Sacrificial Giving or Tithing
December 24, 2000
Dear Parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy:
Merry Christmas to you and yours! If you are reading this bulletin, it probably means you are home for the holidays, here in the fog belt, enjoying this sacred feast with neighbors and loved ones, with our college students back for vacation, with family who have come to Westlake for Christmas, and with others who get to see us at our best in worshipping God with joy and faith!
As we thank God for the birth of his Son Jesus, I also wanted to thank you who so generously minister in Jesus’ name day after day: visiting the sick, helping the poor, teaching the children, welcoming new Catholics, helping us worship God through song/prayer/hospitality...the list goes on and on. In addition, your ministry of "stewardship" comes to mind as the year draws to a close, and I wanted to express my deep gratitude for your financial support of your parish.
Our Parish Bookkeeper, Glis, gave me some data about your more recent generosity, and I’d like to share that information with you. On Thanksgiving Day you donated $1,529.40 to the collection at our ten o’clock community Mass, money which we then gave to our St. Vincent de Paul Society in their work for the poor of our own neighborhood.
When we took up a special second collection December 10 to assist the Retirement Fund for Religious (those elderly Sisters, Brothers, Nuns and Priests who have served the Church in Religious Orders over the years), you gave the incredible sum of $3,539.10 which will be a great help to those who have helped us in the past.
In contrast, however, the collection for the Holy Day on Dec. 8 (Immaculate Conception) only brought in $855.70 with all the Masses combined. This leads me to applaud you for your goodness and also to ask you to keep being good to your parish church—OLM can only survive thanks to you.
When you look around our church each Sunday—not to mention Christmas and Easter!—the place is packed. It is such a strong sign of the vibrant life of the Catholic Church in our country, seeing the children, the teens, the adults all coming together from every conceivable background and culture to serve God in the liturgy, and to take from the Eucharist energy to serve God’s people as well.
However, our wonderful cultural differences also mean that we have different experiences of "stewardship." For example, when I lived in Germany at age 16, I was shocked to learn that the Churches (Protestant and Catholic) were supported by government taxes! Here in America our separation of Church and State makes such an idea unthinkable—we only survive financially through the donations of our parish members. Later in college, studying in France, I learned that the government took care of the maintenance needs of the church buildings in that country—which is certainly not true in the USA. When I was a new priest at St. Gabriel, our Parish Council President (originally from the Philippines) told me that the King of Spain had given huge land grants to the Catholic Church in her homeland, which made the Church there self-supporting and financially strong—quite a different history from ours here in America, where the King of England had been a driving force, and where Catholicism was outlawed for many years, forcing Roman Catholics to worship in secret and to face persecution and discrimination because of their faith. Predictably, though, the prejudice Catholics experienced in America brought them closer together, it made them stronger and more dedicated than ever, pulling together as Church to build an outstanding system of Catholic schools, parishes, and hospitals.
The point is: we still need the help of all our people if our American parishes are to remain alive and healthy. The Church and Sacred Scripture suggest "tithing," namely, giving 10% of what we receive back to God—perhaps 5% to our parish and 5% to other important causes (the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal; collections for Retired Religious, the missions, St. Anne’s Home, St. Anthony Foundation, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, etc.; a homeless shelter; the cancer society). The Mormons already do this well, and even their teens tithe their earnings as part of their commitment to God and God’s people. As our old fundraisers die out (Bingo, Fashion Show, etc.), I strongly urge all our faithful parish members to please consider tithing or "sacrificial giving." Let me make some concrete suggestions.
If I earn $20,000 a year, this means I would give about $20 each week to my parish (roughly 5% of my income, which amounts to $1,000 each year to my parish).
If I earn $40,000 a year, I would put about $40 each week in the collection basket.
