Ethics in Ministry

Our instructor began tonight’s class by having us introduce ourselves, stating our Parish, our ministry, and whether we worked somewhere with a code of ethics. My Parish is St. Thomas Aquinas, I’m involved in three ministries right now, and I work at a bank in Silicon Valley, so we are familiar with Codes of Ethics. In fact, as an employee I have to pass a quarterly test called Ethics in Banking, and I’m not involved with the financial stuff at all.

 

He pointed out that there are codes of ethics all over the place, in all kinds of professional environments, but they have been slow in coming to the church. He teaches Ethics at Santa Clara University, and his course was created in response to the sexual abuse crisis which he considers to be a profound professional failure. His goal is to contribute to the professional ethics standards of the local Dioceses and Parishes.

 

Essentially, the question he is addressing is what are the primary virtues that ought to govern our ministry work? As usual, handouts were made available to us via the student web site which we downloaded and read prior to class. In Church Leadership, Ethics and the Future James Keenan argues that “a priest is singularly responsible to the bishop’s expectations and judgments ... and there do not seem to be any specific normative standards to guide the bishop in his assessment of his diocesan personnel”. The point he’s trying to make in this article is that whereas vertical accountability is emphasized, horizontal accountability is not emphasized.

 

There was as short discussion that made me wonder if our claim to being ethical assists us or works against us. We are supposed to be governed by a sense of Christian Love, and some in my class seemed to feel that it was obscuring our resistance of accountability to each other. I found that disturbing. Both Law and ethics are found in the application of behavior. My class seemed focused on negative examples regarding ethics in the church and I wondered (aloud) if we could identify any positive examples regarding ethics in the church.

 

Usually, a code of ethics is only necessary if there is some problem that needs to be addressed? Another common element is that little democratic input is found in creating a code of ethics. They are normally just presented to you and require complete agreement in order to keep your job. Everyone is subject to the agreement; the written code of ethics in our Diosces should apply equally to religious staff and lay staff.

 

Each case where things have gone so terribly wrong is an individual case, complex and heartbreaking, but there needs to be a more open environment. For one thing, transparency will be required to rebuild trust in the church. In my work for example, our personal performance is evaluated by others as well as by ourselves. James Keenan says that parishioners must make sure that people are held accountable; but we must remember that while in the professional world failure results in loss (firing) and in the religious world failure should result in loss (trust) with relief (forgiveness).

 

We also discussed a group known as the National Roundtable on Church Management, and I’ll admit I’m not sure what to think about this group. If what they are advocating is a corporate model for accounting in the Parish, arguing for standards and transparency, then I think it’s a good idea. The question is whether corporate business practices are the answer that we should be looking, of if it’s just part of the answer.

 

We all agreed that it’s a step forward in running a parish, but it’s not the answer to accountability. I suggested that it may be the answer to professional accountability but it probably shouldn’t be applied to ministerial activities. In other words the corporate model may be applicable to the functioning of the parish but it would not be applicable to the ministry of the church. After all, we’re all Priest, Prophet, and King and although these must be held together they cannot be compressed into one function.

 

An article in the Economist from last week, which was also found in the New York Times, argued that the "Vatican ought to be broken up and run like an international corporation". The trap of course is that bringing in corporate practices may also introduce corporate motivations. I would not support anything like this, but how might best practices be applied to influence the management of the church, and how would you measure results? After all we’re supposed to be "In the world but not of the world".

 

The Roundtable group insists that they are not talking about turning the church into Google. They are arguing the advantages of taking best practices and applying them to leadership roles, "seeking God in all things", by  making discerning choices about the things that would apply and those that would not apply.

 

After the break we moved on to a more general topic, thinking about our own sense of ethics. Each of us is responding to a call, a basic fundamental attitude about life, as a free response to God's call in community to commit ourselves in Love to serve others. But how do we accomplish this? Character at its core is a sense of who we are. It is the sum of our intentions, attitudes, motives, and actions that give our lives a fundamental direction.

 

Our call and our character carries with it various virtues, like behavior towards others. We discussed holiness (how we behave), the practice of discipline, love, humility (lowly but chosen) trustworthiness, altruism (habit of mercy), prudence, reliability (an inner and outer consistency through all parts of our practice). We also added witnessing (the inescapable reality of public action), integrity (acting as a whole in ministry), and compassion (understanding the needs and challenges faced by others).

 

We should all be striving for the kind of love that draws good out of evil, and attention to detail is how we can make a situation better for others. Our professional obligation is theological competence in sharing the ministry of salvation. To serve salvation in word and deed, in what we know, in what we say, and in how we act is to cooperate with our own salvation and the salvation of others.

 

Evangelization is more successful if we’re working towards the others best interest. Putting others first in all things also means being attentive to self-care. Feeding the soul and the body, and not volunteering for absolutely everything that needs to be done. Using power wisely to proclaim the word, giving others credit when possible, and occasionally giving way to others who might want to lead. Striving for ethics in ministry by understanding our call, maintaining our character, and practicing virtues will bring us closer to the role of Priest, Prophet, and King.