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Thursday, 20 January 2011 What were Jesus' views on leadership, authority and ministry?  Dear Friends, I started off the week with a review of Bud Malby's novel Windknocker in which I made the observation that Bud's communication style was like the communication style of Jesus: He "told stories (rather than preached dogma at people)". To end our week I have a wonderful two-part commentary for you from Fr Dan Donovan that almost perfectly illustrates Jesus' communication style of story telling — or should I say the early evangelist's communication style of story telling. There is a bit of God-incidence here again because Dan submitted this commentary at the beginning of the holidays long before I'd even heard of Bud Malby's novel and in fact it only occurred to me last night as I was doing the layout for Dan's commentary that it was also a perfect compliment to what I was trying to say about Bud's novel. The substantive argument Dan Donovan is seeking to advance is that through a series of stories laid out in the Gospel of Luke Jesus was providing insight into the sort of relationship we ought have with one another, and more particularly, the leaders ought have in relation to the led. Dan argues the modern institutional Church seems to have drifted a long way from this ideal outlined by Jesus even if we still mouth some of the words. I'd argue what Dan outlines is not simply a lesson for bishops and cardinals. It is a lesson for each one of us who occupies any position of leadership — from fatherhood or motherhood, to leadership of some local community volunteer group, as a teacher or university academic, or all the way up to any sort of commercial or political leadership. Today's Part 1 of the commentary examines the five gospel passages that Dan will be using to draw out the points of what Jesus, or the Gospel writer, was seeking to convey through these stories.
Wishing you a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life and in our world. Catholica |
