Partnering with Villanova

CLIFTON  To better serve the pastoral and the spiritual needs of laity, it is important today that pastors, priests and lay leaders are equipped with also managing the parish on an administrative and organizational level. To facilitate this, the Paterson Diocese has entered into a unique partnership with the Villanova School of Business (VSB) Center for Church Management (CCM) to offer an innovative two-year, online Master of Science in Church Management degree designed to provide students with a high-level skill set in effective church management. In addition, a 50 percent scholarship is available to any new students from the Paterson Diocese.

Patrick Brennan, CFO of the Paterson Diocese, said, “While we know the Church is not a business, we have an important duty to safeguard and use church resources wisely to insure they are used where they can do the greatest good in terms of ministry and evangelization. This online Masters in Church Management (MSCM) program with Villanova is one way to provide priests and lay persons with the latest information, insights and tools to help continuously improve the stewardship of temporal resources in support of the mission of the Church.”

The MSCM program at VSB is designed to meet the needs of an international student body of church leaders and managers including parish business managers, people serving in pastoral ministry roles who would like to provide greater value and support to their parish or the Diocese and individuals who have worked in business professionally and want to transition to church work. It is ideal for professionals who cannot take leave of their positions to relocate and pursue full-time study. The program can be completed online in two years of part-time study.

Father Lem Camacho, parochial vicar at Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham, is currently enrolled in the program and said, “Seminary formation does not include leadership, management and administration courses. It is vital that future priests learn these subjects which are outside the realm of theology. Training as priests or pastors does not only involve caring for the spiritual needs of the people, rather they should be equipped to take care of the person in a holistic way. The seminary will teach the basics of dealing with things in a pastoral way but it is not complete in itself. We need to learn from experts. Villanova’s approach on teaching Church Management is not only theological but holistic since it deals with both the business and spiritual side of running the parish.”

Matthew Manion, faculty director at CCM, said, “This program ensures things like human resources, financial reporting, organizational culture and pastoral strategic planning are not done in a way that they frustrate people and inhibit the Gospel. We strive to build people’s skills so they can be done at a level worthy of the mission of Jesus and can in their own way amplify the Gospel message.”

While many priests may think they don’t have the time to earn this master’s degree, Father Camacho said, “The online course is great because I do not need to be physically present on campus to take the course. I had a one-week immersion this past summer to get to know my classmates and some professors as a way to introduce the program. I am enrolled in two courses per semester. We have live conference sessions with the professor twice a week for an hour and that is the time where we collaborate ideas from the assignments, which are posted online.”

Connecting the Paterson Diocese with VSB was George Casagrand, business administrator at Our Lady of the Magnificat Parish in Kinnelon. He worked for many years in the corporate world before making a career switch to his parish. He also took the course and said, “The master’s program is going to benefit priests, seminarians and laypeople. Those who take this master’s program will learn practical administrative skills focused on the issues of the Church. There are many unique challenges in a parish office that this course brings to life in doing these roles. It’s business focused and a great opportunity for anyone who enrolls. Students will be exposed to great educators who are really passionate about church management.”

Recently ranked the No. 1 online graduate business degree program in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, Villanova School of Business currently has similar partnership arrangements with the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Trenton and the Diocese of Camden.

According to Manion, the MSCM degree has been offered at Villanova since 2008 and historically 80 percent of the students in the MSCM are lay people and 20 percent are clergy. The students fall into three broad categories. There are a number of diocesan finance roles and parish business managers. A second group is people in pastoral ministry roles who would like to provide greater value and support to their parish or diocese, for example: diocesan staff; pastoral associates; DRE’s; music ministers. And finally, VSB has a growing number of students who have worked in business professionally and want to transition to church work in the second half of their career. Manion said, “All three have found great value in the content of the courses as well as the online community of classmates with whom they learn.”

Brennan added, “We are seeing increasing complexity with regard to management and compliance in the areas of church finances, human resources, facilities management, and technology and so we must have knowledgeable leaders and staff within the church who are up-to-date with the current regulatory and not-for-profit business environment and who can help apply best practices and proven solutions to the many temporal challenges faced by our parishes.”