Tithing to our diocese, our parish is our first obligation

Published: February 13, 2010

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor

By Bishop Anthony B. Taylor

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor recorded this homily to be played at all Masses Feb. 5-6 in the Diocese of Little Rock.

One of the questions people often ask me is: "What is the best thing about being bishop?" The answer is easy: "Celebrating the sacrament of confirmation!" -- experiencing the movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of our young people.

This fills me with hope and joy as I ask God to send his Holy Spirit "to be their helper and guide," filling them with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge and fear of the Lord.

One reason I find this sacrament so meaningful is that the longer I am your bishop, the more I realize how much I need those gifts -- we all need them. It isn't always easy to do the right thing -- or even to know what should be done -- which is why I find prayer so important, asking myself: "What would Jesus do in this situation?" And then I pray for the courage to act accordingly.

Another question people ask is: "What do you like best about Arkansas?" That answer is easy too: "The kindness of Arkansas Catholics!" During the last 18 months I have visited most of our diocese and I am constantly humbled by how warmly you receive me as your bishop.

I feel loved and very much at home here. I am also very grateful for your generous response to last year's CASA -- Catholic Arkansas Sharing Appeal -- my first as your bishop.

Last year we exceeded our goal by an amazing 50 percent with most parishes exceeding their targets; more than $2 million was pledged in 2009, the most ever collected -- and this during the worst economic crisis in recent memory. Moreover, we received $400,000 in our new Holy Thursday collection for the education of our seminarians.

Last year I asked you to trust in God's providence and to be agents of his providence for others, and that's exactly what many of you did. I asked you to not give in to fear in the face of economic uncertainty, and isn't it true that faith in the Lord is more powerful than any of the things we fear?

It is this courage, this self-sacrificing trust in the Lord that inspires young people to consider a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. Courage and generosity. No one who's worried about "what's in it for me" is likely to commit themselves to the demanding life of self-sacrificing love that is the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Our youth learn from the rest of us how to set aside our fears in order to put our lives -- our whole future -- in God's hands, trusting in God. And they learn from us -- including from our response to the CASA appeal -- how the sacrifices we make in responding to him turn out to be a blessing for everyone.

Thanks to your generosity and the generosity of the 27 seminarians who are responding to God's call in their life, we're on the right track for the first time in many years and, God willing, I will be ordaining five young men to the priesthood this year.

Part of your donation to CASA and all of your Holy Thursday donation goes to covering the cost of their seminary education, which averages $32,000 per seminarian per year.

We also used $300,000 of last year's CASA collection toward moving Catholic Charities into the vacant former chancery building at the St. John Center. The total project will cost over $1 million and will benefit all those who receive services from Catholic Charities, especially the poor.

This will enable us to provide a more suitable place for us to extend a warm welcome to all those who come to us seeking assistance, to those who seek to adopt a child, and to volunteers who come from all over Arkansas to receive training to meet the needs of the poor in their local communities.

Isn't that what Jesus would do? This move will also allow us to return all of Fletcher Hall -- in which Catholic Charities has been temporarily and inadequately housed for the last nine years -- to its original purpose of providing lodging for those attending retreats and meetings. This freeing up of Fletcher Hall will benefit especially those who come to Little Rock from the more distant regions of the diocese. Last year I announced the beginning of pastoral planning in our diocese and by now your pastor and parish council will have completed a self-study of your parish.

One component was a questionnaire which solicited your input regarding the spiritual and sacramental life of your community, parish liturgies and music, religious education for children and adults, social action to help the poor, parish administration and parish facilities, and so on.

Another component was to compare your parish with a theoretical "model" parish to help identify areas where your parish needs to improve. This first phase of parish-level planning led to the production of summary sheets listing parish strengths and areas for growth in each of the areas of parish life examined.

This year we begin phase 2 of pastoral planning. Your pastor and parish council should now be working on a five-year plan to address the areas for growth that you identified in phase 1.

At the same time, we are now beginning pastoral planning also on the deanery level to address areas of mutual concern, as well as the nonparochial ministry needs in your part of the state: prison ministry, hospital ministry, campus ministry and so on.

This deanery-level planning will also provide me with concrete information about what the diocesan offices might be able to do to improve the support we provide to your efforts on the parish and deanery level. Parish- and deanery-level planning in 2010 will lead to a self-study of the diocesan offices in 2011.

Further information and news about our seminarians, about our process of pastoral planning and about all the good things being done with the money you donate to CASA can be found in Arkansas Catholic, our award-winning diocesan newspaper.

If you do not currently subscribe, I invite you to sign up now. Just fill out the subscription envelope we have provided and mail it in or put it in the collection basket today, along with your CASA pledge.

And how much should your CASA pledge be? Well, we are obligated to return 10 percent of our income, the "first fruits" to the Lord right off the top, before taxes, before other obligations -- God's claim on us comes first if he is our master. God's claims come first if we are his servants.

The word "tithe" in the Bible means literally "one-tenth." A good rule of thumb is 5 percent of your income -- half of your tithe -- to your parish, 1 percent to the diocese -- the CASA appeal -- and 4 percent to other charities.

So here I am today asking you to pledge to donate 1 percent of your income to this year's CASA appeal and to remind you to give 5 percent to your parish. It's easy to calculate: just take your annual income and drop three zeros.

Since the CASA pledge is monthly, to donate 1 percent, take your annual income and drop three zeros, and give that amount monthly for 10 months and that is 1 percent.

And if you give to your parish weekly, to donate 5 percent, take your annual income and drop three zeros and give that amount weekly for 50 weeks (you get two weeks vacation), and that is 5 percent. So for instance, if you earn $50,000 per year, drop three zeros and donate $50 per month to CASA and $50 per week to your parish and over the course of the year you will have donated $500, and $2,500 respectively. $25,000 per year? $25 per month to CASA, and $25 per week to your parish. $100,000 per year? $100 per month to CASA and $100 per week to your parish. I'm sure your pastor will be able to remind you of this later.

At this point perhaps I should add that I know that lower-income people have less discretionary income. So it is important to remember that tithing is not about giving from one's surplus, rather it is returning to the Lord the portion that rightly belongs to him.

Here the poor have it harder -- as they do with all their expenses -- because they have less to work with. The rich often can donate an even greater percentage because they have more discretionary income -- the first 10 percent is their tithe; everything beyond that is philanthropy.

But it is also true that the poor benefit a great deal from tithing because it obligates them most of all to make real sacrifices, which in turn makes them examine their priorities, and make better decisions about what they will do with the remaining 90 percent.

So now let's take a few minutes to make your pledge to CASA for 2010. I have asked your pastor to allow time following this message for you to fill out your cards during this Mass and then to collect them so that they can be brought to the altar as part of the offertory procession.

If you need to take your pledge card home to do some calculations, that's fine, but please be sure to bring it back next week. We need to know the results of this year's CASA appeal as soon as possible in order to be able to plan for the future.

Thank you so much for your generous response last year. I know this continues to be a difficult time economically for many of us, so I want you to know that I understand and appreciate the sacrifice I am asking you to make, and to assure you that your money will be administered wisely. Together we can do beautiful things for the Lord.