A five-tool pastor

“The priest is not a priest for himself; he is for you,” declared St. Augustine, encapsulating the selfless service at the heart of the Catholic priesthood (Sermons, 340, 1). Just as a baseball scout chases the dream of a true “five-tool” player—excelling in running, fielding, throwing, hitting, and hitting with power—a Catholic parish hopes for a priest/pastor who masters a range of pastoral skills to shepherd its people. The baseball scouting model offers a fascinating analogy for the demands of priestly ministry… It’s not a strict one-to-one mapping and, as in baseball, the five-tool player is a genuine rarity. Every parish wants a pastor that can do it all while being a model Christian disciple and not being so good as to be at risk of being called up to a higher position any time soon.

Let’s start with a brief word about the model in baseball. The “five tools” model looks for a player with speed, defensive skills, arm strength, contact hitting, and power hitting. An outstanding high schooler may only need one of these skills to stand out. A college all-star will be proficient in all five, but still, may only be outstanding in two. Professional scouts are looking for someone with advanced proficiency across the board, but who can deliver real excellence in two and who is genuinely coachable in another. A professional all-star could thrive with only four of the five.

We also need to distinguish between priesthood in general and the work of being a pastor of a Church. Priesthood, as a vocation, is a call to be configured to the person of Jesus Christ. A man can be a very holy priest without any particular skills beyond the Christian Virtues. The work of pastoring a parish is certainly complimentary, but anyone with the right skills could be the pastor of a Catholic Church. There are aspects of overlap where holiness is necessary for real success. A man without a prayer life, for example, cannot long preach the Sunday sermon without his messages becoming shallow and mechanical - even if they’re well delivered.

And so we can think about the work of the priesthood (the spiritual heft of which depends on the holiness of the priest) through the lens of the tools that he needs… And we can do so keeping in mind that while everyone wants the proverbial five-tool player, those men are a rarity… So what skills are we looking for in the priest/pastor?

The Tools

Preaching

With some practice, anyone can master the basic oratorical skills to write and deliver a 10-15 minute speech. The skills of delivery and the confidence to use them come with time and by the end of the first year or two most priests are at ease at the pulpit.

There are two core challenges to excellence in preaching: the content and the audience. It’s entirely possible for a priest to read through the roughly 150 settings of Sunday readings, write one sermon for each, and use that for the rest of his priesthood. That’s weak sauce!! but it’s possible. Being a real pastor, though, means that my prayer life should cause me to engage with those Sunday readings in a new light every time they come up. I should be amazed anew at the Gospel of the Good Shepherd or the Prodigal Son. My sermon from last time simply won’t do!

Also, as my audience changes, I need to speak to them. A good sermon usually has some practical application. If my parishioners have not grown spiritually in the three years since I last gave this sermon - I am failing as a pastor. Also, if I’m giving the same sermon to a wealthy suburban parish as I am to the folks at the nursing home or the children at the school - I’m failing as a preacher!

A good preacher needs to be prayerfully adjusting his message and even his style to speak the words that Holy Spirit wants to spoken to THIS congregation TODAY.

Liturgy and Reverent Worship

Putting aside any commentary on the universal question of the Sacred Liturgy, a pastor needs to be able to lead his people in Worship which edifies them and draws them nearer to Jesus and to His Church. He needs to be able to speak, read, gesture, and comport himself in such a way that he brings gravity and seriousness to what’s taking place. In the modern Church, there is an aspect of theater to worship. A good pastor needs to be able to use effects like lighting or microphones with restraint so that the people experience the power of the Holy Spirit and not a broadway show.

Holiness and Moral Integrity

The Boy Scouts have a founding principle of leadership: S.T.E. (Set the Example). St John Vianney, the patron Saint of Parish Priests, noted that the holiness of the priest is directly correlated to the holiness of the people under his care. Holiness of life - regardless of the forms it takes - benefits the people of the parish. Even a man with an hermetical disposition who spends half his time in silent prayer can be a powerfully effective pastor. A un-prayerful, un-pious, un-holy man, no matter how masterful his skillset, may look the part, but he will be a destructive pastor of souls.

Now, the Holy Spirit works through the weakest and most broken of us!! There is no question that God can and does use sinners to glorify Himself in His Church. Jesus chose Judas. But holiness of life is what brings about the Fruit of the Holy Spirit which are the visible signs of evangelical holiness. A prayerful pastor will, over time, become humbler, kinder, and his words will grow in wisdom. Even a man with obvious personality issues and moral faults who is prayerful and repentant of his sins can be an example to those who struggle to overcome their human weaknesses. I’ve seen the people of a parish rally around a pastor with a drinking problem who is nevertheless a man of deep prayer. Holiness is not perfection.

At the same time, moral integrity and outward signs of holiness are a major part of being a good parish priest.

Teaching and Catechesis

100 years ago, the parish priest would just make sure there were plenty of copies of Baltimore Catechism on the shelf and an ample supply of Holy Cards to give to kids who memorized it. Easy peasy!

Nowadays, a parish priest needs to be able to organize and adapt a curriculum and then mange it’s application for the kids, the adults, the converts, and other specific groups like inmates at the jail. In a larger parish, he may be able to rely upon a DRE and/or a staff of catechists. In a smaller parish, he may be on his own or flanked by a few volunteers. Either way, the priest is going to be expected to be able to field questions of apologetics, instruct penitents in the confessional, and provide pre-sacramental instruction. There are a slew of digital resources, multiplying daily which can be a major assistant for the priest who struggles with this skill. Even so, teaching is a necessary part of being a good pastor.

Pastoral Care and Counseling

There’s a reason that the licensure process for professional counselors is so extensive… It’s not just the college courses; seminaries provide some basic proficiencies in psychology and counseling. It’s the hundreds of hours of supervised (and specialized) practicum… Few sane counselors will hold themselves up as experts in crisis counseling, addiction counseling, marriage & relationship counseling, sex & gender issues counseling, hospice counseling, spiritual direction, life coaching, medical counseling, and legal counseling… But the parish priest, is called upon to do all of these and to do them in non-ideal conditions. A professional counselor can and should set strict boundaries with their clients - no non-professional interactions, no unscheduled appointments, fee schedules which demand a degree of seriousness and personal investment, consequences for last minute cancellations, medical screenings, discussion of one issue at a time, etc.

The priest is expected, though, to be ready to engage in a wide ranging conversation in the confessional or in his office or in the parking lot of gas station that may include helping someone deal with a cancer diagnosis, a child who has come out as trans, ongojng marital drama, and the spiritual ramifications of all of that. AND this parking lot counseling may demand that he keep secret what that person’s husband or child said in the confessional and then be asked for practical advice on the spot!

Thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit comes through more often than not! Still, this tool, perhaps more than any other, relies on a natural gift as few priests have the time or the natural disposition to learn and practice the multitude of skills required.

Care for the Poor and Social Justice

Charity is the practical love of one’s neighbor. Justice is the work of improving systems to increase justice and conformity to the Gospel. For the most part, the parish priest is called to provide Charity and not Justice. Justice is the proper work of the Laity who are charged with formation of civil society. An activist-priest is an oxymoron, and a burden for the parish. The pastor should be charitable and assist the poor in the community. He may establish or support structures of charity like a soup kitchen, a food pantry, or even a place for legal and other services. He should also preach about the legitimate mandate of Christ to His disciples to work for the improvement of the state.

Church Management and HR Leadership

The practical management of people (HR), property, business structures, and cash is an absolute requirement for a pastor in 2025. A saint who can’t manage the parish can’t be a good pastor. Of course, a pastor who finds the right staff to advise him and even to do the bulk of the work for him can be a hero of a pastor without a single ounce of business savvy. So much depends on the parish’s resources and the structures established by the Diocese. Alas, despite all the resources of modern technical innovational, the Roman saying about the Church is 100% truth: “Yesterday’s Technology Tomorrow.” A good pastor has to put in the time, learn the skills, and be able to manage people if he’s going to do well in the parish.

Community Engagement

In the United States, extroversion is a leg up! Our culture loves and privileges extroverts. God bless those people who never meet a stranger and who can make conversation with anyone about anything. Statistically, most American priests are introverts. Now, many introverts can be outgoing. And everyone can build specific social skills that are essential for pastors of parishes. Depending on the circumstances, it may be a great benefit for the pastor to be engaged in the social fabric of the community. Obviously, that will look different in a rural parish, a suburban parish, or a large so-called Mega-Parish. The pastor of St William in Austin, for example, is basically running a small city with 15,000 families under his care. He probably doesn’t have much cause to attend the local city council meeting! Whereas the pastor of St Teresa in Lake Tahoe has every reason to linger at the grocery store just to run into people and “be visible.” The pastor of St Stephen in New Boston could practically be the mayor of town - but only if he has the right personality for it.

For some priests, this kind of extroversion burns so much emotional energy that, even if it would be helpful for the community, it may not be the right thing for the parish.

Limiting Factors

Baseball has another analogy that we can reference in terms of players in which the pro athlete’s contract includes a whole spectrum of behaviors, attitudes, and conditions which demand much from him or her off the field (or the court or the pitch)… Players have to preserve the reputation of the team, maintain their physical and mental health, be coachable, participate in advertising or club promotions, etc. Priests, too, have a multitude of limiting factors which don’t have much to do with the actual work of priesthood, but which have the potential to derail it.

Time & Money Management

It’s one thing to manage the parish and another to manage oneself. While the people have the freedom to be late to Mass or to cancel a meeting at the last second or to give a pittance in the Sunday Collection, the pastor simply cannot do the same. The priest who is perpetually late is actively insulting the half of his congregation who equate punctuality with personal respect for THEIR time. The priest who is stingy or doesn’t manage his own money well and who takes advantage of the people will find his collections shrinking and may well find the diocese sending an auditor…

Physical Health

Whether it’s the priest’s fault or not, physical frailty means the priest is unavailable to his people. Every parish will give the priest a pass a few times per year for a cold or a stomach bug. Most people will give the priest a big pass after a tough diagnosis or a major injury. But if the priest is unable to maintain his Mass schedule, to visit the sick, to sit in the confessional, to finish his paperwork, and to be available for their needs, he can’t be a good or successful pastor.

The priest also needs to be taking care of his physical health as regards nutrition, exercise, and mobility. The people (via the Diocese) spent a lot of money training him and he owes the Lord (through them) honest labor in repayment.

Mental Health

Again, some mental health issues are not a matter or fault or blame. Anything from an physical head injury to a bad reaction to a medication to genetics can cause a problem with mental health. The same is true of emotional health which can be destabilized by any number of factors that need not be blamed on anything. As with physical health, the priest may have to admit to himself that he is not the right man to be the pastor of the parish. And, as with physical health, the priest needs to be looking after his mental health with appropriate leisure, hobbies, relationships, counseling, and spiritual direction.

Leadership & Church Politics

One of the most challenging experiences at the very beginning of the process of becoming a priest (in seminary) is the moment of disillusion when the young man realizes that everyone in the Church is a human being with faults, weaknesses, hopes, ambitions, and human needs. As such, every relationship - especially relationships with one’s religious superiors - involves a certain degree of interpersonal politics. As a priest, the pastor has a religious superior (his bishop) and that superior has a superior. And everyone is under the Pope. And these various structures of leadership are all juggling their own priorities and perspectives.

A good pastor can’t simply pray his way through these things. If he wants that construction project to get through the Diocesan Building Committee and the Diocesan Finance Council, he needs to understand and appreciate these structures of authority and navigate them.

Cultural Factors

A good pastor’s life is oriented toward eternity. As a celibate, his life is meant to point to the otherness and the oneness of God in compliment to the married life which is the vocation of most of his parishioners which points to the eminence and here-ness of God. As such, the priest’s life is inherently non-political. Still, he needs to understand his people and the community, state, and nation in which he lives. He needs to have a sense of what they are going through economically, culturally, legally, etc. The pastor of a parish full of farmers should recognize the concerns they have which will be quite different than an urban parish of hipsters or business-oriented people. While the cultural circumstances shouldn’t define his ministry, the inability to understand the culture will diminish it.

This is especially true of missionary priests who struggle or don’t make sufficient effort to understand the culture in which they are missionaries. In the United States, there are a multitude of parish horror stories about Fr so-and-so from this-or-that country whose accent was incomprehensible and who insisted on bringing his own culutral traditions to the parish and who cancelled the St Joseph Altar because he didn’t understand why it was happening and whose six-year term coincided with a 50% decrease in attendance and a 75% decrease in collections…

The Sabermetrics of Catholicism

I can’t finish an essay of this sort without mentioning Moneyball and Saber-metrics. Unlike professional baseball, Catholicism is not about the bottom line and maximizing economic efficiency at all costs. There’s no clear formula for assuring the Eternal Salvation of the Maximum number of people in a given locale with the minimum CPS (Cost per Soul!!). We can’t reduce evangelization to on-base percentages.

Still, the question of efficiency does matter. Our time in this life and our pastor’s time in my parish are scarce resources and we want to make the most of them. The tension between goal-oriented, outcome-prioritized, pastoral objectives and the organic growth in holiness grounded on trust in the Holy Spirit is real. It always has been. We could easily reframe whole chapters in the Book of Acts or the Letters of Peter and John into this framework.

I don’t have complete thoughts on this just yet, but it’s percolating. More to come in future posts.