Rev. Timothy Babcock and his brother priests from the Archdiocese of Detroit completed their Good Leaders, Good Shepherds journey in September 2008.

When we were students in the Archdiocese of Detroit the Venerable Jack Castelo was preaching on a particular Sunday, the great scripture teacher, and the text that Sunday happened to be “the living stones that are built up into the living temple” and his concluding remarks were, “it says stones gentlemen, not marshmallows.”  Problem with stones is they need to be reformed on occasion and as the Holy Father has said: “If we want to become spiritual stones suitable for building up the spiritual edifice of the Church, we must accept our fate of being cut and carved. In order to be suitable for the house, we must let ourselves be bent into shape for the places where we are needed.”

I have true admiration for the members of Catholic Leadership Institute and for their dedication to not only this program but to priests.  One of the things that I was most impressed with in the program, is the systematic and consistent approach to the question of contextual leadership.  The fact that at the very beginning the purposes of each of the five segments was defined and then was consistently applied through each of the six modules, a vision that not only guided the program, but that was held to in every single one of the exercises and every single one of the lectures. What I found most beneficial was coming to a greater awareness of the way in which I interact with other people and a greater consciousness of the other person.

I think of the many quotes that I wrote in the margins of my booklet, but the one that has stuck with me the most is, “if we made the effort to prepare better we would save time and effort needed to resolve.”  I think after two years we understand in a new way what that vision means.  I wish I had had this program 20 years ago when it could have been a tool and a series of tools that I could have used more effectively in the places that I have had the privilege to lead.  I appreciate the big picture, the vision for the priesthood and for pastoral leadership, the translation of leadership concepts from other fields and other positive experiences into terms that we could relate to and have a chance to apply. 

I have found this to be an extraordinary experience of the bond of priesthood and priests in ministry.  I’ve gone to lots of workshops over the years, spent a lot of time on retreat with other priests, working on committees and councils and task forces with other priests.  Never have I found the level of openness and acceptance and support that develops in the group that shares this program together.  That will be a treasured blessing and a treasured memory. 

I’m delighted to see the growth of this program around the country, the growth that is even faster than Catholic Leadership Institute can keep up with.  I think that is a wonderful problem to have.  For I’m convinced that 20 from now this program and what it represents will have had an incredible effect on the pastoral leadership of this country.  To those who learn and use the skills offered to us here (the Archdiocese of Detroit) it will provide a much more effective, consistent and open kind of pastoral leadership. 

It will be a greater and greater blessing I am sure, as diocese after diocese recognizes the benefit this opportunity will be to their priests.  It’s going to necessary because those very same priests are going to be so much fewer in number; that the ability to draw out and to coordinate and to unify the talents and the opportunities of the people with whom they serve is going to be all the more critical. 

GLGS will be a blessing to them and to the whole Church and so I thank very Catholic Leadership Institute for providing us with this opportunity, certainly thanks to Cardinal Maida and the presbyterial council for offering it to us.