Are we Shepherding or just managing?

One day I found myself in a bookstore in a mall, and this one book caught my attention. I bought it hoping I would have the time to read it. That was almost two years ago. This past May, while packing for my trip to Chicago to attend the 35th General Chapter, I saw the book on my desk and put it in my traveling bag. It was a blessing to have brought it with me as I was able to read it this time and would now be able to share its contents with you.

The title of the book is The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Leman and William Petak. You might have guessed that the word Shepherd was what had caught my attention. The book tells of how a professor taught his student, who is about to start a job as a department head in a big firm, how to lead and manage people by showing the way a shepherd lives and works. The professor owns a sheep ranch, so you could say he is a shepherd. In short, the student learns the Way of the Shepherd from his professor to learn to shepherd People.

At first glance, you might think the book is only about managing people in a business setting. But as you read the book you gain an appreciation of the professor’s unusual manner of mentoring and the potential application of most of the principles he is imparting by people in leadership roles which includes religious congregations such us ours.

We who have been entrusted to take care of our Province, our religious, our mission partners, our parishioners will certainly benefit from the application of the seven ancient principles mentioned by the authors. Thus, the following is a picture of the professor showing his student and explaining the Way of the Shepherd and examples of possible applications of them in shepherding people in the context of Religious Life.

We need to take the time to talk to our people on a regular basis; discover their skills and interests and their motivation at their ministries; ask questions and, if needed, follow through. We need to show that we care about what they are going through. As regards our own communities, we have a shepherd (local superior) taking care of two or more sheep. It is the shepherd’s responsibility to let each one feel welcome, to engage them and promote their wellbeing individually and collectively, and to lift their spirits in times of need. In this way, the shepherd creates an environment of acceptance and respect which would help each member of the community to bring out the best in them.

Each sheep is different, more so each person. In a business setting, we have to make sure each person is in the right position and right fold by looking into their individual SHAPE:
Strengths – Skills and capabilities
Heart – Passion and motivation
Attitude – Able to work with others well; a team player
Personality – Introvert or extrovert, likes structure or does not like change, etc.
Experiences – Knowledge gained through observation, an encounter or by undergoing something

Knowing the SHAPE of the individual persons in our congregation, communities and parishes would also help us in our shepherding.

The Provincial Council always assesses each religious when forming a community. Owing to personnel limitations, there may be times the Council does not hit the right combination and would have to make changes later on.

In like manner, the shepherds heading pastoral ministries are encouraged to build their teams based on the strength of each volunteer. Do they have the skills to do the task? If not, can they learn along the way?

People have different reasons for volunteering. To be able to form a good, strong team, are the members passionate about the task? What motivates them to volunteer?

The ministry may have many volunteers. But instead of being able to succeed at the task, it seems things are going nowhere. The problem may be the person’s or persons’ attitude. Is he/she able to work with others? Are there those who are always critical of the task to be done or even of their co-group members?

It is natural to be welcoming to everyone who wants to join a group. However, in the long run, it would be better to form a small group to better shepherd the members and be able to focus on the task at hand without any distractions.

Volunteers should be assigned to tasks that would make good use of their personalities and allow them to be comfortable doing the task they have been given to perform.

A young shepherd should encourage input especially from those whose experiences would facilitate the fulfillment of a project or the completion of a task. In fact, persons with experiences matching a particular task would greatly give the shepherd relief from much work so that he could focus on other more important things.

What does this mean? It means putting our personal imprint on our team or community/parish in terms of our values and sense of mission, constantly reminding them of both.

But before they can identify with us, they have to answer two questions: Does he (the animator – superior or pastor) know what he’s doing? Can I trust him? (The second question holds more weight.)

Let our people know their rolesin the mission and how important it is to work as a team to reach our objective. In that way, they get a sense of meaning and belongingness. One more thing, we need to ask for our people’s commitment.

It is also important to go out and not wait for our people to come to us. Always offer words of encouragement. We will be able to influence the people we lead by giving off an approachable demeanor.

The wide, open space of a pasture makes us think of freedom. A shepherd’s workplace is the pasture, and a good shepherd sees to the welfare of his sheep. His sheep can relax,sleep, gain weight and produce wool.

Making the workplace safe gives ministers freedom from fear; thus they are able to focus on their ministry. We need to keep our religious and co-workers in the vineyard well informed, even if the news is not good, individually and as a whole.

In this way, they will not depend on rumors. It is an open secret that there are more intrigues when working or volunteering in church than in any other organization. Even competitive rivalry can ensue, which can escalate into serious problems. So it is important to validate the work of our religious and lay partners and remind them of their importance to the ministry as a whole. If it would work best that some people are transferred to another task (fresh pastures), then we need to inform the persons concerned personally and explain the reasons.

There may be religious or mission partners who constantly urge or provoke others to act rashly and even harshly. Be on the look out for this tendency.

No matter how safe we make our pasture, there will be those who will hunger for more responsibilities and advancement. This is also a rationale for the rotation of assignments. The Council would like to have religious look forward to another assignment where more creativity would be needed.

Two of the most practical principles of making our pasture a safe place are as follows: (1) Don’t be an absentee shepherd because nothing reassures a sheep more than the presence of the shepherd; and (2) Don’t give problems time to fester in the hope that the problems would just go away or resolve themselves.

When directing our flock, we have to know when to use a staff or a rod. We are familiar with the staff of a shepherd, but not with the rod. Well, the most important difference between the two is that the staff is gentler of the two. The shepherd uses his staff to tap or nudge a sheep still within his reach that goes in a different direction. Using a staff would be akin to directing with persuasion. The rod, on the other hand, has three uses: protection, correction, and inspection.

We as shepherds, and as leaders/animators, should know our ultimate mission. We have to delegate so that we don’t wear ourselves out and be able to attend to our prime responsibility, which is to guide religious, mission partners, parishioners toward a deepening and blosooming relationship with God.

When we designate, we give our people freedom of movement, but making sure they know their boundaries. We should remind our people that it is allright to make mistakes, but it is important to learn from the mistakes.

Now we go to the rod. The rod is heavier at one end, so it could be used to protect sheep from harm. Applying this image to our circumstances, we as shepherds are supposed to protect those entrusted to us our religious, our seminarians, our parish leaders/volunteers, our parishioners.

For members of the Provincial Council, meeting to talk about imposing discipline to any member is always difficult. On the other hand, it could be made easier by looking at it as instructing a co-religious in difficulty, thus avoiding alienating the person.

It is also important that those imposing discipline are trustworthy and are only looking out for their people. Coming from someone who has their best interest at heart, they are more likely to receive the discipline.

Regularly inquire about our people’s progress because as often the case, people nod their heads to signal that they understand the instructions, no one wanting to speak up and say that they didn’t understand the instructions.

We must know when to use the rod. We lose the goodwill of our people if we use it too much or incorrectly. We lose the respect of our people if we use it too little or not at all.

A great leader has a heart for his people — the Heart of a Shepherd. This implies that shepherding is a lifestyle and
not a technique. And it is a lifestyle that comes with a high price because the flock will always come first. In the mind of the shepherd, if he don’t do right by his flock, his flock will suffer for his neglect. Thus, the shepherd must put his heart in what he does.

Furthermore, I think that in order to shepherd and not just manage the flock, we need not only to put our heart into what we do but more importantly to identify ourselves with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. We need to enter into him especially through our moments of adoration so as to try to grasp what he would do to express his love concretely to his brothers [and sisters].

“The Eucharist comes to us from the Heart of the Christ. It is Jesus offering worship to the Trinity and giving himself, so that we may enter his Heart, so that we may fathom his feelings, so that we may exchange our thoughts, our feelings, our life with him, in order to be able to live from his life. To this spirituality, a whole generation of souls is called. The Eucharist is the synthesis of all the Christian mystery, of all the mysteries of our faith. “

The Rule of Life of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament encouragingly states, “Life-long formation is more than ever necessary in our rapidly changing world; it allows individuals and communities to renew themselves in their vocation” (n. 61). Moreover, “on-going formation is an indispensable requirement in the life of every priest and in the exercise of his ministry. In fact, the interior attitude of the priest must be distinguished by an openness to the will of God, following the example of Christ. This implies a continued conversion of heart, the capacity to see one’s life, and its events in the light of faith and, above all, the pastoral charity, by way of total gift of self to the Church, according to the design of God” (Ratio Fundamentalis 2015, n. 56) It is in this light that 16 young religious of the Congregation, Province of Our Lady of the Assumption, went to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, our newly established community, for one week (Sept. 18-23, 2017), as part of their ongoing formation.

Although it took us ten hours to reach Pagudpud, the warm hospitality of our confreres and generous parishioners certainly made up for the long trip, not discounting the wellorganized reception our facilitator had arranged fitting a five-day session. As a newly ordained Deacon, a neophyte to the group called “Young Religious,” I found the experience edifying and life-changing primarily because of the goodwill and fellowship of brothers whose purpose and mission are congruent, that is, “to respond to the hungers of the human family with the riches of God’s love manifested in the Eucharist” (ROL, n. 3). In this occasion, we find ourselves in equal footing in terms of formation opportunity and development. The dichotomy of superiority and inferiority ceased to exist and what is pervasively visible was the “Sacramentino brotherhood.” Thus, “the love of God and our vocation gather us at the heart of the Church, placing ourselves at the service of the Kingdom.” (ROL, n. 5)

Indeed, Fr. Mark del Rosario, SSS, did a great job as facilitator. The topics he presented were not only timely and relevant but spiritually enriching. His prowess of integrating the themes drawn from the four Gospels focusing on Word, Human, Sacrifice, and Divine appropriating them to the Decalogue, the Beatitude, and the Lord’s Prayer were certainly unprecedented. At first glance, they all look familiar from the point of view of scripturebased theology. Interestingly enough, however, this time he threw a kind of newly flavored menu, palatable to an inquisitive mind. Indeed, the topics were heart-provoking, which made us realize where we stand as Religious in a constantly changing world. Also present at the occasion was our esteemed Bishop Ronnie Bancud, SSS, who shared his thoughts on pastoral realities. Truly, Bishop Ronnie, a Sacramentino at heart who is exceptional in his gift of self, is bearing so much fruit springing from the Eucharist.

Overall, the ongoing formation that we went through was very much helpful to us. It was a holistic intervention necessary to our journey as Religious engaged in broad ministries. As it is, I believe that formation involves the whole person. It is never finished. It must continue as long as you live.

Central to formation is encountering Jesus in his Word, the Sacraments, and the poor. Your heart and intellect need to be stimulated and purified by such encounters. As Pope Francis said about the value of the ongoing formation for the ministers of the Church, “It means guarding and fostering vocations, that they may bear ripe fruit. They are ‘diamonds in the rough,’ ready to be carefully polished with respect for the conscience of the candidates and with patience, so that they may shine among the People of God.” The Pope further said, “Formation is therefore not a unilateral act by which someone transmits theological or spiritual notions. Jesus did not say to those he called, ‘come, let me explain,’ ‘follow me, I will teach you’: no! The formation offered by Christ to his disciples came rather as a ‘come and follow me,’ ‘do as I do;’ and this is the method that today too the Church wants to adopt for her ministers. The formation of which we speak is a discipular experience which draws one to Christ and conforms one ever more to Him. Precisely for this reason, it cannot be a limited task, because priests never stop being disciples of Jesus, who follow Him.”(Address of Pope Francis to Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Clergy, Oct. 3, 2014)

The popular adage which says, “The young can accomplish magnificent things for the Master’s cause” is apt to the context and scope of the congregation’s mission at present. We gratefully acknowledge the truth that the congregation highly expects from us, the Young Religious, not only to proactively handle various ministries entrusted to our care but, at the same time, to become beacons of light, living out fully the mystery of the Eucharist and “to make known its meaning so that Christ’s reign may come and the glory of God be revealed to the world” (cf. ROL, n.1)