Dear
I have just returned from Rome where the difference, in just three years, that Pope Francis has made in the Church, particularly around managerial best practices, has never been more apparent.
During Holy Week and in anticipation of the promises of new life at Easter, we invite you to reflect on Pope Francis' example with us. We hope that you are as inspired as we are to advocate for and implement best managerial practices, transparency, accountability and solutions to complex temporal challenges in the Church. We depend on your support to do so, and ask that you consider a
financial gift to the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management this Easter Season. Your gift allows us to advocate for and implement best practices in management at every level of the Church.
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Bringing Best Business Practice to the Church 
Bishop Caggiano of the Diocese of Bridgeport spoke with Forbes on how the Church can learn from the corporate world in areas of managerial best practices. Caggiano comments that "We need our lay leaders, some of whom lead some of the largest corporations in the country, to assist in addressing the financial difficulties we have experienced, and to bring us their best business practices in human resources, communications, technology, social media." Read the full interview with Bishop Caggiano here.
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Empowering Leaders for Pastoral Excellence
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has launched its Empowering Pastoral Leaders for Excellence in Parish Leadership and Management Initiative. As part of this initiative, the Archdiocese has engaged the Roundtable to provide multiple services over three years including developing diocesan leaders, Toolbox for Pastoral Management and Catholic Leadership 360. Archbishop Tobin will be the first archbishop to go through the latter program himself.
As he observed, "Catholic Leadership 360 offers participants new insights into their own ministerial style...I am confident that this process will help me improve my pastoral service to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis."
Read more about the Archdiocese's initiative
here
.
Encouraging College Students on Their Faith Journeys
Katie Diller, national coordinator for the ESTEEM Leadership Program, served on a panel at the LA Religious Education Congress on "Empowering Young Adult Leadership & Receiving Them in Parish Life." With the majority of Catholic college students attending non-Catholic colleges, campus ministries play a pivotal role in the future vitality of the Church in America. The panelists tackled questions about empowering high school students to seek their faith in college and how campus ministry develop Church leaders for parish, diocesan and nonprofit service.
A recording of the panel discussion is forthcoming through the L.A. Religious Education Congress
website
.
ESTEEM Alumna Speaks on Vatican Panel
Nicole Perone, former ESTEEM participant and current graduate student at the Yale Divinity School, recently spoke on an intergenerational panel of Catholic women leaders at Voices of Faith, in the heart of the Vatican, in honor of International Women's Day. Listen here to an American Media interview with Nicole about her time in Rome and why it is "a new day" in the Church with Pope Francis.
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Increasing Accessibility to Catholic School for Hispanic Students
In July, the Leadership Roundtable, along with Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA), the Mexican American Catholic College, and the University of the Incarnate Word, brought together leaders in Hispanic ministry to discuss the needs of an ever-changing Church.
A new report released March 7th echoes the discussion at the 2015 Symposium on "Hispanic Leadership and Philanthropy for a 21st Century Church." The Boston College report, titled "Catholic schools in an increasingly Hispanic Church" paints a sobering picture of Catholic school enrollment of school-aged Hispanic Catholic children and stresses the need of paying greater attention to the accessibility of the Catholic school system for Hispanic Catholic families. Read a summary of the report here.
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Stories of Lenten Leadership
We thank all of those who, in addition to considering a gift to the Leadership Roundtable, interacted with us during our Lenten Leadership campaign. Through social media, we have featured several stories of the leaders whose faith and leadership inspire us and have enjoyed hearing of the leaders who inspire you! As the Triduum approaches, may we continue to reflect on these leaders of faith for the service, example and gift of leadership.
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An Unlikely Pair? Wall Street Donors and Catholic Schools
For decades, Wall Street donors have supported Catholic Schools for the formative and important role they play in society and the Church itself. As of late, the support has increased, as well as donors' expectations of accountability, resulting in "a dance," according to Timothy McNiff, Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York, "that is still playing out."
Read the full article
here
.
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The Seton Blended Learning Network
In 2011, Seton launched the first robust blended learning Catholic school in the country: San Francisco's Mission Dolores Academy. Today, the Seton Blended Learning Network is an innovative eight school, six city urban Catholic blended learning network driven by results, smart collaboration, and character formation that serves 2,200 students who are collectively 98% minority and over two-thirds below the poverty line. View a video about the Network here.
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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
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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!
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