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Bishop announces clergy leadership program

By Bishop Jackels

I am pleased to announce that starting December 2, 2008, the group of 42 priests listed below will begin a two-year program called Good Leaders, Good Shepherds. The program is designed to help priests to be better leaders after the example of Jesus the Good Shepherd.

Let me say up front that I am edified and gratified by the efforts of our priests to pastor the people in parishes and institutions. They have pastoral hearts and have a holy desire to be better pastors. Everyone can always improve.

The Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program is ordered around strengthening priestly identity, fraternity, and ministry. The materials deal with time management, working with individuals and with teams (such as parish councils), and how to create a vision for the parish or institution and a plan to carry it out.

I write to ask you first of all to pray for all of our priests and especially those participating in the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program.

Also, if the priest who serves you is participating in the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program, please give him encouragement. If the priest who serves you is not a participant (involvement is voluntary; some priests may have had conflicting commitments or other circumstances for opting out), encourage him to take part the next time the program is offered.

Finally, the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program is not without cost in terms of time and money. The program involves day-long workshops and some overnight stays at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita. This means that participating priests will be away more often and might have to cancel weekday Masses in the course of the next two years. Please be understanding; it is for a very good reason. Emergencies will of course be given full attention.

The price tag of the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program is $7,100 per priest, including instructional materials and room and board for overnight stays. The parish or institution will pay one-fourth towards the priest’s on-going formation. Each priest will pay one-fourth of his own money. The remainder will come from diocesan funds for the education of priests and from gifts.

Would you consider making a gift to defray the costs of your priest or of the program in general?

Parishes and institutions in other dioceses where the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program has been held report that their priest is, as a result of his participation, more holy, healthy, and happy, and that the parish or institution is more vibrant, and that the people are being led to a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Wow. We can only hope and pray to see the same results in our personal lives and in our parishes and institutions. May it be so. Amen.

Participants in the inaugural group of the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program:

Father Michael Baldwin

Father Stephen Baxter

Father Daryl Befort

Father James Billinger

Father John Brungardt

Father Douglas Campbell

Father Juan Garza

Father Joseph Gile

Father Bernard Gorges

Father Andrew Heiman

Father Kent Hemberger

Monsignor Robert Hemberger

Father Thomas Hoisington

Father Edmond Kline

Father Andrew Kuykendall

Father John Lanzrath

Father Thomas Leland

Father David Lies

Father Jarrod Lies

Father James Mainzer

Father Michael Maybrier

Father Robert McElwee

Father Matthew McGinness

Father John Miller

Father Brian Nelson

Father Benjamin Nguyen

Father Hien Nguyen

Father Michael Nolan

Father Hung Quoc Pham

Father Michael Schemm

Father Kenneth Schuckman

Father Andrew Seiler

Father John Sherlock

Father Michael Simone

Father Stuart Smeltzer

Father Daniel Spexarth

Father Jerome Spexarth

Father Stephen Thapwa

Father Kenneth Van Haverbeke

Father Nicholas Voelker

Father James Weldon

Father Patrick York

About the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program

Good Leader, Good Shepherd is a program of the Catholic Leadership Institute.

It teaches leadership skills to priests to help them excel as Christian leaders and Christian witnesses.

The program:

• Follows Jesus as the ultimate model of leadership

• Believes that prayer inspires and sustains all leaders

• Is motivated by the love for the Church

Would you like to help your pastor “feed” his flock?

Those who wish to contribute to the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program may send a check to the Diocese of Wichita, attn: Bryan Coulter, 424 N. Broadway, Wichita, KS 67202. Please write “Good Leaders” in the note area of the check.