Discernment
Spiritual
Exercises
Engagement
in the mIssion
General
Examen
Finding God
in all things
is God is contemplated to create a nimble community engaged in a collective mission. For the Jesuits, the project of evangelizing is really the way in which one is able to find God in all things. While Jesuits might live in community, the act of seeking God is not as much found in contemplation and community as it is in the very people to whom the Jesuits are sent.
It becomes important to reiterate as stated above one way is no better than the other, despite the friendly (and historically not so friendly) rivalry between the
Dominicans and the Jesuits. Ultimately both are engaged in a goal of bringing people, all people, into a closer relationship with God, each in their own unique way. And so the conclusion is myriad charisms available to the Church collectively make up the concept of discipleship.
Engagement
The purpose of this study is to compare faith formation programs for adult
Catholic employees in four high schools, two sponsored by Jesuits, and two sponsored by Dominicans. A modified version of the Gallup ME25 Member Engagement Survey. Since engagement is not the same as discipleship, it is necessary to discuss a little bit about engagement, both in terms of what it means and how it relates to discipleship. Winseman (2007) defines congregational engagement (what this study is seeking to explore will be called school or faith engagement) as “the degree of belonging an individual has in his or her congregation” (p. 67).
This concept of engagement is not limited to Christian churches, and in fact, for Winseman (2007) flows from Gallup’s research from workplace engagement. Is there a
connection to the concept of engagement in a workplace and the type of engagement that leads one to become a disciple of Jesus Christ?
It might prove helpful to offer some idea of how the workplace views
engagement. One area related to engagement is Human Resources Alignment, which is “integrating decisions about people with decisions about the results the organization is trying to obtain” (United States Office of Personnel Management, 2011, p. 193). What has increasingly become clear in the workplace is “that people have been recognized as companies’ most important asset” (p. 196).
Examining the non-profit sector is probably more helpful than the business sector since non-profits, much like schools, are not usually centered on making profits. Haivas, Hofmans and Pepermans (2013) note there is a strong interconnection between three areas, namely, autonomy, competence and relatedness, which arises from Self-
Determination Theory which understands these areas as “basic psychological needs” (p. 1870). “The more basic psychological needs are satisfied, the more autonomous the motivation becomes” (p. 1870). Quoting numerous studies, Haivas, Hofmans and Pepermans note there has already been established in studies a connection between “job characteristics that facilitate autonomous motivation ... and on the impact of autonomous motivation on organizational behavior, such as performance, work engagement, and turnover” (p. 1871).
Haivas, Hofmans and Pepermans (2013) found people who felt a high level of autonomy in volunteering and viewed themselves as highly competent were most likely to stay in a volunteer position. This is interesting since one of Winseman’s (2007)
suggestions is a talent survey that helps members of the congregation consider what they are good at doing.
There is also increased attention to how new employees are incorporated into the mission of the organization. Different than orientation, more organizations are turning to what is increasingly becoming known as “onboarding.” Graybill, Carpenter, Offord, Piorun, and Shaffer (2013) define onboarding as “the process by which a new employee is introduced to an organization and its vision, mission, and values” (p. 201). They further note the value of onboarding in getting employees into a position to become productive early, and note that successful onboarding leads to higher engagement.
Graybill et al. (2013) also note the importance of onboarding in the context of decreased employee loyalty to a single employer and the economic pressures created by such realities as downsizing. They remark about the importance of how the workforce has been changed by millennials, defined as those “born in or after 1982,” who are “generally are technically savvy, eager to learn and advance, and expect respect from supervisors and co-workers” (p. 203). However, with all, onboarding can only be successful when “current employees buy in and accept ownership by way of participation” (p. 203).
These ideas are not dissimilar from Winseman (2007) and his recommendation that conditions and expectations for membership in a community be clearly articulated to new members. Clarifying expectations of employment or membership seem both to lead to a higher level of engagement.
And so, “Why are some congregations and parishes flourishing while others are failing? What makes the difference? The difference is engagement” (Winseman, 2007, p.
10). For Winseman, it is engagement which leads to spiritual health, which Winseman discusses by it indicators: “life satisfaction, inviting, serving and giving” (p. 39).
What do these outcomes mean? Again Winseman (2007) is used as a guide. Most of these indicators are just as they appear. Life satisfaction is just that: the degree to which an individual is satisfied with their life. Inviting is not simply about an action of the community, but whether or not its members see inviting others into the congregation as a value. “By an overwhelming margin, it is through the personal invitation of a friend, family member or coworker” that someone first becomes involved in a congregation (p. 40) Service refers to the encouragement members receive to “reach out in concern and service to the world, and to help and assist others in their communities and beyond” (p. 41). Giving refers to financial contributions made to a congregation.
What is the goal of engagement? Winseman (2007) suggests engagement leads to spiritual commitment. This study prefers to think of engagement as the necessary
prerequisite for discipleship, an active decision to answer the call of Jesus to “follow me.” It is what Kelly (2012) might describe as a “dynamic Catholic.” It is what Waddell (2012) refers to by intentional disciples. What are these characteristics?
Kelly (2012) lists four: prayer, study, generosity and evangelization (p. 18). Winseman (2007) mentions life satisfaction, serving, inviting and giving, which we mentioned above. Weddell (2012) references the intentional choice to follow Jesus. She lists three concurrent journeys as important expressions of these choices:
1. The personal interior journey of a lived relationship with Christ resulting in intentional discipleship.
2. The ecclesial journey into the Church through reception of the sacraments of initiation.
3. The journey of active practice (as evidenced by receiving the sacraments, attending Mass, and participating in the life and mission of the Christian community. (p. 54)
Weddell (2012) suggests the term “‘Catholic identity’ is often simply regarding oneself as Catholic and attending Mass with reasonable regularity” (p. 54). She is referencing the minimalist belief that getting Catholics to go to Mass and receive the sacraments is enough. She quotes Father Damian Ference, a member of the formation faculty at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio.
All too often those of us in positions of Church leadership presume that all the folks in the pews on Sundays, all the children in our grade schools, high schools and PSR programs, all the kids in our youth groups, all the men in our Men’s Clubs and all the women in our Women’s Guilds, and all the members of our RCIA team are already disciples. Many are not. (The same can be said of staffs and faculties of Catholic institutions.) Our people may be very active in the programs of our parishes, schools and institutions, but unfortunately, such participation does not qualify for discipleship. (Weddell, 2012, p. 55)
We must recognize activity in a parish or institution is not the same as having a personal relationship with Jesus that is nurtured and developed in a community of faith. “The common working assumption that we encounter is that personal discipleship is a kind of optional spiritual enrichment for the exceptionally pious or spiritually gifted” (Weddell, 2012, p. 55). Growing up, it was true that going to parish religious education meant not ever hearing as a child that to be Catholic meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus and to follow him. When it occurred, it was parents who helped make the connection that somehow being a Catholic meant some type of relationship with Jesus in prayer and the sacraments. But in terms of explicitly hearing of the necessity of a
personal relationship with Jesus as a vital part of faith, that really only occurred with friends who were active in a fundamentalist Christian church. Pastorally, as a priest, it
simply was not a Catholic priority to ask someone if they had a personal relationship with God. Calling it a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” attitude of Catholic reality, Weddell (2012) affirms the importance of talking openly about a personal relationship with Jesus as being normative. “To the extent that we don’t talk explicitly with one another about
discipleship, we make it very, very difficult for most Catholics to think about discipleship” (p. 56).
What surprised Weddell (2012) in her work was “how many Catholics don’t even
know that this personal, interior journey exists” (p. 57). And since this is not really a
topic many Catholics have thought about, or may even be hostile to discussing, there is often what Weddell calls the Spiral of Silence, citing the research of Elisabeth Noelle- Neumann. Essentially the Spiral of Silence describes the reality “that people are less likely to voice an opinion on a topic if they believe they are in the minority, because most people fear isolation from the majority” (p. 58).
This Spiral of Silence is reinforced both by the “religion-doesn’t-belong-in-the- public-square cultural norm” and the internal reluctance or even hostility to discussing “one’s relationship with God” (Weddell, 2012, p. 59).
“It is essential for us to grasp the cultural pressure, both inside and outside the average American parish, is often against the overt expression of discipleship” (Weddell, 2012, p. 59). For the Catholic faith, it becomes absolutely essential to discuss explicitly this notion of being a Catholic disciple of Jesus. But as Weddell notes, if there is not support from “strong, interpersonal” communities of faith, those who “’live out loud’ as intentional Catholics” (p. 59), then this type of intentional discipleship simply will not occur.
This study operated from the belief that engagement is a necessary first step to intentional discipleship. Weddell (2012), Winseman (2007), and others have found low levels of intentional disciples in parishes and congregations, so this study starts by attempting to identify in a measurable way those who self-identify as engaged in faith using the modified version of the Gallup ME25 Member Engagement Survey. As the old adage goes, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it.” Using this modified survey will provide, it is hoped, the starting point for the study, and a baseline to seek out qualities that are present in those who are highly engaged.
Conclusions
Examining the concepts connected to discipleship, and as expressed through charism and in the context of mission, requires continually refined understandings of meaning and practice. These concepts are complex and their understanding and application is subtle. It is not by way of rigid definitions, per se, but by way of
observation, how these concepts are used in practice, that understanding arises. Every academic discipline has jargon understood by those who are involved in teaching and working in the discipline, and religion is no different.
In this review, the attempt was to clarify these concepts, particularly how they are interconnected with each other. Certainly the Catholic faith, and indeed other Christian and non-Christians begin with the concept of following some person or god. For Christians, this means following Jesus, and becoming a disciple, which has been
presented above as being the willingness to go wherever Jesus leads, to give completely to Jesus one’s life. God’s call always comes first for a disciple. For Christians, as seen
in the exploration of the gospels made above, this call is always manifest in the center of a community.
Christian discipleship is primarily understood through the new relationship of life that was made possible by Jesus and is celebrated in baptism. Certain members of the baptized choose to join together with religious communities to exercise the charisms given by God for the sake of the community. For these members, the charism becomes manifested in the execution of a mission, whose purpose is always at the service of Jesus who has first called these members, and indeed all, to discipleship.
This study presumed engagement is the process that occurs before discipleship, perhaps in a way that might be called pre-discipleship. So, with these understandings the specific methodology of the study is presented in the next chapter. Since the process of becoming a disciple is complex, this study focused only on this process of engagement, both in the way in which a sponsoring religious community expresses its charism and in the way individuals live out their faith and participate in the mission.
While the focus of the study was on engagement, the research questions show there was also be an attempt to get at other interior attitudes and beliefs from those display a high level of faith engagement. The research questions for this study are stated below.
1. What are the formal and informal means of instilling the Catholic charism of the sponsoring religious community as it pertains to Catholic faith and Catholic mission engagement?
a. How do teachers and staff understand the Catholic mission and Catholic charism, and how are they engaged in the Catholic mission in their daily work and practice?
b. What are the motivations of employees who accept appointment at Catholic schools, and are these motivations primarily or exclusively religious motivations?
2. How does the Catholic religious charism and mission of the Catholic school get communicated, and how are employees integrated into the Catholic faith mission?
169 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This study is a qualitative mixed methods study focusing on the question of discipleship as defined earlier. Schwandt (2007) defines mixed methods as “using multiple methods to generate and analyze different kinds of data in the same study” (p. 196). Mertens (2010) notes “mixed methods designs include both qualitative and quantitative features in the design” (p. 293), and such is the case for this study. The survey and its analysis is a quantitative method, whereas the coding of interviews involves a more qualitative approach. The reason for using mixed methods is, as
Schwandt (2007) suggests, “a pragmatic one, since it holds an evaluator ought to employ whatever methods will best generate evidence” (p. 196). In using this mixed methods approach, the study sought to gain the rich, thick descriptions that come from
interviewing and by analyzing documents from the schools involved, the interviews and the documents could be compared as part of the process of data triangulation.
By discovering the level of engagement of the administration, faculty and staff in two Jesuit high schools and two Dominican high schools, the goal was to compare how these Jesuit and Dominican high schools understood and conducted adult faith formation. Further, to ask if there were discernable differences between those employees in Jesuit high schools to those in Dominican High Schools, and to whether there were differences in the formation programs for adults in each set of schools. The study presumes
engagement precedes discipleship and the quantifying measurement to measure
engagement was readily accessible. Mertens (2010) makes clear that most of the time, in choosing the mixed methods approach, “researchers based their choice of mixed methods on the nature of the phenomena being investigated [and] the contexts in which the study was conducted” (p. 295 [material in brackets mine]). Such was the case in this study.
Research Questions
This study attempted to measure the faith engagement of Catholic employees in four Catholic schools, and then using this information to compare the faith formation programs in two Jesuit high schools and two Dominican high schools. By discovering the level of faith engagement and non-engagement of Catholic employees, and using coded interviews, the study sought to discover which faith formation practices were most important in helping the engaged to grow in faith, by comparing what each set of schools, Jesuit and Dominican, were doing in their program of adult faith formation. The research questions below will be considered.
1. What are the formal and informal means of instilling the Catholic charism of the sponsoring religious community as it pertains to Catholic faith and Catholic mission engagement?
a. How do teachers and staff understand the Catholic mission and Catholic charism, and how are they engaged in the Catholic mission in their daily work and practice?
b. What are the motivations of employees who accept appointment at Catholic schools, and are these motivations primarily or exclusively religious motivations?
2. How does the Catholic religious charism and mission of the Catholic school get communicated, and how are employees integrated into the Catholic faith mission?
The study used a pragmatic sequential mixed methods qualitative design. It is in sequential form, which is where “one type of data provides a basis for collection of another type of data” (Mertens, 2010, p. 297). Since the survey identified those Catholic teachers, staff and administrators with the highest level of faith engagement, the choice to interview them was made only after the survey results are gathered.
A sequential design is one in which the conclusions that are made on the basis of the first strand lead to formulation of questions, data collection, and data analysis for the next strand. The final references are based on the results of both strands of the study. (Mertens, 2010, p. 300)
After receiving results from the survey, highly engaged individuals and those considered disengaged were selected for interviews. There were not enough of those who were disengaged (who answered false to more than half of the questions) to include them in this study. The study sought to identify common qualities from follow-up interviews, hoping to determine which qualities might signal discipleship. By using both interviews and documents of formation programs for faculty about the adult formation in these schools, an attempt was made note differences between Jesuit and Dominican schools. Stake (1995) believes case study research is particularly geared to unpacking the
complexity of a single situation, which meshes nicely with the goal of this study, as faith, discipleship, charism and mission are not easy concepts to unpack. Yin (2009) outlines four possible applications of case study research, all of which are important for this