Whose Decision?

I recently started reading the book Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light - The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta.  The book was in the news when it was published because of the deeply personal nature of the writings, which include the revelation that Mother Theresa suffered for many years with an extended "dark night of the soul" in which she did not seem to experience any of God's love.  This revelation, however, is only a part of the book, albeit a large part.

The first few chapters chronicle Mother Theresa's early ministry and the founding of the Missionary Sisters of Charity, the order which would make her famous.  I have found the process absolutely fascinating.  The short version is that Mother Theresa felt Christ calling her to a deeper devotion to the poor in India, which she understood to mean the foundation of a new religious order.  Mother Theresa wanted to begin immediately, but she could not.  First she had to seek the approval of her superiors within the church hierarchy - her confessor, her bishop and, ultimately, from the Pope himself.  

Obviously, we know that the approval eventually came, but the time of waiting was difficult to Mother Theresa.  The book includes several letters she wrote to her bishop trying to convince him to let her move forward, as well as the bishops responses - in which he consistently reminds her that such decisions cannot be made hastily or without much care.  He - and the church hierarchy - wanted to ensure that the decision was based on God's will and not on anything else.

I got to thinking about that, and I realized that this is one area in which the Catholic Church has a leg up on the rest of us Christians.  How many church splits and disasters could have been avoided if pastors were forced to seek larger church approval before making any major changes?  If, before a pastor comes in and starts cancelling services and changing worship styles, the denomination said, "Wait, these decisions cannot be made hastily."  Instead, in most protestant churches, the onus of responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of one person - the senior pastor.  It is the senior pastor that initiates change and leads change and, if the change does not go well, it is often the senior pastor that faces the consequences.

In Mother Theresa's case, though, the onus of responsibility was on more than just her.  The bishop and the entire Catholic Church stood behind the decision.  So when hard times came and the decision began to look doubtful, no one could say that the decision was made hastily.  Further, when those hard times came, Mother Theresa could rely on the support of the larger church.  When decisions are made at the local level only, that support is not always there.

I don't know what it would look like, but I am fairly sure that everyone would benefit from a hierarchical decision making process.  Of course, the hierarchical structure has its problems - but in decision making, it doesn't get much better.