Twenty Minutes with Fr. de Chivré:

Leadership and the Gift of Self

Fr. de Chivré’s original audience for this conference was made up of French boys who were members of the movement known in the US as the Boy Scouts of America. The advice he offers to the scouts, however, is applicable to any leader and, first mostly, men and young men called to lead. Among the laymen, we can imagine applications for those who coordinate a chapel, lead a Holy Name Society chapter or that of a Legion of Mary, perhaps a chapter of the Eucharistic Crusade or of the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen, organize a pilgrimage, or plan a church project. This is not to promote specifically the Boy Scouts as an organization, but to let Fr. de Chivré’ highlight its high ideals in the best of their Catholic sense.

The attractiveness of youth is that it makes a gift of itself without counting the cost. In the practice of his duty, the ways by which a leader gives himself will be imposed on him. He gives himself according to the Scout spirit, its Law and its Oath. He gives himself according to the demands of those under his charge, though they may be quite unforeseeable and as diverse as the number looking to his leadership. For instance, the leader never makes fun of the secret confidence of a young charge. He does not judge it rashly according to his own preference. He will always draw out its higher resonance. Being all things to all men, even to the subordinate, he makes himself flexible enough to appreciate the form of the ideal confided.

The gift of the leader goes beyond praying merely with words. His prayer is an existence wholly given over to the demands of the whole. It is the Catholic Mass itself which illustrates how to give oneself without counting the cost: “Teach us to be generous, to give without counting.”

Consisting of avarice of oneself, sin made us unlearn the sense of giving. That is why we incline towards egocentrism and enjoyment of oneself though these are, in fact, the abuse of life. The formation of a leader to sacrifice the gift of self for the common good purifies him from the traces of sin of selfishness. This formation is analogous to that of the Mass, which itself teaches us the gift of unselfish existence.

“The Leader”

Consider the etymology of the Latin word caput, that is, “the head.” The job of the head is to animate. This is done directly by words that express thoughts or affections, and/or “awarenesses” that observe in order to decide. It is done indirectly by the feet moving things forward and the hands organizing.

True leaders are rare. What thoughts should he be putting into words? His own?–Never. He is responsible for knowing and expressing those thoughts and words entrusted to him, specifically the Scout Law and Oath. By voicing these, a leader reveals who he is. If he doesn’t believe what he says, then he is lying. If he doesn’t do what he says, then he is cheating. If a leader wants his words to have authority, he needs to ask himself before he speaks, “Do I do what I say?” If the answer is no, then he must keep his mouth shut. He may have the uniform, the gestures, and the talk, but he has no authority. The head is the source of speech that has first been thought through.

Affectionate speech must be carefully aware of justice. It must be uniform in tone, without excesses of sympathy or antipathy because it is far above them both. It must will itself to be spoken in assuming responsibility for the good, the true, and the noble. The affectionate words of a leader must be attentive to kindness–not a preferential, sentimental kindness–a collective kindness of which tone is inspired according to age, status, and temperament for the common goods of the Scout life and Scout ideal, without coldness but without sentimentality.

You can start to see that being in command calls for a great purity of heart, humility of heart, liberty of heart.

A leader looks over all–observing in order to take in information–but not expressing anything on the spot unless it is necessary for upholding the Scout Law and appropriate behavior. A leader observes so he may reach conclusions for the benefit of the common good or of a particular good, anxious to maintain objectivity, free of emotion or sectarianism. The gaze of a leader creates confidence and optimism through his known concern for reaching a decision in harmony with duty, the Scout Law.

The head animates the feet, the other extremity of the body.

For a leader, the group is not divided between the big and small, important and unimportant. Everyone, even the less gifted, has a right to the attention of a leader. He should animate all of the details of the group through the intermediation of his subordinates, otherwise he is a tyrant. He should be informed of everything in the manner of being a partner in the work, not as an emperor. The ultimate reason for common effort is to activate a partnership of all elements in order to move things forward toward a deeper understanding of the goal, of the nobility of protocol, of acknowledgement of jobs well done, toward a more successful practical result and initiatives for making things even better. A leader commands to activate the parts of a group for the benefit of the whole group.

The head animates the hands.

The role of hands is to organize and construct. A leader organizes by not acting with precipitation. He avoids “playing it by ear” and never acts for his own self-glorification. The activity of a leader should always be preceded by serious thought because his action is ultimately upon consciences, not upon camping tents or such. He acts upon fellow members of the group, upon states of spiritual and physical health, which have been entrusted to him. May a leader never twist a conscience, disrespect a fellow scout, nor compromise safety unreasonably by frivolous use of time, by undue counter-orders, last-minute directions, or by lack of precision which seriously threatens the order of the camp.

To organize means to bring into existence by thinking long and hard about all the details in advance. God held all creation in His thought from all eternity before He created. A leader thinks of his leadership in his prayer, reflection, in his uprightness, to the greater benefit of tranquility, clearheadedness, and his duties as a leader.

Contrary to right organization, the main defect of any leader is in his disorder and inconsistency. To organize is to consult God deeply about the share of sacrifice he will ask of those looking to him, to consult his conscience and rectify his intentions, to consult his official orders, and to consult those with more experience than him.

To be a head, a chief, an animator, a leader must be free of those “sicknesses” proper to the head, that is, the migraine headache of prideful self-absorption, the facial paralysis of indifference, and the brainlessness of conceited ignorance. One begins to be a potential leader when he starts to believe he is unworthy of being a leader and begins to have a healthy fear of the implications of his responsibility. For the sake of those whom a leader leads, he knows a solemn urgency of his own moral and spiritual perfection. A leader loves to form his mind, ask for counsel, and pray, in order to set free his potential for being a great leader, irresistible by his attraction and influence.

A leader appears, takes action, and disappears. The head is a great lover of silence about himself, about the superficial, about the faults of others. The chief is a great lover of silence who observes, who thinks, and who prays in order to act straight and true.

The Head–the One Who Thinks. A leader is a wheel in a gear works chosen to inspire a group or a part of a group, not according to what he thinks, nor another scout, nor according to what Mom and Dad think, but according to what the Scout Law says and the Oath he has taken. Above all, a leader belongs to the Law and the Oath. He knows it by heart and thinks it with his heart. He is a wheel in a gear work that should fulfill its role as a gear wheel, turning at its proper place, speed, and in the right direction. The place, the speed, and the direction determine the function of the other wheels.

Turn in the place given to you. The gear wheel that seeks to replace another admits he is incapable of occupying the place entrusted to him. The only solution for him is to step back into the gear work. He must understand what his proper place means by the enthusiastic perfection with which he fills it, a source of prestige, influence, and example. A leader is present amidst the group, but not so that he can go swimming or just sit there and read. A good leader has absolute respect–internally and manifested externally–for the other wheels in the gear works, for instance, the second-in-command, the camp assistants, the team leader and his second, the treasurer, etc. We render ourselves respectable when we give respect to others. Otherwise, it is simply pride, silliness, and pretension. Leadership presupposes that authority ultimately comes from God and not from human qualities so threatened by our defects. It presupposes the intervention of grace in a leader to prevent his authority from going off the rails.

Turn at the proper speed. Every gear wheel turns at a speed commanded by its dimensions, which determine the possible and proper speed of the gear wheel. What are these “dimensions”?–A leader understands the scope of his responsibility, the speed with which he must choose duty before pleasure, and the necessity for prudence in manning his post day and night. He must be patient yet determined in calculating the speed by which his voluntary sanctity is developed, that is, his openness and humility by not exaggerating his role (hardness), not taking center stage by means of his role (pride), and not taking advantage of his role for his own benefit (lying). Turning at his proper speed, a leader participates in the perfection of Christ, prays for his subordinates, and self-sacrifices for his responsibilities.

The leader is not the one who wants to be, who seeks to be, who wishes he were, or who imagines
he is. A real leader is the one who decides to be one at the cost of his life, in the direction of the Scout Law, to the benefit of the troop, and with the help
of God.

This conference was translated by Angelus Press for the first time into English. Heavily edited and abridged for clarity by Fr. Kenneth Novak. Fr. Bernard-Marie de Chivré, O.P. (say: Sheave-ray´) was ordained in 1930. He was an ardent Thomist, student of Scripture, retreat master, and friend of Archbishop Lefebvre. He died in 1984. Originally published as “Ohé garçon, toi qui doutes!” in Le Scoutisme, collection of conferences by the Rev. Fr. Bernard-Marie de Chivré (Touraine: Micro-Edition, 2007), p.113.