Pastor's Toolbox - by Paul A Holmes (Paperback)

About the Book

Todays parish leaders are expected to be holy and prayerful spiritual guides, great preachers and compassionate confessors, but also to make important decisions in key areas like finance, budgeting, hiring and firing, fundraising, risk management, relationship-building, and moreoften with virtually no transition or training. And with all the requisite education in philosophy and theology they must provide future pastors, in addition to formation in priestly spirituality and pastoral care, seminaries can do little to prepare priests to deal with the difficult temporal issues pastors face. A Pastors Toolbox is designed to help fill that void with valuable information, insights, and practical tools that pastors need in order to begin handling the complexities of parish management in the twenty-first century. It candidly addresses questions like: What do you need to know about hiring, evaluating, coaching, and inspiring members of your parish team? Which budgeting and financial analysis competencies are key to running a strong fiscal house? Why is working seamlessly with laity so important to your long-term success? How do you manage the new skills essential to fundraising? What steps should your parish take to protect its assets? How do you deploy best practices to operate a parish effectively? Each chapter is written by experts, both clergy and lay, with years of experience and leadership in their respective fields.

Book Synopsis

Today's parish leaders are expected to be holy and prayerful spiritual guides, great preachers and compassionate confessors, but also to make important decisions in key areas like finance, budgeting, hiring and firing, fundraising, risk management, relationship-building, and more--often with virtually no transition or training. And with all the requisite education in philosophy and theology they must provide future pastors, in addition to formation in priestly spirituality and pastoral care, seminaries can do little to prepare priests to deal with the difficult temporal issues pastors face. A Pastor's Toolbox is designed to help fill that void. It is loaded with valuable information, insights, and practical tools that pastors need in order to begin handling the complexities of parish management in the twenty-first century.The book is an outgrowth of The Toolbox for Pastoral Management, a nationally recognized joint project of The National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management and Seton Hall University. The Leadership Roundtable is a nonprofit organization of Catholic lay leaders, religious, and clergy working together to promote excellence and best practices in the management, finances, communications, and human resources development of the Catholic Church in the U.S. through the greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity. Learn more at www.TheLeadershipRoundtable.org.

Review Quotes

While developed for and primarily addressed to Catholic priests who are preparing to be first-time pastors, the authors' approaches and insights are mostly applicable to pastors of other denominations as well.IN TRUST

A Pastor's Toolbox helps pastors-both veteran and neophyte-make good use of the technology and administrative resources that are available while helping them maintain their primary focus on the spiritual care of the people entrusted to them. It is an invaluable resource for priests everywhere.+The Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta

As most Catholics know, our new pastors are getting younger and younger. Solid preparation for pastoring is getting more critical every day. One of the most pressing needs is the need for good material on the art and skill of pastoring. For too long we have survived by adapting Protestant material. I welcome this excellent resource, A Pastor's Toolbox: Management Skills for Parish Leadership. I will recommend it to our program participants and we hope to use it in our new pastor programs.Rev. J. Ronald Knott, Director, Institute for Priests and Presbyterates, St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology

This splendid work-edited by a savvy priest known for his sensitive work with brother priests-is as timely and as helpful as can be.Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York