News - August 2023 RSS Feed

Schein suggests that we live in a culture of “do and tell,” where we try to do everything by ourselves (instead of leading others). If we do involve others, we usually tell them what to do. In a world that is rapidly changing and increasingly complex, leaders need to listen to the people who are closest to the problems we are facing.

The question now on people’s minds: Who will be the next Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport and when will the successor of Archbishop-elect Thomas Zinkula take office?

Pope Francis’ call for a Synod on Synodality has produced a lot of talk about listening, i.e. synodal listening. But is anyone really listening? What does it mean to really listen? How can we open our eyes to see and ears to hear new things? How can we open our minds to consider new ideas and our hearts to empathize with the emotions of our conversation partners? How can we open our will to change our behavior based on what we understand?

Our intentional focus on welcoming and belonging is not about keeping things the way they are in a positive-maintaining-the-status-quo kind of way. We need to live deeply into questions that bring the state of things as they are into focus. Are we collectively prepared to come to terms with areas that we need to grow in?