I don’t think the Archbishop gets to say, “Don’t blame me; blame my incompetent staff.” That’s not high-character leadership. It’s a luxury to delegate tasks to staff. But when they inevitably make mistakes, a leader owns those mistakes. They’re acting in his name, so their actions in that regard are his actions. So congratulations on recognizing a mistake was made and adjusting course in response. But leaders don’t scapegoat “the little people.”
But this delegation, while times necessary, should not go to the "little people" when dealing with clerics.
Blaming his stuff dies come across as wimpy and scapegoating.
This delegation should only extend to the bishop (who allegedly is to care for his priests as brothers and sons...an oft forgotten and ignore responsibility), his VG, Vicar for Priests and regional Episcopal vicars (if they exist).
If a bishop is too busy to have a basic respectful relationship with his priests then he is too busy.
Blessings on the Archbishop for walking back this insensitive and secular way of handling this situation.
Great he walked it back, but while doing so he threw his staff under the bus, calling them unprofessional. Compare this to the recent situation in Cleveland where the bishop drew the fire towards himself and away from his pastors and school administration.
Few things are as contemptible to me as when a person in authority squirms their way out of responsibility for their mistakes by blaming their underlings.
"I failed to effectively communicate my intentions to my staff", or "I delegated matters into the hands of my staff that I should have taken up myself", or literally anything other than "it was my staff who fumbled, and fumbled twice!", would have been perfectly respectable.
“My staff fumbled not once but twice”. Man does this guy hear himself? I know these people, they are dedicated and did what they were told. They are continually being yanked around, given different job descriptions and different leaders over the last year. That’s great that the pastors pushed back and transparency in journalism cleared a path for some understanding. Now the next piece should be to interview his staff for their response to being thrown under the bus. This Archbishop is not pastoral and does not care about his flock. Why would any discerning man want to follow that? If there’s anyone to look to for lack of vocations, the reason is living in a “modest” 2.6 million dollar house overlooking the Seattle sound.
For me, there's something very sad here about the Archbishop's tossing of the staff "under the proverbial bus." He says,
“In the light of the recent attention this received on social media, and more importantly, of my own staff fumbling the official mailing, not once, but twice, I am officially taking the request off the table at this time.”
He could have said. "In light of much that has been brought to my attention and, more important, my own and my staff's fumbling of the official mailing two times, I am officially taking ........."
Shepherding today, as in the time of Jesus, means stay close to the sheep.
If it weren’t for the Pillar I, who live in the Archdiocese of Seattle, would know very little about what is going on. The rest of the information I get is via the magazine put out by the archdiocese. Not exactly personal like the letter I get when it is time for the Annual Catholic Appeal ($$). It’s so disappointing. The Pacific Northwest is so secular and I totally understand that parishes will need to consolidate but just throwing us scraps of news and sending out emails that tell priests to resign … how pastoral is all of this?
A fumble for sure, but fumbles happen, it is the recovery that matters and it seems that the error was corrected timely and definitively.
Kudos to The Pillar!
I don’t think the Archbishop gets to say, “Don’t blame me; blame my incompetent staff.” That’s not high-character leadership. It’s a luxury to delegate tasks to staff. But when they inevitably make mistakes, a leader owns those mistakes. They’re acting in his name, so their actions in that regard are his actions. So congratulations on recognizing a mistake was made and adjusting course in response. But leaders don’t scapegoat “the little people.”
Amen.
But this delegation, while times necessary, should not go to the "little people" when dealing with clerics.
Blaming his stuff dies come across as wimpy and scapegoating.
This delegation should only extend to the bishop (who allegedly is to care for his priests as brothers and sons...an oft forgotten and ignore responsibility), his VG, Vicar for Priests and regional Episcopal vicars (if they exist).
If a bishop is too busy to have a basic respectful relationship with his priests then he is too busy.
Blessings on the Archbishop for walking back this insensitive and secular way of handling this situation.
Great he walked it back, but while doing so he threw his staff under the bus, calling them unprofessional. Compare this to the recent situation in Cleveland where the bishop drew the fire towards himself and away from his pastors and school administration.
Sadly all bishops are not of the same mettle.
Few things are as contemptible to me as when a person in authority squirms their way out of responsibility for their mistakes by blaming their underlings.
"I failed to effectively communicate my intentions to my staff", or "I delegated matters into the hands of my staff that I should have taken up myself", or literally anything other than "it was my staff who fumbled, and fumbled twice!", would have been perfectly respectable.
“My staff fumbled not once but twice”. Man does this guy hear himself? I know these people, they are dedicated and did what they were told. They are continually being yanked around, given different job descriptions and different leaders over the last year. That’s great that the pastors pushed back and transparency in journalism cleared a path for some understanding. Now the next piece should be to interview his staff for their response to being thrown under the bus. This Archbishop is not pastoral and does not care about his flock. Why would any discerning man want to follow that? If there’s anyone to look to for lack of vocations, the reason is living in a “modest” 2.6 million dollar house overlooking the Seattle sound.
It overlooks Lake Washington.
For me, there's something very sad here about the Archbishop's tossing of the staff "under the proverbial bus." He says,
“In the light of the recent attention this received on social media, and more importantly, of my own staff fumbling the official mailing, not once, but twice, I am officially taking the request off the table at this time.”
He could have said. "In light of much that has been brought to my attention and, more important, my own and my staff's fumbling of the official mailing two times, I am officially taking ........."
Shepherding today, as in the time of Jesus, means stay close to the sheep.
Any success is my team's success; any failure is mine alone. Is that too simple to understand?
If it weren’t for the Pillar I, who live in the Archdiocese of Seattle, would know very little about what is going on. The rest of the information I get is via the magazine put out by the archdiocese. Not exactly personal like the letter I get when it is time for the Annual Catholic Appeal ($$). It’s so disappointing. The Pacific Northwest is so secular and I totally understand that parishes will need to consolidate but just throwing us scraps of news and sending out emails that tell priests to resign … how pastoral is all of this?
Wow! A bishop that listens and admits a mistake. Send him to Charlotte,please!