The effect of religious leaders' emotional and social competencies on improving parish vibrancy

Pastoral leaders of parishes have an effect on people's lives and communities. Improvement in parishioner satisfaction and support (i.e., donations and attendance) over 3 years were assessed with the Parish Vibrancy Study of 135 parishes in a Catholic Diocese. In 52 of the parishes of this diocese, the priest's demonstration of emotional and social competencies as seen by others had a positive effect on improvement of parishioner satisfaction but not on their support. The behavioral expressions of power and humility in the form of Influence versus Inspirational Leadership and Transparency versus Self-Confidence competencies were related to improvement in parishioner satisfaction. Size of the parish was related to improvement in parishioner support only.