Icon (Close Menu)

pastoral ministry

Contact points and expectations: Welcoming and involving newcomers

The contact points are different than they used to be, and the next steps are different as well — in fact, so different that my parish is having trouble figuring out what they are or how to help people find them.

Teaching pastoral theology with the Book of Job

How do we encourage people to put themselves into the place of Job, so they see that God is really the one to whom they may need to complain and from whom they need to hear?

Advice for the weary pastor: Seneca and the Stoics

A commonplace among clergy is that seminary hardly prepares the pastor for all the difficulties and trials found in the crucible of parish life, but a good seminary education at least furnishes an ability to identify the hardships as they come.

The art of leadership: Playing ‘piano’

The image of leadership being valorized in both the Church and the society in our time is the leader who can play the changes fortissimo. But is it not also important to be able to play softly?

‘Mind the Gap’

The Rev. Tony Bleything reflects on this week’s violence in Milwaukee.

Pastoral care should punch us in the face

In a response to Carey Nieuwhof, Fr. Jonathan elevates pastoral care and its challenges: "Sometimes good pastoral care feels like a punch in the face, both for pastors and for those committed to their care."

The real secrets of successful pastors

Fr. Jonathan Mitchican considers the four secrets of successful pastors.

Top 10: Seven theses on the episcopacy

What I want to suggest are a few aspects of episcopal ministry that I believe all of us might do well to consider. These are the kinds of priorities that we should hope for and expect in our bishops, which means that we need to provide them the means to undertake them. I present them in the form of seven theses.

Messengers, watchmen, and stewards

As the Church enters the season for ordinations, I offer these reflections on a classic description of priestly ministry.

Proverbial wisdom: why Christians can think with Murray Bowen

Parish priests find themselves thoroughly embedded in families in nearly everything they do. In my judgment, Bowen Family Systems Theory offers a way forward for parish clergy to negotiate the challenge of pastoral care and leadership.

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Top headlines. Every Friday.

MOST READ