LEADERSHIP

Catholic Healthcare Women Leadership

Catholic Healthcare Women Leadership

Introduction

This paper intends to explore the concept of catholic leadership, specifically religious women. This paper discusses the transitioning from catholic women leadership to healthcare leadership in United States. Further, role of women leadership and decision making framework in the field of health care is discussed. To have a deep rooted insight of this concept, two theories are discussed of Demers 2008 and Scott 2008.

Discussion

Leadership

On a group, or organizational level, leadership is important for sustainability and long-term success; leadership contributes to innovative thinking and new ways of operating and thriving in an ever-changing and complex world. On a larger, societal level, leadership is needed for creating a better, more just world. Leadership goes beyond serving one's needs, and its service-oriented nature lends it to creating positive change, which is needed for the sustain-ability of humanity and the environment.

Leadership relates to these three contexts (individual, group, societal), which are, in fact nested and interconnected, whereby what happens on an individual level influences the group and societal levels, what happens on a group level influences the individuals and the larger society, and leadership and change in a societal level influences individuals and groups.

Women leadership in Catholicism

The Roman Catholic Church is one, perhaps the major, expression of Catholic Christianity. However, it is important to note that members of the American Catholic Church, the Old Catholic Church, Women-Church Convergence, and other such groups exist even though the term Catholic is often used synonymously, albeit in error, with Roman Catholic. Each of these groups is part of the larger Catholic tradition insofar as they have roots and ties with the Catholic community. But each has some distinctions as well; for example, the Old Catholics split from Rome over papal infallibility. The important point is that Catholic is a generic term, and Roman Catholic is a particular term. Of course the Roman Catholic Church does not necessarily recognize these groups as Catholic just as these groups do not recognize Rome as central (Redmont, 1992).

The Roman model of church is hierarchical and dualistic. Its structure is top-down, with a small group of ordained men called clergy making decisions for the vast rest of the community, which is referred to as the laity (Redmont, 1992). Because no women have yet been validly and licitly ordained as priests according to the rubrics of the Roman church, though some call themselves Roman Catholic Women priests, all women are lay. Likewise, most men, including men who belong to religious congregations as brothers (not priests), are also laity.

This bright line between clergy and laity is at the heart of the question of leadership in Catholicism. It means that regardless of the talents, training, and willingness to serve of others, only men who become part of the clericus, that is, the caste of those ordained, are eligible for the highest leadership positions (pope and cardinals) and are able to make local decisions in dioceses and parishes (bishops and priests). Such men are expected to be celibate and ...