Catholic health care is fast approaching the time when it will have what Peter
J. Giammalvo calls a "second generation" of lay leadership. Unlike
the members of the "first generation," who entered the ministry in
the period between the 1960s and the 1980s, these new leaders will have spent
little or no time working alongside women and men religious. How, without having
religious to directly inspire them, are they to comprehend and perpetuate Catholic
health care?
Giammalvo, who is vice president, leadership formation, Catholic Health East,
Newtown Square, PA (and who served as guest editor of this issue with Sr. Maryanna
Coyle, SC, sponsorship trustee, Catholic Health Initiatives, Denver), offers
some answers to this vital question in "A 'Second Generation'
of Ministry Leadership".
Additional articles on the development of lay leaders are by Fr. Gerald A.
Arbuckle, SM, PhD, of the Refounding and Pastoral Development Unit, Sydney,
Australia ("Maintaining Prophetic Cultures"); and Bernita McTernan,
senior vice president, sponsorship and mission integration, Catholic Healthcare
West, San Francisco ("The Notion of Grace"). In an article that first
appeared in America ("From CEO to Mission Leader"), John O. Mudd,
JD, senior vice president, Providence Services, Spokane, WA, argues that executives
who serve the ministry must learn to "speak mission."
Meanwhile, in a related column, Ed Giganti, CHA's senior director, ministry
leadership development, describes the efforts of Provena Health, Mokena, IL,
to strengthen its own leadership for the future. Rhoda Weiss, Health Progress's
longtime marketing columnist, recalls health care leaders who have been particularly
wise mentors.