Degree programs aim for best practices in mission and management

National Catholic Reporter, Sept 1, 2006

In response to a growing need for business skills in U.S. churches, three Catholic universities are offering study programs in church management and finance.

This fall, Boston College, a Jesuit university, will begin offering the nation's first graduate program in church management, according to a news release from the school.

The program will include two options: a master's degree in pastoral ministry with a concentration in church management, and a joint master's in business administration/master's in pastoral ministry.

"It is estimated that the Catholic church does approximately $100 billion of business per year in the United States, much of it done by individuals with little formal training in management and financial practices," the news release said.

The University of Notre Dame, whose business college has offered a master's program in administration to leaders of religious orders since 1954, broadened the program last year to include training for other nonprofits as well.

Still, most of the students hold church or church-related jobs, according to Thomas Harvey, director of Notre Dame's program. The program requires 10 weeks on campus over two to four summers.

Villanova University in Pennsylvania also got into the field in July, when it hosted a five-day Church Management Institute seminar. The institute was sponsored by Villanova's Center for the Study of Church Management.

Boston College's church management program was the brainchild of Thomas Groome, a theology professor at the school, who came up with the idea while attending a conference of business and church leaders last year.

"It was apparent that the business leaders did not fully understand the language of the church and the church leaders, including the bishops present, did not fully understand the language of business," Groome said in a school news release.

"If we are to move beyond crisis to renewal, then it is essential that we train managers who are competent in both the theology and mission of the church and in the best practices of management," Groome added.

--Religion News Service and Catholic News Service