St. Vincent de Paul head changes lives, stands up for poor
Mission Management: Outgoing CEO of the National Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society Roger Playwin talks his tenure, Pope Francis.
Mission Management
For the church to carry out its mission, it needs management systems, trained personnel and the governance, oversight and accountability that people in the pews increasingly demand. That's what Mission Management is all about. Here we will explore success stories — best practices in church governance, management and leadership that can be emulated by others in similar circumstances.
A model trauma program for missioners
Mission Management: One group presents a model for helping missioners who have suffered trauma while serving in conflict zones.
Trauma: a missioner's occupational hazard
Mission Management: Why is it so psychologically treacherous for missioners to go into conflict zones?
Catholic organization exports US health care to the poor around the world
Mission Management: The Catholic Medical Mission Board implements critically important programs that make health care available to thousands of people.
Student, professional engineers answer call to 'solve the world's problems'
Engineers Without Borders is just one example of how engineers of all ages help make the world a better place.
Helping kids, one bold kindness at a time
Mission Management: Kevin Ryan was inspired by the lives of homeless and runaway kids who defied all expectations and beat the odds.
Mediation: A new model for settling sex abuse cases
Mission Management: The Spokane, Wash., diocese recently announced that a new settlement had been reached with respect to current, pending claims of sexual abuse. The settlement culminates almost a decade of complex litigation and a 2004 bankruptcy filing that cost the diocese $48 million.
When the budget is a moral failure, who will speak for the poor?
Commentary
The House of Representatives has passed a budget based largely on a plan proposed in late March by Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., — a practicing Catholic — and later endorsed by presumed-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The plan is structured to spare military spending from mandatory cuts. It is a vicious, anti-life austerity budget that, if implemented, would hammer the poor, the sick, the vulnerable and elderly.
Pastoral councils are a work in progress
MISSION MANAGEMENT
Diocesan and parish pastoral councils have recently been in the news. First, the beleaguered Philadelphia archdiocese announced the formation of its first "archdiocesan pastoral council," as Archbishop Charles Chaput tries to create almost from scratch a well-functioning enterprise.
Then there's the case of Florian Stangl, a 26-year-old gay Austrian man in a registered domestic partnership, whose pastor had prohibited him from serving on the parish council to which he had been elected by a wide margin. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna overrode the pastor and allowed Stangl to serve on the council.
Today, half of the 195 U.S. dioceses have diocesan pastoral councils, while three-fourths of the 18,000 parishes have parish pastoral councils, according to a 2003 survey by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But what exactly is a parish pastoral council? Where do they come from? What is their mission? And how do they operate?
Catholic Charities moves on childhood obesity
Theologians who study Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body might consider adding a new chapter to that work, a chapter the late, athletically inclined pope would no doubt approve, a chapter for the too many Americans in deep, deep trouble. The wrong kind of calories and not enough exercise have created an unprecedented childhood obesity epidemic in the United States.
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In This Issue
May 10-23, 2013
- Illinois parish's ESL program welcomes all
- A different Mary assumes the stage
- A question few seem to consider when the US wages war afar
- [Print Edition Only] Special Section: Summer Listings
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