Join us. Be part of the solution. Work for the good of the Church. | Make a Donation
January 2016
Dear 

When it was released in theatres, I saw Spotlight, the superbly produced film about the investigative reporting unit of the Boston Globe that made public the devastating sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston. I thought about the time period following the Globe's coverage and I thought about the people who responded, at great personal sacrifice, in order to be part of the solution, to help the Church make recompense, to put measures in place so that this could and would never happen again.

Today, as I write the introduction to our first newsletter in 2016, I reflect on just how far the the Leadership Roundtable, and the Church, has come in the past 10 years. The story of our organization's creation and subsequent years of tenacious, focused, magnanimous service and evolution is a powerful and inspiring one. Serving as the founding executive director has been a great blessing in my life. I hope that all members of the Leadership Roundtable family appreciate what an important and positive difference in the life of the Church the Leadership Roundtable has signified.

Please visit our website for more information or contact us .
Discover Excellence
Profiles in Leadership: An Interview with Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington
 
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, is the Archbishop of Washington and has long been a champion of the Leadership Roundtable and its work, even keynoting at our Annual Meeting in 2014. We spoke with Cardinal Wuerl about the vital role of the laity in managing the temporal affairs of the Church.  "Remember," he cautions, "the sacramental ministry of the Church is the goal of saving souls; it is not the goal of the Church to be well-financed or have property - these are simply means to get the work done. The reason we have a parish building, a hall, the chapel, is that the life-giving work of the Church can continue, via community and sacraments." Therefore, Wuerl notes, the Roundtable provides a very real and valuable, not to mention unique, service.  "The Roundtable is the agent to see that temporal affairs are addressed properly, provide encouragement, and offer expertise. I think it's a very important voice and mechanism in the Church, a catalyst."

Read the full article here.
Share Excellence
Still time to register for Mid-Atlantic Congress 2016!

Over a thousa nd parish lay leaders and priests, dozens of senior diocesan leaders, and thirteen bishops are coming to Baltimore next week to receive training from the Leadership Roundtable in various aspects of Church management and leadership development .  The Mid-Atlantic Congress is an annual gathering of pastoral leaders at the diocesan, parish, and school levels, co-sponsored by the Association of Catholic Publishers and the Department of Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in partnership with the Leadership Roundtable.
  1. It's not too late to register for the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Congress here.
  2. Make your hotel reservations here today.
  3. Download the MAC 2016 Mobile App. The app has interactive maps for easy navigation through the hotel, links to local restaurants, and lots more!
  4. Visit the Leadership Roundtable at our booths (#s 601 & 700) to receive a 15% discount on all publications.
Model Excellence
The Leadership Roundtable Wants to Hear from You!

Fr. Rich Berbary, Pastor of St. Mary's in Nutley, NJ, recently attended the Roundtable's Toolbox for Pastoral Management with 25 fellow priests.  "It was a great experience to share and hear from other pastors at the Toolbox.  We were provided with a great number of tools to help us efficiently handle the administrative duties that come across a Pastor's desk, freeing us to act as the spiritual leaders for our parish communities."

Have you recently attended a Roundtable training session? Participated in a Toolbox seminar? Completed a review through Catholic Leadership 360?  Used the Standards for Excellence with your pastoral or finance council?  If so, we would like to hear from you about your experience and the impact on your leadership and ministry.  Complete our 1-4 minute survey here.
Invest in Excellence
Donor Makes Gift of Toolbox Book to NJ Priests

Thomas J. Healey, a founding me mber of the Leadership Roundtable and the inspiration behind the successful Toolbox for Pastoral Management ,  recently made a gene rous gift to every priest in the Archdiocese of Newark and Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey. E ach prie st received their own personal copy of the award -winning  A Pastor's Toolbox: Management Skills for Parish Leadership  (Liturgical Press,  2014). Do you have a priest you would like to send the book to? You can order the book here . Would you like to give a gift of the book to every priest in your diocese? Contact us for more information.
News Around the Church
Reformed Rhetoric: Priming the Catholic Church for Long-Term Change

"In evaluating
 Pope Francis and his refocused rhetoric, the natural inclin ation is to look for tangible results. How many people has he lifted out of poverty? How much have Church expenditures changed? Yet these quantitative measures are the wrong frame of analysis" says a recent report in Harvard Political Review. "While attempting to measure "the Francis effect" has value in ensuring that rhetoric does not wholly replace action, it should not substitute or devalue the importance of conversational change." Read the  article here
We encourage you to continue the conversation about best practices on our Catholic Standards for Excellence Online Forum

We are grateful for your continued support and interest in The Leadership Roundtable.

Sincerely,
Kerry A. Robinson
Executive Director
In This Issue
Quick Links
Publications


A Pastor's Toolbox: Management Skills for Parish Leadership  is available for purchase!

Additionally, our executive director Kerry Robinson's book Imagining Abundance 
is available for purchase! 
The Leadership Roundtable | 202-635-5820 | E-Mail Us | www.TheLeadershipRoundtable.org
415 Michigan Ave NE, Suite 275, Washington, DC 20017