Do you know why people are leaving your parish?

Speaking to the Leadership Roundtable in 2008, Mr Larry Bossidy, retired Chairman & CEO of

Honeywell International suggested that parishes conduct exit interviews to find out.

The first [suggestion] is to establish a parish committee for the retention of Catholics. In other words, when people drop out of the Church, do exit interviews to find out why they are leaving. There are a number of common reasons why…

Even in the post-Vatican II era of collaborative ministry, bishops only entrust parishes to ordained pastors.  Such pastors rely on professional staffs and competent volunteers, as well as on pastoral and finance council members.  But none of them have more than what Canon Law calls a "consultative vote."  The buck stops with the pastor.  He alone can make legal decisions on behalf of the parish, and the good pastor must be a prudent leader as well as a good shepherd.

All the more…

Jeff Parrott has a fascinating article in US Catholic, Where 20,000 or 30,000 are gathered: Life in a Catholic megaparish,

Leadership Roundtable member Sr. Katarina Schuth is quoted in the article:

“She says tomorrow’s priests and lay leaders must be prepared to deal with the…

Ross Douthat writing on Religion and the Social Crisis recently in the New York Times raised the important question of how we attract "the best and brightest" into Church ministry.:

"Institutions are only as strong as their personnel, and the major religious bodies in the United States have struggled mightily since the 1960s to attract large numbers of…

Catholic leaders recognize that for Catholic schools to flourish, we must be more successful in attracting Latino families to enroll their children and have to find ways to ensure Catholic education is affordable to these families.

This was one of the topics featured at the Leadership Roundtable's 2011 conference at Georgetown University focusing on FROM ASPIRATIONS TO ACTION: Solutions…

The Catholic Standards for Excellence call for full implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth.

10 Years after the sexual abuse crisis erupted in the Catholic Church, U.S. Catholic is conducting a…