Refounding the Church: Dissent for Leadership

This text examines why the official Church leadership is in such confusion, why there are so many efforts to restore the Church to the pre-Vatican II model, and why dissent is so vigorously discouraged. The author helps readers to clarify the purpose and styles of leadership/government required in contemporary Gospel communities using religious congragations as examples of Gospel-oriented communities in an in-depth case study. The author aims to help readers understand how collaborative leadership/government is to be exercised in religious congregations, and to appreciate the value of dissent in decision-making. Readers are encouraged to name the obstacles to effective prophetic congregational leadership within and outside religious congregations and are offered practical ways of overcoming them.