32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
First Reading: 1 Kgs 17:10-16
Second Reading: Heb 9:24-28
Gospel Reading: Mk 12:38-44
This Sunday’s readings recount how two very poor widows nevertheless donated to others. They reminded me of articles I ran in The B.C. Catholic when I was editor. Now that I am 82 years old and no longer have responsibility for a parish, perhaps I can cite them without being suspected of self-interest!
Stewardship is key to any rationale for giving to the Church, said Richard Garnet, chief fund-raiser for the Calgary diocese’s annual Bishop’s Appeal in 1996.
A steward is a person who looks after someone else’s goods. In the beginning, God entrusted the Earth and its resources to the stewardship of all humans, says the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
In our fallen world, private property is legitimate, but the universal destination of goods remains primordial and so we should not regard our goods as exclusive to ourselves but extend their benefits to others including our families, the sick, and the poor.
The Bible makes “clear statements about the relationship between money and spiritual values,” said Garnet.
Consider the rich young man who asked Jesus what he must do to be saved.
“Jesus knew that the man’s wealth came before his love of God,” said Garnet. “In our society today, many people cling to their material goods at the greater expense of pushing their spiritual life to one side.”
In contrast, Garnet cited a woman who had delivered $3,000 to the Bishop’s Appeal office for three years, travelling by bus and wearing the same tattered coat.
“I know there are people out there who are worse off than I,” she explained.
Garnet’s own donations to the Church had risen from the usual Sunday envelope offering to two per cent of his salary and then to 10 per cent, he said.
The usual Sunday envelope offering is well below one hour’s pay. Giving 10 per cent of one’s income is called tithing, from an old English word for tenth.
“I met a group of people who tithed and seemed very joyous about it,” said Garnet.
However, when he suggested to his wife that they tithe, his wife was concerned as to how this would affect their finances because they had two young children and a mortgage.
“After much discussion, we started,” he said. “To our surprise, we managed to keep the house, keep our kids clothed and fed, and still go on vacations.”
If Catholics tithed, the Church could pay its bills, offer its workers just wages, and meet the needs of the poor locally and globally, said Barbara and Francis Scholtz of Florida during a workshop for Saskatoon clergy in 1995. By that time, the couple had given talks about sacrificial giving in some 40 Canadian and United States dioceses for about 13 years.
The couple, who had themselves tithed for 30 years, said they regularly gave five per cent of their income to their parish and five per cent to their diocese and the poor.
Tithing reminds us that we come into this world with nothing and leave with nothing, the Scholtzes explained.
“There’s no U-Haul behind the hearse,” they said.
If Catholics shared their time, talent, and money more generously, fundraising schemes would be unnecessary and priests could spend more time being spiritual leaders.
“Giving should involve making a sacrifice,” said Francis Scholtz. “The Lord will not be outdone in generosity.”
He said sacrificial giving is a spiritually-motivated educational program based on our need to return to the Lord a generous portion of what he has given us.
Scripturally-based tithing fosters a spirit of gratitude, generosity, responsibility, and joy, he said.
Although it is often difficult initially, it can lead to a change of heart, attitude, and priorities.
“It helped me to believe that God really does provide,” said Barbara Scholtz.
“It is poor Catholics who give the largest percentage of their incomes to the Church,” the Scholtzes explained. “In the United States the record is held by Chicago’s poor African-American Catholics.”
Father Hawkswell is again teaching “The Catholic Faith in Plain English,” with new insights, in both print and YouTube form, at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. He is also teaching the course in person on Sundays (2 - 4 p.m. at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre, 4885 Saint John Paul II Way, 33rd Avenue and Willow Street, Vancouver) and Mondays (10 a.m. - noon in St. Anthony’s Church Hall, 2347 Inglewood Avenue, West Vancouver). The title of the presentation next week is “Liturgy: Public Worship.” The course is entirely free of charge and no pre-registration is necessary.
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