Honest Talk About a Financially Healthy Parish
In these wonderful years we have enjoyed together, Saint Thomas Parish has grown and received many blessings, the most treasured of which has been the rich diversity of individuals who have come to make their home among us and share their amazing talents with us. I know I share with you a common desire to be a good steward of all God provides for us. I have noticed that much of what we have learned over these years can be expressed in a number of stewardship principles. It seems to me that these principles unfold from each other in a way that suggests that they should be laid down, one upon another, to form a solid foundation for our life as a Christian community.
The True Foundation of Our Commitment to One Another
The first foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is the regular attendance and prayerful participation of the members of our Christian community in worship at Mass. Before all else, we are a worshipping community: we attend to the presence of Jesus in his word and in the Sacrament of his presence. What has this got to do with financial health? Everything!
Our shared worship of God deepens the conviction in each of us that anything we do by way of support for our parish is done, not because we like the people or the music or the environment, but for God. It is God who we come together to worship. This principle has broad application in our lives. Genuine stability comes to a relationship of love or friendship between two or more people when what they do for one another is done first and foremost for God and to honor the place God has in their life. All relationships will have times when those involved in them are not all that happy with one another. This could be for any number of reasons, and life in community manages to provide many. Personal support for each other in community will remain constant and generous in the rough times only if what is being done is done above all for God. Only then does personal support for each other not get interrupted by the bumps along the way and the corresponding changes in our mood. What is done is done for God and what is given is given to God. Done first and foremost for God and given to God, it is transformed into love for others – a consistent, fair and foul weather, courageous love; a love for others we could not sustain for very long on our own. In the process of living for God, doing for God and giving to God, an incredibly strong character is built up in the partners to the relationship – in the members of the community. Their relationship with one another then truly becomes open to the future.
A God-Given Principle by Which to Order the Stuff in Our Lives
The second foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is the consistent teaching and encouragement of Tithing. Tithing is a principle revealed by God for our good, and it is a personal request God makes of every man and woman who comes to know Him. (See Deuteronomy 14:22-29). The first step in Tithing it to give a portion of our income to God – first and off the top. No matter how much or how little it may be, our resolve must be that we will set it aside first and before anything else. Obedience to God by establishing God as our first priority in this way brings the great tangle of our “needs” and “wants” into order. We gain a new perspective of our needs and wants in light of making God our clear first priority. We are in a position to begin to make wise and healthy choices about them. As a result, we discover that we have recaptured some control of our lives. This sense of confidence in having a handle on things flows naturally into other aspects of our personal lives, as we set priorities for the use of our time and energy. There is order in our lives. We live better and draw greater satisfaction from what we have and do. God always packs a lot of punch into what He reveals to us and what He asks of us.
But there is still more. Tithing wakes us up to the fact that not all we are or have is for us.
A portion of who we are and what we have is for someone else, a gift entrusted to us by God
to be delivered at our hands, to God and to others. This awareness of being entrusted with something for someone other than ourselves begins to permeate our sense of self. We realize that there is something substantially about who we are as human beings that is a gift to and for the life around us. This is a treasured new awareness of our personhood – made in the image of God.
The Most Cherished Gift is of One’s Heart and One’s Hands
The third foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is the active engagement of our members in personal service to God, one another and the community around us. To call forth and engage the time and talent of our people in ministry, to allow them a context in which to see their lives and their talents honoring God and serving others, to enable them to feel the impact of joy, hope and consolation this brings to the lives of others – all of this unfolds a generous spirit that permeates the entire atmosphere of the community when it gathers in large or small groupings, but especially when it gathers to worship God. Contributing to it and being blessed by it, this generous Spirit becomes a garment that each member in the community can draw close around themselves and the friends, companions and family members with whom they share their lives. The conviction grows in them that, “I am part of this weave that is the cloth of our community life – woven by the Spirit of God.” This is of the greatest importance.
A Community Organized for Collaborative Leadership
The fourth foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is a completely transparent and fully participatory organizational life. No small group runs things. No “Inner Circle” makes the decisions. There is no appearance of open process when things have already been determined
by players unknown. Instead all are welcomed to participate in the setting of priorities among the works of the community and in the use of our resources. Every voice is extended an invitation to be heard.
We Want Everyone to be “In The Know”
The fifth foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is a fully disclosed, rigorously accountable financial management. This means that all can see anything at any time, and that any question will be answered, carefully and with pleasure. The only things not openly disclosed are the actual amounts a given member of our community contributes in offering to the parish or receives in aid from the parish. The members of the community are frequently provided an honest, candid disclosure of what we have, what we face, and what we need.
We Make No Apologies
For Asking the Members of Our Community to Contribute to Its Support
The sixth foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is to make no apologies for being
a Christian Community: no apologies for striving for ever more effective ministry in service
to God and others; no apologies for asking for the time and talent of our people in engaging these ministries; and no apologies for asking for their financial support to carry them out. When we become ashamed of who we are, and apologize for calling for support in fulfilling our mission, we surely place ourselves on the road to dying as a community. Even in hard times, when the needs are all the greater, we make no apologies for asking more of those who are able to give more in order to supply for those who are at risk or who have been weakened and are unable to offer more. Saint Paul made this a foundation principle in the first Christian communities he established in his time (2 Corinthians 8:1-15). The truth is, that as people of faith in God we are actually our best when times are tough. Light shines more brilliant against the darkness and love is more clearly seen in the midst of difficulty.
Taking Time for Everyone to Think Things Through and Try Them On
The seventh foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is never to be in a rush to do
any community project or work, except coming to the aid of someone in genuine crisis. It is important for everyone to hear about an idea when it is proposed, and have an opportunity
to respond to it in a group setting. If the idea gains support and begins to take shape, it is important for everyone to hear about the shape it is taking and the direction it is moving, and have an opportunity to shape it and contribute to it in a group setting. If the idea comes to fruition as a concrete plan for action, it is important that everyone in the community be fully informed of the plan and given the opportunity to be part of carrying it forward. This takes time – anywhere from a minimum of six months to two years. And it takes effort to make sure everyone in the community is informed and invited to contribute at each point along the way. But it pays big dividends: good will is sewn toward the idea, the vast majority of the community is “on board” with the plan, willing to encourage it, and, if necessary, ready to support it. No bitter divisions are formed in the community along the way. Money cannot
buy the good will engendered toward the community as a whole.
Exercising A Cautious Prudence In Financial Planning
The eighth foundation for financial health in a Catholic Parish is prudence in addressing present needs and planning for the needs of the future. Not too long ago we had built up a strong financial reserve in our savings. Many wondered why. The reason being that our eyes were on
a number of future big expenses that we knew we would need to address in the maintenance
of our parish facilities. Then these difficult economic times came upon us. Because we were prudent, we found ourselves in a strong position to weather the times and maintain our balance.
We are a Community of Faith.
This is the ninth, and capstone principle in the foundation of a financially healthy Catholic Parish. Just as in our ministry efforts, faith in God factors in a big way in facing our financial challenges. We believe that God multiplies what the members of our community place in His hands, and we believe that God carries our efforts as a community forward on the mysterious currents of His grace. It has in the past and it will in the future. We do not stand by ourselves. We stand around Him who has loved us and given Himself for us. He is with us still and continues to give Himself to us in all manner of ways surprising and miraculous.
