Education Rooted in Faith
If one person could be credited with helping faith-based leaders become better stewards of their parish communities, a great many would point to Charles Zech, PhD. As a member of the economics faculty at the Villanova School of Business, Dr. Zech established the Center for Church Management in 2004, the world’s first academic Center dedicated to teaching and producing research on management principles rooted in a Christian context to ensure that church leaders can effectively minister and lead.
“Seminaries spend little or no time teaching management principles to their seminarians who are often appointed pastors only a year or two after ordination. Lay church workers likewise typically lack the background of managing in a faith-based environment,” explained Dr. Zech. “It is appropriate for a highly-ranked business school in a Catholic university, like the Villanova School of Business, to step forward and take the lead in providing this education.”
Under Dr. Zech’s leadership, the Center for Church Management launched the world’s first and only Master of Science in Church Management, an online program which has since graduated over 250 students including clergy, church managers and personnel on six continents, including all six U.S. time zones.
Beyond his role in establishing the Center, Dr. Zech is a leading scholar in the field of church management, having authored or co-authored more than 50 articles and 13 books, including Why Catholics Don’t Give…And What Can Be Done About It? (2000), The Parish Management Handbook (2003); Best Practices in Catholic Church Ministry Performance Management (2010); Parish Finance: Best Practices in Church Management (2016); and Creativity in Church Management: Entrepreneurship for a 21st Century Parish (2021).
Because of his immense contributions as both a scholar and a teacher, Dr. Zech has received recognition from faith-based and academic entities around the world including the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development, the International Catholic Stewardship Conference and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. Dr. Zech is also one of only two faculty in Villanova history to receive both the University’s highest teaching award, the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, and its highest research award, the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award.
“Establishing the Center was important to me as a lay Catholic,” shares Dr. Zech. “[…] When the laity mistrusts their leadership in completing basic administrative tasks, that leadership is at risk of losing not only the laity’s financial support but also their own credibility in their religious teachings.”
Charles Zech, PhD
“It is appropriate for a highly-ranked business school in a Catholic university, like the Villanova School of Business, to step forward and take the lead in providing this education.”