The idea that stewardship can be a euphemism t o avoid some of the dzjficult issues surrounding reli- gious giuing is explored. An authentic understand- ing of stewardsbjp and its practice can help unt5 faith and money, and can be one important step toward addressing the financial misis facing Protes- tant and Catholic churches.

Faith versus money: Conflicting views of stewardship and fundraising in the church

Daniel Conway

JUST LAST YEAR, the English language version of the Catechism ofthe Catholic Church (1994) was published in the United States. This comprehensive summary of the essential teachings of Roman Catholicism, which is intended to address all important aspects of the faith and practice of the Catholic church, is guilty of a serious sin of omission: the new catechism barely mentions the concept of stewardship. In fact, the word is not listed in the catechism’s in- dex, and the only way to find it at all is by means of a manual word search.

My word search was limited, but I did find a brief discussion of the concept of stewardship (Article 7, Section I, Number 2402) that comments on the seventh commandment, “YOU shall not steal.”

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According to this brief paragraph, “In the beginning, God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind [sic] to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits. The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race.” A more complete word search of the catechism might pro- duce additional references; however, this accurate (but woefully inadequate) discussion of stewardship is all that I have been able to find thus far.

The index of the Catechism of the Catholic Church also does not list money or fundraising as subjects. In my random search for some treatment of these important, practical concepts, I looked up the section on indulgences, which I am pleased to see are no longer connected to money or fundraising. As far as I can tell, the new Catechism of the Catholic Church dis-

cusses money in only one place (Article 1, Section 111, Number 2 12 1): the commentary on the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” which defines the sin of irreligion known as simony. According to the catechism, “Simony is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things. To Simon the magician, who wanted to buy the spiritual power he saw a t work in the apostles, St. Peter responded: ‘Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money!’ Peter thus held to the words of Jesus: ‘You received without pay, give without pay.’ It is impossible to appropriate to oneself spiritual goods and behave toward them as their owner or master, for they have their source in God. One can receive [spiritual goods] only from [God,] without payment.”

Ironically, this admonition against simony comes remarkably close to a definition of stewardshiyspecially if one understands that all created things (spiritual and material) come from God as “pure gift.” With an authentic understanding of stewardship, we can easily echo the words of the catechism regarding spiritual goods and say the following: It is impossible to appropriate to oneself material goods and behave toward them as their owner or master, for they have their source in God.

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Damning steulardrhip with faint praise Most of us would much prefer to let someone else handle any administrative or financial dirty work that must be done in connec- tion with our church work. This underlying negative attitude toward administration and money is a t the heart of the serious financial cri- sis that mainline Protestant and Catholic churches in the United States and Canada are facing today. The results of a recent study on stewardship and development (Conway, 1992) suggest that if there is a solution, we must look, first and foremost, to a renewed under- standing of the theology and practice of Christian stewardship. What does it mean to be a good steward of the church’s human, physical, and financial resources? Why then does the new Catechism of the Catholic Church tend to ignore the concept of stewardship as a positive dimension of Christian life?

According to Robert Wood Lynn (Conway, 1992, pp. 29-32), church leaders have deeply ingrained negative attitudes toward administration and money. In fact, the church’s need to raise money and engage in the business of operating large organizations and facilities has long been a source of embarrassment and controversy among the leaders of mainline Protestant and Catholic churches. This is one reason why mainline churches are not nearly as suc- cessful at fundraising for the religious philanthropic dollar as are their competitors-the television evangelists or the so-called “mega- churches” that raise millions of dollars each year to meet the grow- ing needs of ever-expanding congregations.

According to Lynn, the concept of stewardship became popular in the Protestant church in the United States one hundred years ago. At that time, Protestants were confused and perplexed about how to discuss the church’s pressing need to raise money. Their late Victo- rian sensitivities (which are still with us today) made the issue of money difficult to talk about. The solution was to use the term stew- arhhip as a euphemism for money, which sounded respectable and which allowed them to avoid many of the unpleasant connotations associated with raising money. Just as it was important for the late

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Victorians to develop euphemisms about sex, according to Lynn, it was also important for them to find acceptable ways to talk about money. The language of stewardship seemed to fit their need well.

These observations about the origins of Protestant stewardship programs in the United States also apply to the Catholic church in the United States, which only recently discovered the concept of stewardship. Faced with increasingly serious financial problems in parishes, schools, and service organizations in all regions of the United States, the U.S. Catholic bishops published their first pastoral letter on stewardship in 1993. But this reflective document, Steward- ship: A Disciple’s Respoizre (National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1993), refuses to address the church’s financial problems directly. Instead, the bishops’ pastoral letter chooses to concentrate on the important broader context of stewardship, namely the question of what it means to be a disciple ofJesus in today’s consumer culture.

Defending their decision to not address the church’s financial problems head on, the bishops argue in the introduction of the pastoral letter that “Concentrating on one specific obligation of stewardship, even one as important as church support, could make it harder-even impossible-for people to grasp the vision [of stew- ardship]. It could imply that when bishops get serious about stewardship, what they really mean is simply giving money” (p. 5 ) . As a result, the first official statement on stewardship by the leader- ship of the Catholic church reflects a tendency that has been typi- cal of Protestant writing on the subject.

According to Lynn, the common pattern in most books and arti- cles on the subject of stewardship is to begin by saying that stew- ardship is much more than fundraising. The authors will then go on to talk about stewardship as though it had nothing at all to do with money or fundraising. In fact, Lynn says that most authors who write on stewardship offer little or no help in understanding the relationship between faith and money. Evidently the taboo against talking about money in a religious context is so strong that those who write about stewardship must continually reassure their read- ers that they are talking about something “much more important” than mere money or fundraising. Lynn observes that, as a result, the

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language and symbols of stewardship tend to become a euphem- ism-a way of talking about things that are essential to the daily ex- istence of religious organizations, but that are seen somehow as religiously incorrect.

Why are concepts of administration and money frequently treated as if they were unworthy of discussion in a religious context? What is the source of the powerful taboo that underlies all attempts to bridge the gap between faith and money? From our earliest years, most of us have been exposed to powerful, mychlc images of what money can do. As a society, our attitudes toward money range from “filthy, corrupt, and demonic” to “alluring, liberating, and reward- ing.” We are repulsed by someone who lives for money at the same time that we envy those who succeed in making millions.

This fundamental ambivalence about money, which is charac- teristic of our U.S. culture, is accentuated in the experience of the mainline churches. Unlike fundamentalist religious groups that have managed to make what many believe is a superficial con- nection between making money and doing God’s will, mainline churches continue to feel uneasy. They fear that they will “sell” their untainted religious interests to the corrupt commercial inter- ests of the money lenders who were cast out of the temple in one of Jesus’ few recorded bursts of anger. As a result, when mainline churches fundraise they find it extremely difficult to ask for money with a straight face. An unabashed television evangelist can say without a moment’s hesitation, “The Lord told me to raise $10 mil- lion, and to help me do that he wants you to give generously.” But the average pastor finds himself or herself struggling mightily to find language and techniques that help to make the case for giving without sounding as though their church cares only about money.

Ung5ing faith and money Bridging the gap between faith and money is difficult, especially in a culture that tends to make money (and the things that money can buy) an end in itself or, as some would say, a false god. Properly

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understood and practiced, the language and symbols of stewardship can help church leaders find ways to integrate faith and daily living. But preaching stewardship to wary congregations is not the only answer to the serious financial problems facing Protestant and Catholic churches today. The experience of successful fundraisers clearly shows that, in the long run, raising money requires strong leadership, exemplary fiscal management, and a genuine willingness to be held accountable for all aspects of the organization’s mission.

To authentically integrate the concepts of faith and money (or stewardship and fundraising), the Roman Catholic tradition and other traditions must work harder than ever before to resist the powerful Manichean temptation to divide all of reality into the “pure” realm of spiritual things on the one hand and the “tainted” districts of the material world on the other. One way to achieve this difficult unification of faith and money is through an authentic understanding and practice of stewardship. As Lynn states (Con- way, 1992, p. 30), “The best way of translating ‘stewardship’ is prob- ably as ‘care’ or ‘responsibility’ . . . so the steward is the one in the middle-the one to whom responsibility is delegated and of whom much is expected. In that sense, stewardship is indeed a perfect sym- bol for the Christian life of care and responsibility, because that’s how most of us live-in between God and our neighbors.”

Stewardship of the church’s resources is a worthy activity for any- one. There is a material, temporal side of church leadership that must be addressed to ensure the growth and vitality of the spiritual and pastoral dimension of the Christian ministry. This aspect of the church is an integral part of church life that cannot be separated. As such, it should be taught in seminaries and among the laity as an example of how Christian faith becomes integrated into (and trans- forms) the most mundane activities of daily life. When Christians recognize that we are called to be faithful stewards of all of God’s gifts-spiritual and material-it will become possible for us to earn, save, spend, give, and raise money as though it were a gift from God. When this new awareness becomes a reality, subsequent editions of the Catechism ofthe Catholic Church will devote much more space to

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the concept of stewardship and to the virtues of self-giving and service to others, which are a t the heart of all truly philanthropic activities.

Is it too much to hope that stewardship might one day become so integral to the faith of Catholics that money would be seen as an instrument of God’s grace? As G. K. Chesteron once said, “The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen.”

References Catechism ofthe Catholzc Church. (English ed.) Vatican City: Libreria Editrice

Vaticana, 1994. Conway, D. (project director). The Reluctant Steward: A Report and Commentary

on the Stewarhhip and Development Study. Indianapolis and St. Meinrad, Ind.: Christian Theological Seminary and Saint Meinrad Seminary, 1992.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Catholic Conference, 1993.

DANIEL CONWAY is secretary fwplanning, communication, and develop- ment fir the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Indiana.