X-Envelope-to: CATHOLIC@american.edu
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Date:         Sat, 2 Jan 1993 14:20:53 PST
From:         J Scott Berg <ALHY@SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject:      Re: contributions
              02 Jan 93 11:34:06 -1000."
              <2B4DD39310A2D02D@SCS.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>

In a message of Sat, 02 Jan 93 11:34:06 -1000 Len Howard writes:
> Scott, your position is not only common but admirable.  The only
> problem is that it is unrealistic.  We exist in the world.  Insurance
> payments must be made on the church, and health insurance for the
> clergy and staff, utility bills have to be paid, the organist paid,
> the rector's car paid for, and on and on.  I can assure you from
> experience on the vestry, that money (or lack of it) is one of the
> major concerns of the church.  We do not discuss who gives what, in
> fact the only figure I know is what I give, and what the average gift
> and the highest gift is.  This comes from the computer printout.  All
> else is privileged information known only to the stewardship chairman,
> the treasurer and the rector.  But they MUST be aware of this.  Often
> the first sign a rector gets that a family is having some sort of
> trouble is that they stop paying their pledge on Sunday.  Nobody is
> denied care because they don't pay, either.  But you have to become a
> bit more realistic in your approach to stewardship.

I agree with most of what you've said here, Len.  I was not trying to
say that we shouldn't donate to the Church for things that we expect
to benefit from.  I doubt that any good pastor would deny a parishoner
help merely because of their prior donation habits.  (Realistically,
in fact, such behavior would probably promote a viscious cycle of
declining donations).  However, a previous poster pointed out an
example of a pastor that, while he didn't necessarily deny anyone
help, did treat parishoners differently based on their giving habits.

What I don't see is the need to have a record of what individuals
donate.  While your example is a good one, there are other ways to
find out that a family is in trouble, and finding out by their
donation habits strikes me as somewhat "sneaky."  It seems that if the
parish needs more money to meet it's needs, that can be found out from
statistical information without having to keep track of who gives
what.

Realistically, I know from being a treasurer of a couple of
organizations that despite handling lots of checks, you do begin to
recognize individuals.  It can't really be helped.  However, it seems
like that doesn't mean that you can say "since we can't keep
individuals donation amounts private, why bother trying."

I would just prefer that nobody knows how much I donate except me and
God.

                                        -Scott Berg


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The opinions expressed here are, of course, my own and nobody else's.
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J. Scott Berg
email: ALHY@slac.stanford.edu
real mail: Varian Physics
           Stanford  CA  94305-4060
phone:  (415) 926-4732 (w)
        (415) 326-2631 (h)
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