Mission committees' role evolves from operations to oversight

Originally established in the 1970s to ensure that sisters serving in the health care ministry had input into governing board decisions, mission committees in the Holy Cross Health System, South Bend, IN, have evolved through three stages of development. In their early years, mission committees searched for an identity, struggling to define their roles and purpose. In the committees' second stage, activities were the dominant focus as organizations created an array of audiovisual presentations and educational programs. In the early 1980s lay employees began to assume their distinctive role in promoting the religious institute's mission, and the committees moved from an emphasis on operations to one on oversight and policy direction. Today the mission committees' membership includes not only governing board and congregational members but also the chief executive officer, the chief human resource office, and physicians. The system has strengthened the committees' role by charging them with responsibility for the human resources function. Although no single structure can ensure that an organization's identity is an integral part of the religious institute's mission, the mission committees' work in directing how the organization selects, orients, evaluates, and manages its employees gives clear evidence of the vitality of its mission objectives.