Leadership and Governance of Institutes: Update and next steps

On November 10, 2020, the CRC held a Leaders’ Circle on the governance of religious congregations. One of the most pressing issues identified by participants was the shortage, within religious institutes, of members willing and able to take on leadership roles.

To follow up on the Leaders’ Circle, the CRC undertook a consultation in 2021, in Canada and abroad, to better circumscribe the issue and identify existing options as well as alternative solutions in development.

It is now time to look at where our journey has taken us so far and explore ways to continue going forward.

The 2021 consultation allowed us to appreciate the exceptional work accomplished by some institutes in Canada who, for several years, have worked to develop collaborative approaches and to proactively set up organizations that to support institutes with their leadership and governance challenges. Institutes in Canada can therefore count on an unprecedented degree of expertise and structured resources when compared with the countries we consulted.

At the same time, expertise and resources function only in the context of the community discernment of an institute and are never a substitute for it. Identifying and developing leadership and governance ‘models’ or solutions must therefore go hand in hand with a reflection on the community discernment of religious institutes on the issues they face.

The webinar’s program will therefore comprise: