Is it possible to run the Catholic Church like a corporation?

Take a look at what this author thinks. He’s Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz, co-founder and president of Catholic Radio International. He offered these thoughts in Business Week:

Catholic bishops are having a hard time finding candidates who can manage as well as they preach, but they’re also finding it hard to find ones who can preach, period. The preaching is primary, and management way down on their list of priorities. After all, Jesus didn’t say, “Go out to all the world and manage well.”

That’s not to say the Catholic Church should ignore sound business practices. Contrary to common perception—and some of the readers who responded to Douglas MacMillan’s “A Business Plan for the Catholic Church” (BusinessWeek.com, 9/30/08)—the Church has had human resource and finance “departments” for her entire 20 centuries of existence.

If you think of Peter as the first “shop floor manager” and Judas Iscariot as the CFO for Jesus and the Apostles, then Judas showed no loyalty to his CEO and betrayed the whole enterprise during the high point of the world’s most famous company retreat. The Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul’s letters record numerous instances of collections, the buying and selling of houses, and other monetary transactions by the first Christians. Monasteries became and remained places of production and commerce, as witnessed by the enormous success of the Cistercian monastery in Sparta, Wis., that started LaserMonks.

So the Church is not inexperienced when it comes to financial and management issues. Indeed, some people wrongly think it’s just the opposite: that the Church’s reason for existence is to have money and its attendant power.

It’s worth noting, then, when someone like former Freddie Mac (FRE) board member Geoffrey Boisi wants to bring modern-day management techniques to a Church that has been coping with “who moved my cheese?” for 2,000 years. True, changes within the Church since the Second Vatican Council necessitate a new look at some issues. With the decline in the number of clergy and the increase in laity to pick up the slack, the Church has new HR realities to consider. Bishops must be concerned with insurance policies, adequate pay for lay employees and their families, hiring and firing, and every other personnel issue imaginable.

There is no doubt that Mr. Boisi and the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management (NLRCM), which he started, mean well. Indeed, the group’s executive director, Kerry Robinson, says they love the Church. However, what isn’t clear is what their understanding of “the Church” is.

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