A Shepherd’s Job Description

By Fr. Jeff Lorig – Recently assigned as pastor to St. Thomas More and St. Joan of Arc parishes.

As a Pastor, one of my first jobs as a leader is to manage and clarify expectations: my own, the staff’s, the councils’, and the parishioners’. When people in organizations do not know what to expect from one another, this lack of clarity creates a culture of maintenance. People just do whatever they want. As Al Winseman says in Growing an Engaged Church, “Clear expectations lay the foundation for everything else your congregation is called to do and be. Without them, members will drift — eventually, right out the door.”

Thus, setting and clarifying expectations is key, and it requires healthy communication. As I’m just starting my new assignment, I’ve begun an informal campaign of sorts to communicate expectations. This ultimately allows me to cast a vision for the future of my parishes because the problem with most churches in decline is not its people or pastor; it is its vision.

So first, even before I started, I asked the parish and finance councils what they expect of me as their pastor. I heard some really beautiful encouragements from them, but this time also gave me the chance to clarify their desires and to dream a little bigger with them.

Then, I made it a top priority to meet with the staff individually and as a whole. In our first gathering as a staff, I laid a foundation for why our parishes exist and what would be happening in the next 1-3 months.

I’ve also created weekly videos for our Facebook pages to talk a little a bit about the upcoming readings for the weekend, but also to cast vision. I always end with “what if we…” or “can you imagine if we…” and draw out how our parishes could impact our families, our neighborhoods, our city, and the world.

To give another example of communicating clear expectations and communicating vision, below is my first bulletin article. You’ll also notice that I’m creating a job description of sorts, but this job description is more than a list of responsibilities. It clarifies not only expectations, but defines what excellence looks like.

A Shepherd’s Job Description

You probably already know this, but the word pastor means shepherd. Imagining the responsibilities of a shepherd shapes what you can expect from me as your new pastor.

1. A Shepherd Leads His Flock to Greener Pastures

If we stay in one spot, you can bet we’re all going to starve, and no one is going to want to join us. As your pastor you can expect that I have a vision for growth and will continue to grow myself to be the leader that God is calling and equipping me to be in order to lead us into greener pastures.

2. A Shepherd Protects His Flock from Harm

In this day and age, in what is described as a post-Christian era or Apostolic age (think Acts of the Apostles), I can be whatever religion I want to be or no religion at all, but I love being Catholic and choose to be Catholic. Sure, there are teachings that I find challenging and difficult, but I will do my best to keep that which is not true from entering into our flock and ask for the grace of fortitude to drive out any teaching, attitude, or behavior that would be harmful to us.

3. A Shepherd Will Prioritize the Lost

At least in Jesus’ version of shepherding, the lost are a priority even at the risk of losing the 99. You can expect that we are going to prioritize reaching those who are disconnected from Jesus and His Church.

4. A Shepherd Ensures His Flock is Fed

Between our two parishes we have about 4,500 members and 1,100 Sunday Mass attendees (prior to Covid-19). As you can imagine, it will be impossible for one shepherd to keep track of and ensure the entire flock is getting fed. So, you can expect that I will be calling, equipping, and empowering others to help me in shepherding the entire flock. One of my main responsibilities will be to shepherd those who help shepherd all of you. That said, you can also expect that if there’s a sacramental emergency and you need a priest, we, the three priests, will drop everything or make arrangements to ensure you are taken care of.