Stewardship Tip May 2009

Extreme stewardship for very hard times

Some stewardship parishes seem to be weathering the current economic downturn with very little difficulty. Others are in areas experiencing high unemployment and/or large numbers of home foreclosures and are seeking new ways to increase their outreach ministries and trying desperately to keep from laying off the paid parish staff.

One parish in an affluent area has formed teams of people with useful skills and a willingness to help (financial planners, mortgage experts, tax preparers and attorneys willing to work pro bono, marriage and family counselors, etc.) and set up evening seminars to meet with people in need of those services. Another has “twinned” with an inner city parish and is sending books, supplies, and money for tuition to students who would otherwise have to leave the parish school because of a parent’s unemployment. In yet another, the bulletin editor has offered to help “brush up” the résumés of job seekers, and office space and parish computers are being made available to those needing to search the Internet for job leads. One parish has a group of retired folks who pick up day-old baked goods every morning from a large membership chain and distribute them to area food pantries and shelters. On Sundays they take them to the parish where eager parishioners take what they need and give what they can. Then the money collected goes each Monday morning to a food bank which turns it into hundreds of pounds of additional food for the hungry.

In one hard-hit parish, all members of the parish staff have taken a voluntary 10% pay cut – a sort of “reverse stewardship” – rather than have anyone be laid off. In turn, the parish has asked the employees to reclaim 10% of their work time for their personal use – that means a whole morning or an afternoon off for a full-time employee – and promised to restore the pre-recession salary of each as soon as the economy improves. Spreading the burden and re-evaluating each one’s workload and priorities ensures that the most important things get done in spite of the downturn and demonstrates good and very generous stewardship of the parish resources. At another parish, some people who can afford to buy raffle tickets for the annual parish Fiesta are putting the names and phone numbers of unemployed parishioners on the stubs instead of their own and buying ride tickets for parish children whose parents are experiencing financial difficulties.

And some very talented people who have been laid off are making their skills available to the parish while they wait for a call from a potential employer. A graphic artist at a nearby parish developed beautiful materials for their Lenten program, designed the worship aid for the Triduum, and worked tirelessly with the Art and Environment ministers to help make the quick scene changes necessary during Holy Week – from the solemn beauty of Holy Thursday to the somber starkness of Good Friday to the splendid flower-filled exuberance of Easter. Another, usually “too busy,” parish leader is taking advantage of her unexpected lay-off to take the diocesan bereavement training and to represent the parish at diocesan events held during the day. “It’s an ill wind that blows no one some good,” the old saying goes, and some very good and creative stewardship is turning up in unlikely places. What’s going on at your parish in these difficult times?