Column
by
Archbishop John G. Vlazny
|
Archbishop's
Column by Archbishop John G. Vlazny |
Generosity is bound in discipleship,
not church’s vicissitudes
9/27/02
Many months have passed since you heard
from me about our annual
Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal. It was early
February then, and most of us
were still unaware of the hard times that
would follow. I was still very
hopeful that our archdiocese could improve
its financial position and
thereby better respond to the demands
of our evangelizing mission. But the
economic downturn in our nation hit Oregonians
hard. The child sexual
abuse scandal raised all kinds of questions
in the minds of Catholic
people. The modest increase in religious
fervor among our fellow citizens
that followed the tragedies of Sept. 11
had not yet lost its public face,
but it eventually did.
At the beginning of summer, it was my goal
to write this column as soon as
we reached the $2,550,000 goal of this
year’s appeal. I waited all summer
because the goal was within reach, but
we aren’t there yet. We need
another $4,000 to reach that goal. In
fact, last year’s success far
exceeded what we have been able to achieve
thus far this year: $212,000
less has been pledged this year than last;
3,300 fewer donors have agreed
to contribute, although we still have
an impressive 18,475 people who have
responded favorably. The average gift
has gone up from $127 to $138, but
that wasn’t enough to compensate for the
many non-donors of 2002.
Obviously we shall have to cut back on
some of our church activities and
services in the coming year.
All of that needed to be said by way of
preface. The good news is that
more than two and a half million dollars
has been contributed by good
folks like you readers who want to support
the evangelizing and outreach
missions of the Catholic community of
western Oregon. When you consider
all the possible excuses for not giving
this year, some of which I
referenced earlier, we did well. I want
you to know that I am most pleased
with your good sense of stewardship, and
I am proud to be your archbishop.
I want to thank, in particular, all the
pastors, parish priests and
deacons who promoted the appeal and thereby
gave parishioners “permission”
to contribute. I was a pastor of a parish
myself for a while, and I
understand how easily one can become focused
on the needs of the parish,
especially when you wonder how you will
pay next month’s bills. Why not
downplay the Archbishop’s Appeal, lest
less be available for the parish
coffers? Good pastors know that our people
are smart enough to make their
own decisions. We present them with our
needs, and we rely on their
goodness and generosity.
The Annual Appeal provides the archdiocese
with approximately one third of
the cash needed each year for the many
and varied expenses we incur. One
major problem of this campaign is that
it is conducted completely by mail,
unless a pastor and his administrative
council decide to seek pledges from
the people right there in the pews on
a given Sunday. I must confess that
I have been rather naïve about such
letter campaigns. I do open all my
mail, as unusual as that may be. No one
among my acquaintances ever
discarded an unopened letter from the
office of the bishop, and neither
have I. But lots of folks do. We probably
have to find a better way to get
our message across.
Then too, there are so many folks who have
simply no sense of stewardship,
those who are quite unrealistic about
what it means to be generous. One
gentleman wrote a letter filled with complaints
about some church
activities. He was so displeased that
he said he would never again
contribute to the Annual Appeal. He had
decided to redistribute his
charity among other more worthy causes.
The problem was he had given only
$25 over five years. That won’t spread
very far!
This year many of our people have been
encouraged to hold back
contributions as a way of expressing their
voice of non-support. This
often happens when some folks decide they
don’t like the pastor. It
happens in a diocese when pastors and
people don’t like the bishop or
don’t approve of the way he is handling
things, as is our present
experience with the child sexual abuse
scandal. Finally there are those
who withhold their contributions because
they might wind up in the pockets
of plaintiffs and their attorneys as a
result of litigation against the
Church.
When you stop to think about it, it really
wasn’t hard to decide not to
give this year. Still, so many of you
did. I did too, and I shall always
do so, because there is no greater cause
than the evangelizing mission of
the Church. Most of us who do regularly
support the mission of the Church
understand that it is because of Jesus
and Him alone that we are members
of this Church and have become His disciples
in mission. We don’t give
because we like the priests or bishops
of this archdiocese or because we
think our people are the greatest or because
our choir is the best or
because our annual chicken dinner draws
rave reviews. We do it because, as
baptized Catholics, we are all responsible
for the church’s mission of
building up God’s kingdom on earth. The
Church isn’t perfect. We as
individuals are not perfect. We are a
broken people working together to
serve a broken world.
Thanks very much from the bottom of my
heart to all of you who are so
faithful and responsible in the service
of the gospel. The coming months
may find us debilitated by financial losses
as a result of litigation.
Some of our ministries and services may
have to be curtailed. But perhaps,
when we have less and recognize how much
more there is to do, our sense of
stewardship may well be enhanced, and
our focus on Jesus as the center of
everything we are and do will become much
more evident to all, starting
with ourselves. God bless all of you,
my brothers and sisters, who have
once again through this year’s Archbishop’s
Appeal made it clear that you
do indeed want to continue as “Partners
in Mission.”