The Mediation Effect of Lay Participation on the Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Pastoral Effectiveness: Evidence from Saint Antonio Parish, Motael, Dili

Pastoral effectiveness is an important factor in the success of pastoral activities in Catholic organizations, particularly at the parish level. Pastoral effectiveness can be influenced by transformational leadership and by lay participation. The aims of this research are (1) to examine and analyse the influence of transformational leadership and lay participation on pastoral effectiveness in Saint Antonio Parish, Motael, Dili, (2) examine the influence of transformational leadership on lay participation; and (3) to examine how lay participation mediates the relations between transformational leadership and pastoral effectiveness in this same parish. This research used questionnaires to collect data, with a total of 378 samples, and SMART-PLS 3.1 was used to analyze the data. The results of the research show that transformational leadership and lay participation indeed have a significant and positive influence on pastoral effectiveness. Transformational leadership also has significant impact on lay participation, while lay participation plays a significant role on the relationship between transformational leadership and pastoral effectiveness. This research could enrich the inferential studies on transformational leadership, lay participation and pastoral effectiveness in Catholic Church context which is still lacking. It also contributes to the improvement of pastoral effectiveness, especially within Saint Antonio Parish, Motael, Dili, and in the archdiocese of Dili in general by adopting transformational leadership and lay participation.

Vision Conflict Scale

This chapter presents the development of a scale that measures vision conflict, which refers to the disparity between what a minister anticipates a ministry to be like versus the real-life experience. Vision conflict is correlated with four similar phenomena, including role ambiguity, negative job satisfaction, negative values congruence, and negative ability-job fit. The scale addresses key factors that may affect pastoral terminations and exits from church ministry. It also encourages the understanding of critical elements that hinder pastoral effectiveness and create a stronger resilience to exiting the ministry.