Diary
One role of the priest is to help staff work with volunteers. Its important that any engagement between staff and the parish be seen as an opportunity for reflection and learning, not as one with warfare. It reminded me I need to work on some personnel management issues: like just doing regular evaluations.
Debbie made some pledge cards for the pews. They were low-tech, but possibly useful. On solid card-stock. I also worked on the annual report letter.
I also was getting caught up in the donations to Haiti. Such a terrible event. We'll be setting up a way to connect congregants with Episcopal Relief and Development.
I also downloaded some bylaws for interfaith organizations, tweaked them, and submitted them to my White Plains Colleagues. We're not very organized, and there is a sense that we could be proactive in the public arena in a positive way. I've been given permission to begin mapping out a more concrete future.
I returned and continued writing the Annual Letter. I've got a couple. One that invites people to the annual meeting; and the annual report letter itself.
I ate all the cookies my secretary made for me. All of them. Every single one.
- Fr. Gawain's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
Father, With the utmost in
Father,
With the utmost in respect for both your position and authority:
Not to tell you how to do your job, Father, but don't you think even mentioning the first item about the staff member is something of a breach of confidentiality?
If you have to coach and correct employees, do it privately. Even mentioning it, regardless of whether you mention the staff member's name or not, undermines trust in you, and frankly, if I was that employee, I'd be embarrassed to read that you mentioned this on your blog. And any volunteers who may have clashed with the employee in question aren't probably happy about seeing this on the web either.
I worked at a parish for 7 mostly successful years, by the way, but am now out in the secular work world. I took a figurative bullet or two for my priest, and would have probably taken a literal one too, given the situation, because I knew, no matter what, she had confidence in me, and I in her, and we both kept the private stuff private.
With kind regards,
Walt
Fair enough. Because I
Fair enough. Because I mention no names, I hope this blog will help others who deal with the same challenges I do. I changed the blog accordingly.