and get others to carry it out”(Jeffrey Krames). While exercising the leadership he does not function like an autocrat. But he respects the members as persons and values their potentials and inspires them to contribute their best for the common good of the community. In this process he is not merely concerned about results but also good relationships. In another words, such a superior follows the “Theory Y” more than the “Theory X” as explained by Douglas McGregor. If the superior is not diligent and watchful he too can get infected with one or more of the diseases of leadership as mentioned by Pope Francis. Today everyone looks for role models. Today, we religious are fortunate to have an outstanding role model for good leadership in the great person of Pope Francis. In his book “Leading with humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis, Jeffrey Krames, gives 12 lessons in the leadership according to Pope Francis. If we make these leadership qualities part of our life we become efficient and efficacious leaders in the community. After this we had sharing on the Role of a local superior as per the constitution, statutes and the pastoral guide for the superiors. The Superior of a community must first of all be a spiritual pastor and then a rector and administrator. His chief duty is to serve the community, so that all, with united effort, may devote themselves to the work of evangelization. He must likewise look upon himself as being co-responsible, by reason of his office, for the welfare of the whole province (Constitution 139). A superior needs to keep the following principles, team work and communication, community prayer, concern for the sick and elderly, fraternal correction and support, community meetings, community privacy, management of finance and material goods and Plan for the Community Life. Then we had another session on how to keep mange the house and to keep the account. The duty of the minister has been spelt out. After this session we had a discussion on Vocation Promotion, our social and charitable activities, domestic servants and their salary and finally about the 150th anniversary of MPH. -Joy Poonoly CSsR., Provincial Superior
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