“I’ve been searching for something like this for a long time…” said Rev. Stanley Witocoskie, pastor of St. Stephen’s Parish in Pennsauken, NJ. That something was Good Leaders, Good Shepherds (GLGS) and the beginning of the two-year leadership journey for a cohort of 24 priests from the Diocese of Camden.
The Camden Diocese is growing. The demographics and community dynamics are changing. While growth and change can be exciting, changes in any form, will call pastoral leaders, to respond to new leadership challenges, and renewal of their leadership skills. Those changes are what brought many priests to participate in Good Leaders, Good Shepherds. “The pending merger and reconstruction of parishes and schools will call me to stronger, clearer leadership. I need the best tools I can to help lead my parishioners,” said Rev. David Grover, pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in Gibbstown, NJ.
One of the objectives of the first module, in the six-part curriculum, is for priests to learn to recognize their own instinctual behavior and to be able to identify the behavioral preferences of others. Understanding the tendencies of certain personalities allows one the opportunity to distinguish how to successfully engage, interact and lead a person, group or team to action. Priest participants learn that understanding oneself is critical to leading others. “I found DISC behavioral tool to be most helpful because I learned not only about my behavior, but also the behavior of others. Now I have been given a tool to effectively communicate with others,” said Rev. Christopher Bakey, pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish in Hammonton, NJ. For many priest participants, the program also offers a chance to recognize opportunities for growth and celebrate strengths. For Rev. René Canales of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Berlin, NJ, the program fostered a realization about how complex people are. “During this first session, I understood that I have to take the time to find out who people are, and then go beyond their needs, beyond their expectations.”
The GLGS experience for priests of the Camden Diocese will continue in early December, with Module Two, which focuses on the role of priest as pastor. While the priests are expected to complete of the two-year curriculum, in June of 2009, for many of the participants, the application of the tools that they are learning began the moment they left the classroom. When asked when he will start to share some of his key learning’s with his staff and parish community, Rev. Stanley Witocoskie quickly responded, “ASAP!”
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