When it comes to churches and money, we often fall into two opposing camps. On the one hand there are the preachers and evangelists of the Prosperity Gospel. By faith and often by “planting a seed” (by donating a certain amount to the ministry), the donor will be blessed with good health and financial wellbeing. While this school of theology does counteract some of the gloominess of the past, is also feeds into the common perception that churches are always asking for money and that ministers of all denominations are only interested in enriching themselves.

Because asking for money in church has become such a cliché, it has led many of us to treat money as “a necessary evil.” We sometimes have to talk about money for practical reasons, but we treat giving as a sidebar to our real purpose and mission. It is interesting that Jesus had no such scruples. He talked about money a lot. Somebody (not me) took an inventory of Jesus’ messages in the Gospel and discovered that Jesus spoke about money more than he talked about faith and prayer combined. 15% of his preaching was about money and wealth and 11 of his 39 parables involve money. Jesus never asked for money for himself (as far as we know!), but he certainly made the proper use of money a central aspect of discipleship. St. Paul was an active fundraiser. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, he spends considerable ink challenging the Corinthians to take a greater role in supporting the needier Christian communities. For both Jesus and Paul, our relationship with money was an effective indicator of what our real priorities are and where our true security lies.

All of this is a long preamble to what I really want to say, which is “Thank You” for your wonderful sense of stewardship. Over the last six months you have felt the double whammy of two Archdiocesan campaigns at the same time—the Annual Catholic Appeal and the Generation to Generation campaign. We have exceeded our parish goal for both campaigns. Your generosity will help the Church of Chicago not only sustain ministries that cannot support themselves but also put the Archdiocese on firmer footing for the future. For over fifty years Assumption has shared our revenue with Our Lady of Sorrows parish. This is very much in line with what St. Paul challenged the Corinthians to do. One of the ministries at Our Lady of Sorrows is to provide a hot breakfast to the needy on two Saturdays a month. Fr Don Siple, the pastor, noted that one of the breakfast guests asked if the Church would continue the program over the summer. Not everyone does, but Our Lady of Sorrows does; and you help make that possible.

I also appreciate your generosity more directly toward the poor, with donations to the Sandwich fund (Chicago Help Initiative), the Assumption Shares food coupons and the Refugee Assistance Fund. While the number of regular donors has not grown significantly, all of these programs continue to function—thanks not only to the donors but to those who are dedicated to those ministries. And, of course, I cannot forget to thank those who give faithfully to the collection.  Raffles, auctions, and games of chance can be a fun way to raise money, but in most cases, we should not have to depend upon them for survival.

Fr James Mallon, the great guru of parish renewal, whose presentations to  parish leaders in 2018 launched Renew My Church in Chicago, made “giving” a regular part of his preaching and an explicit part of his “welcome letter” to new parishioners when he was himself a pastor: “We expect all parishioners to give generously of their financial resources in proportion to what they have received. We give not just meet a few basic needs, or to pay the costs of maintaining the church building and a few staff. We give out of gratitude to God, and the more the parish receives, the more we can do for the building up of God’s Kingdom, the more we can help the poor, the more programs we can run to help others grow. No one is excluded from this. If someone has less, they give less. If someone has more, they give more. This offering, which we make at Sunday Eucharist, is a key part of our worship.”

                                                                                                                        Fr. Joe