House of Stewardship

I am in Chicago at the International Conference on Catholic Stewardship.  For the most part the speakers have been excellent.  I especially like talking with the other conference goers.  I meet people from all over and get to listen to them talk about their work and their parishes. But I also get to hear them talk about the Church.  This is not only revealing but challenging as well.

I find myself replacing the word 'stewardship' with 'discipleship.'  Even as I read the document, Stewardship: A Disciples Response, in my mind I think that the Bishops of the time were really talking about being disciples.  Some where along the path we fell away from the following of Jesus, and sort of did our own thing.  What is scary is how to help people take responsibility for their faith.

In Psalm 101 today, from Morning Prayer, the phrase "I will hate the ways of the crooked; they shall not be my friends," really struck a chord with me.  Not that I have crooked friends, but I think that we as a Church took upon ourselves some "crooked" ways.  When I was first ordained I recall that business models were being used in running parishes, as was soft psychology to manage staffs.  And more troubling was the power-plays made at the local chancery office.  Pride, arrogance, greed, seemed to be the foundation of some who sought to "serve" the Diocese.

In reflecting on Stewardship we necessarily have to break beyond the time, talent, and treasure mantra, and learn to be Servant-Leaders.  I read a fantastic book a few years ago which spoke to this.  From Maintenance to Mission, proposes that we re-discover the call of the disciples to share 'Good News.'  First and foremost our parishes, and even our catholic lives, are somehow centered on the call to carry the Gospel.  Sometimes we get in the way though.  How do I serve the Gospel, as opposed to the other way around.

More than anything else we need to strengthen that concept of being in communion with God through Jesus Christ.  If God has given us good things, what does our 'thank you' look like in our parishes, families, schools, and communities.  St. James has been quite blunt these last few weeks with ideas.  That is really the stewardship response.