Hiring Lay Faithful in the Catholic Church: Comparing HRM Theory and Practice

Abstract

The role of lay employees in the Catholic Church has grown over the past few decades. As a consequence, the overall quality of human resources management (HRM), which includes the process of hiring, has become crucial within Church organisations. After an overview of the general theoretical findings about the process of hiring, we continue by presenting a survey executed among members of the Slovenian Bishops' Conference about value orientations concerning the hiring of lay persons within the Slovenian dioceses. The survey results were unexpected. We attempt to explain them within the scope of possible differences between the general HRM theory findings and research focused exclusively on the Church. Our conclusion is that, as a rule, Church practice does not follow the principle of creating a large pool of possible candidates for the job. Rather, it depends on more personal, individual invitations communicated to previously selected applicants.