Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2004
Abstract
The number of Catholic priests available to lead and administer Catholic parishes is declining. The Roman Catholic Church is facing a leadership crises. To help understand the nature of pastoral leadership, this study was designed to examine the impact of pastoral leadership on parishioner satisfaction and parishoner support in 135 Catholic parishes in the Cleveland Diocese. Parishoner satisfaction was assessed from 52,786 Vibrant Parish Life surveys collected from these parishes. Parishioner support was defined as mult-year trends in the parishes' financial and sacramental data. Pastoral leadership was measured through the frequency use of emotional intelligence competencies by pastors from 32 of these parishes. The results showed that five variables emerged constituting parishoner satisfactions: outreach, sense of community, sacramental, faith formation and stewardship. Emotional intelligence competencies of thepastor significantly predicted parish vibrancy as measured by parishioner satisfaction. It did not predict parish vibrancy as measured by parishoner support. The hypothesized moderating effects concerning the presence of a parish school and size of the parish were found not to alter the impact of the pastor's leadership on parishioner satisfaction.
Keywords
parishes--United States
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Brizz, Terrence J., "Parish Vibrancy: A Reflection of Pastoral Leadership on Parishioner Support and Parishioner Satisfaction" (2004). Student Scholarship. 331.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/331