In just about any endeavor, collaboration is key.
The Catholic Leadership Conference was founded in 1997 to give leaders of Catholic apostolates more opportunities to collaborate and cooperate with each other. As National Director of Priests for Life, I was involved in this group from the very beginning and the opportunity for networking, sharing ideas and resources was extremely valuable to me as I was growing my pro-life ministry.
Deal Hudson, who became a political consultant for the campaign of President George W. Bush, was instrumental in the formation of the group, as was Jerry Coniker, who, with his wife, Gwen, founded the Apostolate for Family Consecration, and Phil and Barbara Henkels, whose belief in the importance of Catholic education put them in the center of the fight for school choice in Pennsylvania.
I remember that in those early years, we were very intentional about wanting the group to have tangible goals. We didn’t want to just sit around theorizing. We wanted to be Catholic leaders united in action.
In one meeting, held during the fall of an election year, Hudson told us that we had the opportunity to engage a service that would take our lists of supporters and followers and send them an automated phone call – that very day – with a message we crafted about the importance of the election.
Hudson sent us to our rooms in the hotel where we stayed to get our lists! I remember everyone feeling the powerful momentum of doing something together that had to be done right away. If we hadn’t been together in that conference, that likely wouldn’t have happened to the extent that it did.
The spirt of the group was that we would not shy away from politics as understood by the Church. I know it took some people out of their comfort zone, but it was important.
As time went on, there were transitions of leadership. I’m particularly grateful to Gail Buckley Barringer, an influential Catholic leader well known as the Bible Lady for her radio show. She reminded me recently that my encouragement was crucial to her and the others to make sure the group continued.
By then I was also helping to administer the regular meetings of pro-life leaders, and I realized that if a group like that had a place of importance in the pro-life movement, it was just as crucial for the Catholic Leadership Conference to do the same in the Catholic arena.
Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the pause button for the group, as it did for just about everyone else. But I am happy to be able to say that the conference has resumed and is now under the leadership of Michael Hernon. With his wife, Alicia, he runs the Messy Family Ministry to support and encourage couples and families. He has been a friend and ally for a number of years.
I was therefore delighted to be a participant in the recent gathering of the Catholic Leadership Conference at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. This was the first meeting in a few years, and it felt like a family reunion or a gathering of old friends.
The roster of dynamic speakers included bold-face names in the Catholic world like Scott Hahn, a noted theologian and author; Dr. Janet Smith, an influential academic and author, and Fr. Boniface Hicks, a Benedictine monk who is a spiritual director, author and retreat director.
It was a joy to catch up with all of them, and we updated one another about our lives and work.
The agenda was less political and centered more around leaders taking care of ourselves, spiritually and mentally. If we don’t care for ourselves, we can’t care of the public we serve. It was a fruitful and appropriate way to get things started again, and I look forward to future collaboration with the other members of this influential and important group.
Just as the forum I organize for pro-life leaders, so it is true with the Catholic Leadership Conference: God does not call leaders to work in a vacuum. Whie the primary responsibility of a leader is to his or her organization, a key quality of effective leaders is to work generously and collaboratively with other organizations who share the same overall goals.
May that collaboration increase and may God give success to the work of our united hands!
