I just got word that I will be one of a dozen or so researchers who will continue to analyze the data from the National Study of Catholic Priests, housed at The Catholic Project at the Catholic University of America! My project, tentatively titled “The Impact of Relationships with Bishops and Priests on Priestly Satisfaction: A Qualitative Analysis,” will explore the relationship between priests’ priestly satisfaction and their sense of connection to their bishop (or religious superior) as well as their fellow priests (or religious community). It is a fantastic dataset and I’m looking forward to discovering ways we might better support priests and, by extension, the whole Church. In addition to all this good stuff, I’m also excited that this research fellowship has collaborative components… looking forward to connecting, exchanging ideas, and laughing together!

I’ll let you know what I find!

Today was the day for myself and the eleven other fellows to submit our cases to the awesome folks at VU’s Center for Church Management.

The twelve case studies are meant to help alleviate financial pressures that hinder pastors’ ability to effectively lead their congregations. One of the ways the Center for Church Management chose to contribute here is to compile twelve different case studies (and supplemental teaching material) that will be used in their program as well as in other seminaries and business schools. For now these will be “in house” but if these become published as a text, I’ll let you know!

Thank you to the Center for Church Management for their consistently collaborative and professional approach and to the Lilly Endowment’s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders for funding this important work!