In my book Archbishop: Inside the Power Structure of the American Catholic Church, I gave a tongue-in-cheek description of the ideal archbishop.

[He] is a pastorally sensitive administrative genius who can prophetically preach the gospel in a nonthreatening way and provide extensive social services and educational programs at low cost with few bureaucrats. He must govern in a way that is widely consultative, decisive, innovative, collegial, orthodox, and that keeps everyone happy. He must be prophetic in his concern for the poor and raise money from the rich. He must convince his priests that they are the most important people in the archdiocese without alienating religious and laity by being excessively clerical.

He should provide national and international leadership in the church without leaving the archdiocese more than two days a year. He must be a holy priest who understands the real world of budgets and finances. He must be loyal to the Holy Father, but he should not be pushed around by the Vatican. He must give every priest the parish he wants and every parish the priest it wants. And he should be ecumenical but stress his Catholic identity.

I could have added that he must be able to communicate with both the young and the elderly, as well as numerous ethnic groups. Knowledge of three or four languages would also be helpful as would be the ability to communicate through the media.

We forget what St. Paul said about there being many gifts but one Spirit; many members but one body. St. Benedict was once asked to advise a monastery when they were divided over three candidates for abbot: a brilliant theologian, a holy man and an able administrator. Benedict’s response was that the theologian should teach the monks, the holy man should pray for them and the administrator should govern them.

In a media-driven world, we are tempted to focus on the charismatic and popular, but in the long run the leader who empowers others may be the best. But ultimately Christians have to remember that we are saved by Jesus Christ not by any human leader.