As our parish transitions to a new model of stewardship as envisioned by Bishop McKnight, a deeper understanding of tithing and how we contribute financially and materially to the mission of the Church is necessary. As Christian stewards, we receive God's gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord. What implications are there for our offering to the Church?
Two significant changes in how we manage our contributions to the mission of the Church are part of best stewardship practices. One is how a household accounts for its total contribution to the mission of the parish in the form of a tithe. The other is how the parish itself contributes to the wider mission of the Diocese of Jefferson City and to the Universal Church which also will be in the form of a tithe. In this week’s column, I will discuss the household’s tithe and next week will discuss the parish tithe.
The Gospel parables on stewardship indicate that prudent and faithful discernment goes into accounting for the offering we give throughout the year. This offering can be through the collections at Mass or through electronic giving. Sharing God’s gifts in justice with others has also included special donations we might make to the parish, to a charitable cause that the parish sponsors, to the specific needs of our school, to the universal collections that the Church in the United States support or emergency collections, and to the various fundraising activities that happen throughout the year.
Simply put: stewardship based on the biblical notion of the tithe means that we are asked to combine all the contributions and donations we would normally give throughout the year in the various envelopes for various causes and include that in the 8% tithe we are asked to give to the parish. Included in this would be the pledge and payment that a household would give to the Diocese of Jefferson City through its annual Catholic Stewardship Appeal. The mission of the parish as reflected in the total ordinary operating expenses for all the various ministries—sacramental and liturgical, education and evangelization, facilities and personnel management, direct charity and outreach—would completely be met and exceeded by the tithing contributions of our parishioners. A good portion of our parish already understands this and faithfully tithes. Our goal is to help all parishioners embrace this model of stewards.
The envelope set will be much simplified and be limited to the weekly offering for Sundays and Holy Days. No longer will there be second collections for the national collections like Catholic Relief Services and Communications and Catholic University of America. Only two special collections will be retained, the ones at Easter and Christmas for priests’ and religious’ retirement and the education of the clergy. Our parishioners will not be asked to contribute to the final Diocesan CSA this fall. Instead they will include in their tithe to our parish what they have been accustomed to contributing to the CSA. Then the calculation is fairly simple: calculate a weekly or monthly tithe to contribute based on the 8% of household income.
In the past year as I have discussed the transition to a tithing model of stewardship with parishioners, I’ve noted a common question, “What about the second collection or fund-raising that we do for such and such?” This question has almost always indicated a deep concern about particular aspects of our parish mission and a worry that if we take away the second collections, we might not have the resources to continue what we are accustomed to. I have been inspired by the passion of people for our direct charity efforts, for our Catholic school and for our beautiful and holy cemetery.
Questions like these are helpful because they can lead us to a deeper faith in God and trust in the commitment of our fellow parishioners. The Gospel from last Sunday is particularly relevant here. The apostles saw the immense crowd and wanted to send them away. There was no way five loaves and two fish could feed the multitude. Christ took what little was offered, blessed the Father, and fed the crowd.
Once someone said to me that it would take a miracle for us to be able to meet such a lofty goal as envisioned by tithing and stewardship. I responded, “Precisely. Yes. That’s what it takes, a miracle.” For indeed a miracle is looking upon something with the eyes of faith to recognize blessing when everyone else sees failure, scarcity, or expects our fellow human to only act out of self-interest. Our lives as disciples consist of witnessing the countless miracles of love and sacrifice that surround us each day when those without the eyes of faith succumb to cynicism and mistrust.
The act of giving is a true act of faith and trust in God. If it isn’t our of faith, it becomes merely one more commercial transaction. Think about the model of support for our Catholic school. We are already living a model of stewardship in this regard because we do not charge tuition to the Catholic families who belong to our parish. Everyone knows that a significant portion of what we give to the parish will go for the Catholic education of our children. I have witnessed this miracle of generosity time and time again in my years as a priest in the Diocese of Jefferson City. We entrust much to our school staff and to the children and their parents. We indeed put the parable of the sower into practice. Educating children is not easy. The evils of this world that rise up against the good we want to do can tempt us to bury our talents out of fear. But we give and trust that God will bless our generosity and cause it to yield an increase.
For the next few months, we will be making preparations for the annual Catholic Stewardship Commitment and Renewal. Many of us are familiar with the commitment forms we have used in the past to manage time and talent. These two will certainly be part of our annual commitment to prayer and study of our faith, and to sharing our personal talents in service for the good of the community. But we will also have the opportunity to make an accounting as a parish community for the treasure we offer back to God through our tithe. Each and every person in the parish will be asked to make a commitment in faith. We will provide mutual assistance to discern our personal commitment and make a faith-filled promise to God and to each other to make good on what we commit to. I am so looking forward to this process as I know I will discover even more how generous and faithful is God, and how generous and faithful His People are in return.