BY: JEAN M. LAMBERT
Ms. Lambert is corporate director, mission, Catholic Healthcare Partners, Cincinnati.
A Prism Makes a Good Metaphor for Our Understanding of "Mission"
SUMMARY An organization's mission and mission statement are distinctly different,
though intimately related. A mission statement expresses what we do. Our mission
expresses who we are. Although a mission statement's concept is usually
easy to understand, the intangible idea of mission is often difficult to grasp.
Many images have been used to illustrate an organization's mission; however,
one image stands out above the rest: the prism. No matter where one places the
prism, the light passing through has a different reflection. Each facet represents
a different aspect of our ministry. When mission plays a critical role in our
work, we know—no matter what particular work we do—that the work has
been made sacred and changed to reflect the mission experience. |
For me, one of the great joys of working in Catholic health care for the past
20 years is the slow but deliberate progress we have made in understanding the
meaning of mission. One thing I've learned is that mission and a
mission statement, though related, are distinctly different. The differences
between them hint at the differences between mission and ministry.
The mission statement, like ministry, expresses what it is that we do.
We "care for those who are poor or vulnerable"; we "provide comfort
to those who suffer"; we "improve the health of our communities";
we "steward resources." All of these phrases call us to action; they
represent ministry at its best. Ministry is found in the "doing."
Mission Is Who We Are
Mission, on the other hand, goes much deeper. It expresses who we are.
The more we are in touch with who we are, the better the results from what we
do. Mission is about "being". It points to our essence, to why
we exist as Catholic health care—to be the healing presence of our God
to one another. One has to refer only to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians
to verify this. "You are the Body of Christ, each of you with a
part to play in the whole" (1 Cor 12:27).
For those of us who work in Catholic health care, remembering that we are God's
healing presence to one another is what makes us uniquely different from others
who engage in health care. Mission gives us the answer to the questions why
we care for those who are poor, why we provide comfort to those who suffer,
why we improve the health of our communities, and why we steward
our resources.
All one has to do is listen to the stories of our sponsors. There is no question
that the women religious who created our organizations saw a need and found
ways to meet the need; but their purpose was much deeper than that. Filling
the need was how they were able to bring God to the people. It was their own
willingness to be God's healing presence that brought about healing, and
even the occasional cure.
Making the Intangible More Real
For those of us who are entrusted with this sacred legacy, it is our responsibility
to learn and be formed. We walk on the shoulders of great women and men. We
cannot and must not let them down.
For many of us, the attraction to Catholic health care is something we find
difficult to express—it is both compelling and intangible. One could say
that our enriched understanding of mission is a meager but critical way of making
the intangible more real. Mission is the real purpose for Catholic health care.
Simply put, it is who we are that compels us to do what we do.
Our employees experience God's presence in the way we treat them. Our
patients and residents experience God's healing presence in our attention
to their needs. The communities we serve experience God's healing presence
when we look for ways to improve the health status of those communities, and
so on and so on.
Such an enriched understanding calls for a new image of mission. There are
models that show mission as the center of a circle or as the base of a triangle.
Each model is an attempt to better explain mission. Let me offer a model of
my own.
Mission Is Like a Prism
Have you ever watched light pass through a prism? One single ray disperses
into the colors of the rainbow. Those of us who are not science majors stand
in awe before such a sight. However, the scientific world has an explanation.
As Isaac Newton discovered, more than 300 years ago, when a beam of white light
is refracted by a glass prism, it is dispersed into beams of different colors.
For me, the prism has become the image for mission. Everything about
a prism—from its beauty to its ability to transform light—describes
the role of mission in Catholic health care. No matter where one places the
prism, the light passing through has a different reflection. Each facet represents
a different aspect of our ministry. When mission plays a critical role in our
work, we know—no matter what particular work we do—that the work has
been made sacred and changed to reflect the mission experience.
As the individual pieces of our ministry are touched by mission, they are changed
as the beam of white light is changed into the colors of the rainbow. Each time
we use mission as the reason for why we do things, what we do results in our
being more faithful, more true to who we say we are.
The prism image helps us understand that mission is essential to the future
of Catholic health care. Mission is not just one of the elements for discussion.
It is why we have the discussion in the first place.
Financial, clinical, or administrative decisions; the planning process; physician
issues; layoffs or growth spurts—all these, when "passed through"
the mission prism, are bound to result in better, more informed decisions, and
made sacred because they have been "touched" by mission. The beauty
of the prism is that it reflects beyond itself. The role of mission is much
the same.
The decisions we make will not be the same as those of our founders, nor should
they be. The critical thing is that we recognize our responsibility as bearers
of this precious legacy. Because mission is our motivation, our mission statements
"reflect" what we are called to do.
Each time we bring something new "to the table," something that can
be identified as a way to be God's healing presence, we, along with our
sponsors, can be sure that the legacy is in good hands.