Mentoring mission leaders of the future. Program prepares laity for ministry leadership

As religious sponsors increasingly relinquished their CEO positions throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, they established mission integration positions-staffed primarily by women religious-to help ensure the Catholic identity of their facilities. Now that role, too, is undergoing change as sponsors seek to empower the laity in their organizations with responsibility for carrying on the Church's healing mission. At St. Vincent Hospitals and Health Services in Indianapolis, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the organization's sponsor, has developed a mentoring program to train the laity in the roles and responsibilities involved in mission. The year-long program has 11 modules that present theory on such topics as ethics, spirituality, the sponsor's history and charism, and the relationship of the healthcare organization to the Church. Participants also attend committee meetings, complete a mission integration project, and gain practical experience in mission-related activities.