Laity Scandal
Mark S. Roberti, Director of Stewardship and Development
Heartland Parishes of Ellis County
We’ve heard a real lot about the priest scandal over the last three years. The press was more than happy to spoon feed us on it. The mass communication media continues to bring it up at every opportunity. Yet, as disappointing as that scandal was, it’s on the table and the bishops are dealing with it. They are getting it under control.
But there is another scandal out there that deals with us, the laity. This one is on our table, and we are doing about as well at handling this as the bishops were before the priest scandal broke. Our scandal is a lack of commitment to that which matters…our faith, our Church, and our God.
Let me put the essence of the issue to you in the words of Charles Zech, who has done the most comprehensive study to-date on Catholic Stewardship. He put it this way, “What does it say about a community of people who will make multi-year commitments to purchase automobiles, vacation homes, boats, etc., but refuse to make a year commitment to their Church? What do they own, and what owns them?”
America is adrift these days. It seemed to work pretty well for almost 200 years. We kept things pretty much in perspective. Then it began to unravel. What happened? How could the very institution of marriage and even basic rights to life be threatened?
I think, this is how Jesus has explains it to us in advance. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt 6:24). In other words, as a people, we have “sold the farm.” We’ve chosen things over values, mammon over God. And now we are harvesting the fruits that mammon sows.
Stewardship is not simply about money. It’s our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. Stewardship is about what and how we prioritize things in our lives. In fact, stewardship is all about relationship. But make no mistake about it, how we spend our money reflects what we value.
What are we saying to God and each other when we put so much emphasis on “keeping up with the Joneses” with respect to material goods and activities, that we have no time to pray, participate significantly at our parish, or put our “fair share,” (a proportionate share of our income) in the collection baskets? To whom do we belong, God or mammon?
I have a good friend, a Catholic convert who was formerly a Presbyterian minister. He used to tell me that a person is not converted until his pocketbook is converted. It took me some time, but now I agree with that statement. Of the time, talent, and treasure triad, treasure seems to be the hardest of which to let go. But in order to grasp God’s hand -- ever-extended out to us -- we have to let go of what’s in ours.
So, the great scandal of the Catholic laity is that, as a whole, mammon has become more important to us than God.
Lest we think I am speaking only of money, look at how we spend our time. How much time do we spend a day in prayer and worship? Then, how much time do we spend watching television, searching the web, or other equally redemptive forms of entertainment? Rather than edifying us, these things tend to desensitize us to values we should, in truth, find offensive.
What about our works, what does Christ say about them? “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot…. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold I will spew you out of my mouth” (Rev 3:15-16). Ouch!
Was that passage from the Book of Revelation written for the last times, or was it for the early Christians who were also living through a time of moral chaos? Personally, I think it was written for the early Christians. But let’s listen to what was revealed to St. John. “For you say, I am rich; I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).
Could that be meant for us, those who think we are self-sufficient with our material things and “financial security?” Jesus counsels the early Christians “…to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve your eyes, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18). Isn’t that telling us, to spend our “essence” on holiness?
This Church has a mission. But the greater part of her armies are asleep in the camp. We, the laity, must start dealing with our own “issues,” just as the bishops have started dealing with theirs.
We, the laity, need to commit to our Church. That’s stewardship…time, talent, and treasure. The time is now. It’s not tomorrow; it’s not later today. It’s right now.