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PrOFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Catechetics of the Collection Plate 7: Slicing the Pie

2/27/2019

2 Comments

 
I have been holding in storage a news article from Brian Fraga of the always reliable Our Sunday Visitor, dated January 30, 2019. His story is titled “Parishes, dioceses feeling the financial pinch,” a look at recent patterns of giving in the United States since the Pennsylvania/McCarrick scandals of last summer. I was not surprised at the general trends reported by Fraga except that the patterns he identifies have been in play for years. Years ago, Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill used to say that all politics are local, and the same is true with Catholic giving. The OSV story reports that while Catholics still contribute to the Offertory collections in their home parishes, they are less inclined to contribute to (1) second collections that go out of the parish, (2) diocesan appeals, and (3) capital campaigns.
 
In previous Wednesday posts we have looked at stewardship from a variety of perspectives; today we will plunge our hands into the actual proffering of our net worth toward God’s kingdom; Church-giving is probably the best objective measure of faith we have, short of martyrdom or offering our firstborn. There is a world of difference between paying bills and rendering homage to the intention of God by underwriting his good will. For this reason, I do not use EFT for Mass offerings, because taking a pen in hand and writing my offering is a concrete step in my weekly Mass preparation along with spiritual reading [and, since retirement, shaving.] The Offertory is a tangible, living act of common worship.
 
Fraga’s article addresses what I would term “punitive withholding.” Anger toward the institutional church, or leaders, or specific policies, is given as a reason to discontinue Church giving altogether, or worse, to abandon the Eucharistic table entirely. There are always good reasons to be angry with Mother Church; Luther was right when he called for the Church to be semper reformanda, “always in need of reforming itself.” I would raise a few considerations about punitive withholding of self or support, though. First of all, your Church support does more than you know or realize. I volunteer with several doctors and dentists at a Catholic Charities clinic in a village about 30 miles from Orlando. We could not do this without CC and the neighboring parishes footing the bill for the rent and the salary of the clinic director, who daily makes bricks with very little straw. Such outreach is virtually de rigueur in parish life, and too little is publicized of the feeding, housing, and health care rendered under the Catholic umbrella. The punishment of withholding funds is borne by the suffering, not the guilty.
 
Second, while the Lord loves a cheerful giver, I think He loves a judicious one as well. The mental health practitioner in me believes that being a part of the solution is emotionally and spiritually more satisfying than withdrawing altogether, personally or financially. Canon Law explicitly provides for lay consultation in the financial management of every parish, and a parish’s budget, at the end of the day, reflects its soul. If there is a major ecclesial obstacle blocking one’s stewardship to parish or diocese, the reason may itself be a gift to the Church and deserves hearing. My parish has had a weekly second collection for “improvements to the buildings and grounds of our parish home” for some years now, and it has netted well into seven figures. It is hard for me to reconcile the scale of our parochial quest for home improvement with the papacy of Pope Francis, who opened a health care facility smack in the middle of St. Peter’s Square for the homeless. It is not easy to personally communicate distress and/or opposition to a pastor, a bishop, or church administrator, when conscience drives one to do so, but it is a right and duty that comes with Baptism.
 
So how does a donor divvy up the cash? The key is arriving at a total stewardship figure for all charitable giving, not just Catholic ones, in one’s annual budget and breaking it down proportionally. The tithe [10%] is still a good working number with some important qualifications [see below], but one need not feel bound to it if circumstances allow. My wife and I have been active in a quarter century of local parish support and parish capital drives, but with retirement we have felt called in recent years to address the Church’s mission beyond the parish boundaries, into such areas as Hispanic ministry, care for immigrants, Catholic Relief Services, our former religious communities, Catholic school support, Catholic Charities establishments within our diocese, and Catholic adult education and publishing, causes we have longed to embrace more deeply. We have established direct relationships with all these causes, and it is always good to bond at multiple levels of involvement where possible, including prayer and time.
 
The variety of parish envelopes mailed to households can be quite educational. There is one second collection per month mandated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and they are conveniently listed here. It is worth reading, and if you scan the list, you’ll see a few you recognize, such as the Peter’s Pence collection for the charitable works of the Holy Father in late June, something we used to call “Peter’s Pants” in elementary school. I recall the initiation of the collection for the December Retired Religious Retirement Grant in 1988, after the Wall Street Journal broke the story in 1986 that the cost of caring for elderly sisters would exceed $2 billion if nothing was done. One is certainly free to donate to one or two at the expense of the others.
 
There is a long-standing debate about whether Catholic giving should be considered separate from charitable giving in general. If a gift falls under the heading of doing good for mankind, I don’t see any reason to exclude it as part of one’s faith commitment. There is a world of difference between a $500,000 gift to a college’s breast cancer research center and a similar gift to the school’s athletic department, and I think most of us can intuit the difference.
 
In the next post I will address capital campaigns and gifts from beyond the grave, so to speak, wills and bequests. But I would like to add one more point: in my counseling, and in my own circle of friends, I see many folks investing much time, care, nursing and housing in their love of elderly relatives. This, and other corporal works like them, is a unique expression of the love of God and a direct contribution to his Kingdom. Therefore, I hesitated to use an arbitrary number like 10% and prefer the citation of Luke 20: 1-4, the woman who gave all that she had. At its heart, stewardship is a gift of love with its own mathematics.
 
2 Comments
Michael
2/27/2019 06:24:41 pm

Tom
In the Church “scandal” as it played out in 2001 went, I remember my sister telling me she was not longer attending Mass at any Catholic Church as she didn’t want her donations going towards any lawyer fees for the Priests. Of course she never attended Mass to my knowledge anyway since then, which is such a shame to me, but even being close I gave my arguments back then and never brought it us again. I’m sure there is probably a case for it being my responsibility to say something to bring her back to the faith but I also want to have a relationship with my family and not drive a wedge any further into it. I don’t know what if any donations may or may not be used towards something like that but I figured I just really don’t want to know. Yet when it comes to my donations, be to the Parishes general offertory, or as you mentioned to the second collection for “improvements to the buildings and grounds of our Parish home”, I base on what my heart within prayer are telling me to give. I’m sure that now that I am retired and the income string I was use to basing everything on has greatly decreased I will be faced with having to lower that weekly donation soon, but for all the Parish does for me I feel I do have an obligation to help as much as I can. When it comes to the Diocesan appeal, which was just started a couple of weeks ago, if we like it our not, what we give to the Parish may go to this appeal if normal donations don’t add up to what each Parish has been assessed. Doesn’t seem quite right to me, but to keep up the work of the Church it is necessary I guess. I don’t have a problem giving to this appeal as the way I look at it they are better capable of helping those within our Diocese that are in most need. I remember when I was growing up, there seemed to be a lot more firry homilies that were dedicated to people not giving enough to support the Parish, and the plead for more funds. Our Pastors seem to of gotten away from this practice unless it is just a special case with our Parish and/or Pastor. In any case, I look at it all as being a discussion between me and God in prayer and as long as I have a clear conscience of what I do or do not give is all between me and God.
Michael

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The Brew Master link
3/2/2019 02:23:20 pm

The Canon Lawyer for the Diocese of Orlando, a Dominican sister, studied the first two major public abuse cases to come to light in around 1986 in Texas and Louisiana. She advised Bishop Grady and the Chancery that dioceses in general needed to take action proactively on accusations of abuse, and this was 15 years before the Boston cases, portrayed in the movie "Spotlight." As a result, while Orlando has not been immune to the problem, the diocese has been very conscientious in reporting such cases to law enforcement and removing clergy from active ministry. The Diocese is probably continuing to support victims with professional therapy, but given the openness of the diocesan financial records, it does not seem that we are paying massive sums to attorneys and settlements, and our policies about prevention of abuse would certainly satisfy our insurers.


It is true that our "golden years" are not necessarily our most affluent years. but as I wrote, the direction of our stewardship is a matter of conscience, and I encourage you to continue your support of the parish. The "parish goal" reflects the diocese's budgetary needs for the coming year. Theologically, the bishop is pastor of the diocese, entrusted with the Apostolic mission. Support of the bishop through personal pledge or parish reserves is not punitive, though some look at it that way. I have reservations about the management of some diocesan programs, but not with the idea of supporting the bishop.


My experience as pastor has been that the more you talk about money from the pulpit, the less you are likely to receive. I guess some of the old timers never caught on to that.

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