Josiah Concept Ministries

During the course of my career in leadership, I can think of at least one store that I wished I could have declined taking. I wish I could have denied the position at the Wendy’s in Sylvania.

The GM was on the verge of quitting. They had just fired the manager that the entire crew loved and I was being put in his place. The manager was being fired for theft, and we still had at least one thief at large that I was tasked to catch. Worse yet, everyone believed that the manager who was fired was innocent and a victim of clueless area management. Other than the manager who was terminated and the GM, the crew hadn’t worked with a single manager that had completed training with any degree of competence, so they all assumed that I was the same story.

I wish I had refused this assignment, but I learned a lot from it. I ended up the de facto store manager, I got our service times back on track and helped to finally build some sales on the previous year. I wanted to start teaching my subordinate managers how to run better shifts in my absence, but my DM vetoed that idea and told me that I should just work harder at what I do instead of worrying so much about them. (Sounds stupid, but perhaps he felt that the other two were lost causes and that any time and effort I put into them would be wasted.)

I did a lot wrong there, too. I didn’t react to a major security issue quickly enough. I had started with the intention of having weekly manager meetings, but when my very first meeting got canceled because one of my subordinates went over my head to get her shift changed, I completely gave up on the whole idea and didn’t try to have another meeting for about five months. My temper also flared once or twice at an inconvenient time.

The worst part in that was having to replace everyone’s favorite manager, then convincing everyone that I was a good leader and a worthwhile addition to the team, then convincing everyone that their “perfect the way it is” store is in need of some fixing. And I think that, even though he denies it, that this is at the core of Father Nuss’s reasons for turning down the pastorate at St. Rose. However, like me, Father Nuss may have learned some very valuable leadership lessons that he would not have otherwise learned by taking on this very difficult assignment.

His first task would have been the monumental one of convincing everyone that he has something to add to the team, that his spiritual guidance will be every bit as good as what they got from Father Leyland. Maybe he just didn’t want to add that to his list of things to do, on top of whatever personal problems that he might have.

It is unfortunate, but expected: Father Leyland will not be reinstated as pastor of St. Rose. It looks as though the meeting wasn’t as effective as many had hoped it would be.

I wish that the Blade would stop quoting SNAP. This group just has it out for priests. Example:

She [Claudia Vercellotti, of the Toledo chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests] said Bishop Blair repeatedly has offered due process to sex-offending clerics, but did not offer the same privileges to Father Leyland.

First of all, this isn’t an issue of discipline so far as the diocese is concerned. They feel that Father Leyland’s spiritual leadership will be more effective in another place. There is no due process for that. For example, I’d like to work at the Laskey Rd. Burger King because I love the GM and I think that working with him would be great. But I know that I would be more effective where I’m at and I would learn more. So does my DM, so I will stay where I am needed, not where I would like to be. I can’t appeal to anyone for that, nor would I.

SNAP is talking out of its butt in this instance. This was written to get a reaction out of the readers. That must mean the Blade is on Father Leyland’s side.

Then, this quote from someone who obviously has no understanding of how Catholic dioceses operate:

“This whole thing isn’t right,” said Darrell Clay, who has been at St. Rose’s for nine years. “This should be between the people and their pastor, and the people wanted this man.”

See, in Catholicism, it doesn’t really matter where the priest wants to be or where the people want him, all that matters is where the area leadership (the Bishop) thinks that he should be. The Catholic Church is run like a gigantic business, and the priests are the managers. I sure don’t get a say which location I work at, and neither do my employees, and neither do my customers. I go where the company thinks that I will do them the most good. Same here.

By the way, it’s St. Rose, not “St. Rose’s.” Nice writing, Blade! Way to interview the wrong people just to fill up the space in the article. It would be so nice to have a newspaper in this town that doesn’t suck.