In this practical, visionary, and accessible book, veteran teacher, author, and parish leader Dan Ebener explores what it takes to lead in a Catholic parish. He contends that anyone can lead change in a parish—with or without positional authority.
The premise of this book is that the Church needs leadership. In most places, the Church is over-managed and under-led. To turn this around, we need clergy to: 1. Provide more leadership and less management themselves. 2. Develop the leadership potential of the laity. We need lay people to step up to lead and to manage. If the Church is to become more alive, we need lay people to step up and lead change as well. On the management side, we need clergy to step back and lay people to step up. On the leadership side, we need lay people who can lead without authority and clergy who can lead from a position of authority. Readers of this book—seminarians, priests, deacons, and lay leaders—will find this book enlightening and useful in their approach to parish leadership.