TYPOLOGIES AND LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS IN ROMAN CATHOLIC PARISHES

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the responses of the members of the pastoral staff in Catholic parishes partitioned according to parish types with respect to organizational characteristics. The study also described and compared the responses of the pastors, associate pastors, directors of religious education, Catholic school principals, and other members of the pastoral staff with respect to organizational characteristics. From data reported in the Comprehensive Pastoral Report (1981), the researcher partitioned parishes according to the level of their internal organization and the extent of their involvement in the larger community. The pastoral staffs of 25 theopolitan, 20 sectarian, 20 public action, and 25 sacramental service parishes were randomly selected and sent the Profile of Organizational Characteristics (1982, revised). Of the 513 participants usable instruments were received from 88 pastors, 120 associate pastors, 70 directors of religious education, 69 Catholic school principals, and 81 other members of the pastoral staff. There were 133 respondents in theopolitan, 98 in sectarian, 98 in public action, and 99 in sacramental service parishes. The statistical methods employed included means, standard deviations, one-way classification of analysis of variance and the Scheffe analysis. The minimal level of statistical significance accepted was .05. The major conclusions drawn from this study were: (1) The pastoral staff in all parish types rated their parishes\u27 organizational characteristics as consultative. The pastoral staff in theopolitan parishes described their leadership system as more participative and the pastoral staff in sacramental service parishes rated their leadership system as less participative than those in other parish types. (2) Pastors described their parishes as more participative and the directors of religious education rated their parishes less participative than the other categories of the pastoral staff. (3) The connection established between Catholic ecclesiology and organizational theory provided a means to understand increasing participation in the parish through a participative leadership system. Some of the major recommendations from this study were: (1) The Catholic Church seek to develop structures for sharing responsibility among the members of the pastoral staff. (2) A consistent effort be made to report data concerning parish life in order to enable parishes to review systematically their programs