Planning and dead horses

John Freund, CM
July 19, 2013

A light, but insightful, moment from the recent gathering of the Congregation of the Mission leadership representing over 50 countries….

During his presentation on provincial planning Fr. Joe Agostino offered this gem which brought many knowing nods…

“I had the pleasure of meeting Fr. Richard Fragomeni from Chicago at a number of liturgy & RCIA conferences over the years.

He once said in a talk to a group of religious:  if the horse you are riding on dies, get off!

And as common sense as it sounds, we often don’t do that! We

  • buy a stronger whip,
  • switch riders
  • appoint a committee to study dead horses
  • visit places that seem to be riding dead horses better
  • or ….  just complain about them!”

He continued…

“Provincial planning places us at a crossroad about the horses we are riding on:

  • Which ones can take us into the future?
  • Which ones need to be laid to rest?
  • What are the important issues that we honestly need to face about the journey?
  • What are the un-askable questions?  What are the sacred cows? “

Pursuing some due diligence famvin  uncovered more about “The Dead Horse Theory” at Agile Mindstorm.com

Dead-Horse-Theory-300x218

 

 


Tags: ,

share Share