PRESENTING OR OFFERING (#4)?

Where does your money offering go? What you give expresses your work and your sacrifice to God. Your donation enables the parish to pay bills and provides just wages and benefits to pastors, pastoral ministers, ministers of education, music, elder and youth services, buildings and grounds workers, cooks and cleaners. Every parish also relies on the generous service of many dedicated ministerial volunteers.

Some people are aware, others are unaware of their parish's authentic costs, even when responsible pastors render detailed budget accounting to the congregation. Folks think the church is rich. It does have art treasures and lots of building. Even if it sold all its art and gave it to alleviate world poverty, what was accrued from sales would only feed the poor for a few days. Like many businesses and families, the issue is cash flow.

Each parish has to make it on its own; only some truly indigent parishes are subsidized by the central services of a diocese. There are no Pawtauket Red Sox parishes taken care of from the deep pockets of Monsignors John Harrington & Dan Duquette. Plus we don't benefit from memorabilia or sportswear-with-team logo shops in the Burlington Mall.

Preachers have become sensitive to the criticism that "all you hear from the pulpit is a pitch for money." I have rarely made one. But, for many years, I have been concerned about how we view money and how we view the poor.

How do we view money? In my training years in the Passionist Community, Brother Valentine, well into his nineties, used to tell us to beware of "filthy lucre." Later I learned that this term became popular when banking entered European culture in the 1200s or so. Christians remained uneasy about their commerce with money. Medieval illustrations depict money as excrement. Avarice became a major vice and a stumbling block to salvation. Since Jews were excluded from many medieval guilds, some entered banking and their service took Christian consciences concerned with usury off the hook. (This was another step toward an ingrained Christian anti-semitism and another precursor of pogroms and holocaust).

People like money; check out Wheel of Fortune! Money allows us to put a roof over our heads. It enables us to educate our children and provide nourishing meals. It enables well earned vacations and some leisure. All of this is good, is made possible through the hard work that has created a responsible and dedicated cadre of middle class citizens.

In fact, we resent others who try to make easy money, a quick buck. We are wary of rip offs and hand outs to those with hand-in-cap. We are chary of those we deem dishonest and devious. We dislike those who are cheap and miserly.

We are now developing a contemporary religious understanding of money. This includes reflection on gratitude, generosity, stewardship, and sharing with one's neighbor in a market driven economic system. This theology will flourish as we ask the right questions, e.g., are money and work gifts from God? Should I spend less on consumer luxuries? Would it be a blessing if I shared a certain amount with people mired in systems of misery? How do I value money?