Board drafts new NCCL Mission Statement

As a member of the NCCL Representative Council I recently received the following Email from the NCCL Board of Directors.

Dear Colleagues:
As the board of directors prepared to do strategic goals and objectives on the weekend of June 24-26 in Chicago, our facilitator helped us to realize that we needed to articulate our lived mission in current language to enable the board and the members to make the necessary decisions for our future.

We are excited by the following statement's simplicity and by the mutual agreement and excitement this conversation generated with among board members. It's not perfect but we think that we need to live with it and see how it may help us to promote energy and focus to our catechetical efforts.

We consider you to be a key catechetical leader in the organization (because of your role in the representative council, committee, or as a past president or a representative of an affiliated organization,)

Therefore the board committed to personally share this statement and our enthusiasm with each of you first, so that you will be ready to answer questions when others contact you after we soon share this statement with the general membership.

We look forward to seeing you in the Fall Representative council Oct 27-29 as we look at what this strengthened and refined statement will mean for us all and for our efforts in the catechetical ministry.

It is our hope that every leader, committee chair and staff member will look at what we do in light of this mission. As we move into our planning of goals and objectives for these coming years, our members, the representative council, the forums and constituencies, and the Office Staff will all need to consider:

What is (my, our) role in this mission as representative council, forums, committees, task forces, Office Staff, etc. ?
Who is responsible for authorizing this aspect of NCCL decision making?
Who implements this NCCL decision?
Who are the key supporters needed to guarantee the success of this decision?
Who should be informed about this decision?

The statement is:
The Mission of NCCL is "To go and make disciples"(Matt: 28:19) by creating a community of catechetical leaders who:
Read "the signs of the times" regarding catechesis and explore their underlying questions;
Promote effective catechesis for our times;
Recruit, develop and support catechetical leaders; and
Offer our expertise to our Bishops, pastors and the entire Church.

After reading the email I sent the following email.

I would be glad to talk with you about the “NCCL Mission Statement.” However, I have some strong and immediate reactions that will not wait. This work is further evidence that convinces me NCCL is no longer a grassroots organization. Here a, non-representative group of nine, determines the mission of a so-called grassroots organization. Where was the consultation? If the Rep Council is the heart of NCCL why was the heart not consulted? Why were the Forums not consulted? Regardless of the quality of the statement, even though the Board says, “It's not perfect but we think that we need to live with it,“ the process used to create the statement disregards the values that make NCCL different and valuable for Catechetical Ministry in this country. Mission Statements to be effective require the ownership of the membership. Why should we “look at what we do in light of this mission” when we had no part in establishing it. The Board owes the membership more respect than this! We seem to have abandoned our core identity and for that I grieve.
Peace,
Don Kurre
reo at nque dot com

I want to encourage the members of the DDRE Forum to contact your representative on the Representative Council, the members of the Board of Directors and Forum Animators and let them know how you feel not only about the content of this statement but also about the process used to establish a new NCCL mission statement. Now is the time to speak out!