Having faith in business

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, May, 2006 | by Rebecca Carroll

With more than 1.1 million clergy and lay employees, the Catholic Church's American workforce rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s in size. The retailer, the nation's largest private employer, has 1.3 million U.S. workers.

So church leaders are increasingly aiming to run the church's finances like a business.

One source of training is the two-year-old Center for the Study of Church Management, which is part of Villanova University's College of Commerce and Finance.

"We thought this would be a happy marriage between the business school and theology," said Charles Zech, director for the center.

The idea for the center originated with Zech, an economics professor at Villanova's business school, more than 10 years ago.

For years, he pondered the best...