Cardinal Stritch University, a Franciscan university affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, is launching the Collaborative Parish Leadership Program, an effort to strengthen the leadership of Catholic parishes across the country by helping priests and parish life coordinators (who are often lay ministry professionals) work more collaboratively.  The program will form cohorts of priests and parish life coordinators who will gather three times for two-day consultations to build relationships with each other, explore leadership practices for working more collaboratively, strengthen their leadership skills and share ideas about how to address common challenges.  In addition, the university will conduct research and synthesize the learning from the cohorts to develop and share a body of insights, principles and promising practices about how collaborative leadership can guide the ministries of local parishes more effectively.  Cardinal Stritch will seek support from Catholic foundations and develop an affordable fee structure to sustain this program.