It’s a sunny Sunday morning outside our house as I get
this article off the ground; so let’s get spiritual.
“Pope sacks Tagle, leadership of Caritas
International” (Philstar headline)
The
recent headline above caught my eye which was about the sacking of Cardinal
Tagle and the entire leadership team of the Vatican-based Catholic Church
worldwide charity network Caritas
Internationalis. A review of the workplace environment this year by external
management and psychological experts found malaise and bad management practices
at its headquarter. Current and former staffers told Reuters of cases of
verbal abuse, favoritism, and general human resources mismanagement that lead
some staffers to leave.
A statement from Vatican’s development office clarified though that “no evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety.”
“Bad management” and “mismanagement” in the report
have stuck out like a sore thumb. At a glance, the news story looks a lot like
a typical case in an MBA class using the textbook “The Management of Men.” Many
years ago, I taught a management subject at a local university. I always kicked
off my first day of class defining “management” by writing on the board the
acronym POSDCIR representing the 7 management functions: Planning, Organizing,
Staffing, Directing, Controlling, Innovating, and Representing.
I recall I always put stress on two points: One, to
observe the sequence of “Organizing” followed by “Staffing,” never the other
way around. In other words, one must describe the job position first, before he
or she fills it with the right person – which is, sad to say, at odds with the traditional
practice in today’s political milieu. Two, I often highlighted the little-known
“Representing” function. One could figure out its significance by looking into
today’s issues on anti-trust, disinformation, and fake news that saddle
high-tech companies in going up against government regulations and public
outcry.
“To work to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed” – was too daunting a mission to accomplish for Cardinal Tagle as president of Caritas – the umbrella organization for 162 official Catholic charities working in more than 200 countries, with more than a million staff and volunteers.
Interestingly,
he didn’t need an MBA in carrying out his herculean job to come out on top. His
number one book, the Bible, contains a model for leadership and management in
the book of Nehemiah – a classic study of true leadership.
The Job: Reconstruction of Jerusalem walls ruined by
the Babylonians. The Person: Nehemiah -- the Complete Leader-Manager who showcased,
2500 years ago, the essence of both leadership and management. He led by
aligning his people with his vision, communicating to them his goals and
objectives, gaining their confidence and support by keeping them informed of
the work in progress, and developing them by delegating their responsibilities,
knowing he could not do it all by himself. He managed the work by carrying out
the POSDCIR functions.
Amid adversity and dissension, Nehemiah completed the
work along with reawakening the moral and cultural consciousness of his people.
Here are Nehemiah’s book lessons on the qualities of a
good leader-manager according to Ogochi K. Deborah derived from her article Nehemiah: A Strategic Leader Worthy to be
Rivalled by Organizational Leaders of the 21st Century.
1. He prays.
2. He provides a clear vision.
3. He uses available resources.
4. He has the foresight
5. He attends to his people’s needs, morals and
values.
6. He is a role model.
7. He adapts to resistance to change.
8. He perseveres.
In a typical classroom setting, the teacher presents a project, defines the objective, provides a reference manual, forms a group, and appoints one as a leader. If he or she can’t pull it off, then he or she fails. As simple as that. In the same way, Cardinal Tagle didn’t deliver the goods in carrying out his Caritas mission, hence, he failed.
Did he miss the boat to the papacy? This Bible verse
is a litmus test that may get to the bottom of the answer: “He who can be
trusted in little things [a million staff and volunteers] can also be trusted
in great ones [around 1.3 billion Catholics]. The other side of the coin holds
too.
One of my pet authors M. Scott Peck wrote in
his first book, The Road Less Travelled,
this opening sentence: “Life is difficult.” I also read his book sequel, Further Along The Road Less Travelled,
where he added: “Life is complex.” Truth be told, the spiritual life of a
person like Cardinal Tagle is difficult and complex -- especially in his work
with the “poor and oppressed.”
I had my share of work-with-the-poor disquietude. Many
years ago, my wife and I were immersed in the Couples For Christ’s work with
the poor by building Gawad Kalinga (GK) houses. One spiritual notion we soaked
in during such immersion: loving the poor – God’s “intimates” as one writer
called them – which we firmly believe is our ticket to heaven. There were
unsettling moments sometimes when we wavered for not having felt a bit of
gratitude from a poor beneficiary of the GK house, subsequently, pouring
cold water on our moral fiber.
Living now in an empty nest, my wife does the “soft”
work like cooking; mine, the "hard" work like cleaning the yard. The other day, I
ran into a “poor” girl scattering her gathered junk (obviously to segregate
them) on our front yard I’ve swept clean. All at once, I lost my cool and
lashed out at her. After that, I felt bad for it should not happen in dealing
with God’s “intimates.”
No wonder Nehemiah’s prayer goes this way: “Remember for my good, my God, all that I have done for [your intimates]!” I might add: “Even if, sometimes, I am offended by them.” As another verse goes: “Whenever you did this to one of the least, to my brothers, you did it to me.” Our real up close and personal interactions with them have dissolved the so-called “romanticism” of working with the poor.
America:
The Jesuit Review
reported that “the papal decree, as Cardinal Tagle said, is ‘a call to walk
humbly with God’ and be open to a process of discernment, which includes
acknowledging shortcomings.”
Dubbed the “Asian Francis” and being the fast-emerging
papal front-runner, Cardinal Tagle’s sacking burst the bubble of Filipino
Catholics who have kept their fingers crossed for the prospect of a Pinoy pope.
Ninety percent of Filipino Catholics [Ulat ng Bayan survey] welcomed the year
2022 “with hope.” Will such “hope” sniff out on Cardinal Tagle’s above words the
essence of the expression: “Every cloud has a silver lining”?
Talking of silver, let me share a classic story about
the refiner’s fire. A young man came upon a silversmith sitting in front of his
fire, refining silver from raw materials. He asked a series of questions which
the silversmith gladly answered.
“Why do you heat the metal?”
“To remove all the impurities.”
“Why do you sit while you work?
“I have to watch the fire closely. Too little heat
can’t remove the impurities. Too much heat will destroy the metal.”
“How do you know when the silver is at the right
temperature?”
The silversmith smiled and answered:
“I know the silver is purified when I can see my face
in it.”
To get our head around the story, the purified silver
is to Cardinal Tagle as the face reflection is to Jesus.
Talking of a face, Mother Teresa had a beautiful way
of expressing a transcending picture that could vitalize us in loving the poor –
she wanted us to rediscover “Jesus in his most distressing disguise.”
Did Cardinal Tagle miss the boat due to his recent
sacking; or, is he being purified in refiner’s fire to prep him for the papal
journey? The key to the answer may be reflected on the titles of the songs
rendered by Fr. Jerry Orbos during his Advent Sunday homily.
God will make a way… In His time.
Head photos courtesy of Adonyi Gabor & Oziel Gomez & pexelsdotcom
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