Best Practices in Catholic Parish
Stewardship Activities
Charles Zech
Center for the Study of Church Management
Villanova University
800 Lancaster Ave
Villanova PA 19085
charles.zech@villanova.edu
Work on this study was financially supported by the Our Sunday Visitor Institute and the International Catholic Stewardship Council. I thank them for their support. But please don't blame them for my findings.
Stewardship can be a tough sell when first introduced into a parish. There are any number of organizations that stand ready to assist parishes who wish to begin or renew their parish stewardship effort. These include the International Catholic Stewardship Council, diocesan-level stewardship offices, and a large number of private consulting firms that will work with a parish one on one. In addition there are scores of "how to" books and handbooks on parish stewardship. Each of these provides a variety of practical activities (in most cases breaking them out step by step) that a parish can employ to introduce or maintain stewardship. But which of these are effective, and which are not. Of those that are effective, which prove to have the greatest impact, where a parish might place its priority? What are the best practices in parish stewardship activities?
The fact is that no one knows for sure. There is anecdotal evidence, but no clear empirical support. This study is intended to provide the first clear evidence to identify parish level stewardship activities that are effective as opposed to those that intuitively sound like good ideas, but in reality have no impact. In addition, it is the first study to empirically analyze all three elements of stewardship: time, talent, and treasure. Every other empirical study of stewardship has focused solely on treasure or on time and talent.
Data from this study comes from a national survey of parishes. A total of 1459 parishes were surveyed: 474 were ICSC members, 985 were chosen randomly from the National Parish Inventory maintained by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). Of this latter group, 16 parishes were no longer in existence. After two mailings, questionnaires were returned from 227 ICSC member parishes (48%) and 208 Non-ICSC parishes (21 percent).
The survey asked about a number of parish activities, some of which are intentionally stewardship driven (e.g., the use of lay witnesses) and others which are frequently found in most parishes (e.g., communications). As mentioned above, this study extends parish stewardship outcomes beyond a mere consideration of treasure. It also includes a measure of volunteer time, a measure of parishioner time spent in spiritual activities, and a measure of parish outreach activities. These latter two measures are based on an index which combined a variety of activities. Table 1 shows the various measures used and their mean values.
An important issue is concerned with the direction of causality implied in a given relationship. It is a bit of a chicken or egg problem: does a particular activity lead to more stewardship in a parish? Or is it the case that parishes that are already ablaze with the spirit of stewardship reveal their zeal for stewardship by undertaking a particular activity more frequently? For example, take the case of incorporating stewardship into a parish's adult education programs. If this is found to be related to greater stewardship outcomes in a parish, is it because parish adult education programs that focus on stewardship lead to more stewardship? Or is it because parishes that are already heavily committed to stewardship ensure that their adult education programs contain a heavy emphasis on stewardship? The answer is probably a bit of both, that there is a "feedback" effect at work. Furthermore, we can imagine a parish reaching a "tipping point", where initially an activity like adult education that emphasizes stewardship inspires parishioners to pursue a stewardship way of life. At some point (the tipping point), so many parishioners have been drawn to stewardship that the parish becomes a stewardship parish, and every activity (including adult education) reflects the parishioners' stewardship motivation. This is the ultimate goal.
One problem with the outcomes used in this study and listed in Table 1 is that they are all measured in different units: dollars, percents, and averages. This makes it very difficult to make comparisons across stewardship outcomes. To mitigate that problem, I developed a standard unit of measure by dividing each parish's outcome in each category by the average for that category. That is, I divided each parish's contributions per household by the average contributions per household for the entire sample of parishes ($517). Likewise, I divided each parishes' percent volunteer by the average for the entire sample (27.4%); its Spirituality Index by the average (46.3); and its Outreach Index by the average for all the parishes in the sample (3.34).
By doing this, I've converted each parish's outcome into a comparison between it and the average value for all the parishes in the sample. For example, let's say that Parish A's Treasure Index is greater than one, for example 1.20. That tells us that its treasure (contributions per household) is 20 percent greater than the average (that is, $620). An Outreach Index less than one, say, .95, would indicate that parish's outreach is five percent less than the average, that is, 3.17. This allows us to compare stewardship outcomes across the various categories.
The Role of the Stewardship Council
Next to the pastor, the most important actor in determining a successful stewardship effort in a parish is the parish stewardship council. Note the use of the term "council" rather than "committee". The group charged with creating and maintaining stewardship in a parish should be considered more than a committee. It should rightly be viewed as one of the pastor's key advisory councils, on a par with the parish pastoral council and the parish finance council.
The stewardship council is the group charged with creating a stewardship vision for the parish, impacting the parish culture. Their role is to bring the concept of stewardship to life in the parish.
The stewardship council is responsible for a variety of activities that help form a stewardship parish. Many of these activities are discussed in the succeeding chapters of this book: recruiting and training lay ministers, organizing the parish ministry fair, ensuring that parish educational programs at all levels contain a stewardship module, communicating about stewardship with parishioners, leading the pledge drive, and so on.
At times, the stewardship council might find itself in tension with the parish finance council. Members of the finance council, concerned with meeting the parish budget and convincing parishioners of the importance of "giving to a need", might not have patience with a program whose intent is to develop a "need to give" among parishioners. Finance council members may be enamored of fundraising projects, which can run counter to the stewardship ideal and even confuse parishioners about the place of treasure in the parish.
For this, and for a variety of other reasons, most stewardship professionals strongly urge that the stewardship council stand as a separate council, not as a subcommittee of the parish pastoral council or the parish finance council. Having said that, the survey found a variety of organizational arrangements for parish stewardship councils.
In the survey, 56 percent of the parishes indicated that they had a stewardship council or committee. Of these, 62 percent were stand-alone councils. Another 21 percent either overlapped with or were a subcommittee of the parish pastoral council, while 12 percent identified themselves as either the same as or a subcommittee of the parish finance council. There was a scattering of other organizational structures.
Does it make a difference as to what organizational form the stewardship council takes? No.
Table 2 shows the impact of a variety of factors associated with the parish stewardship council on the four measures of stewardship outcomes used in this study. We first asked if a parish had a stewardship committee or council. As Table 2 indicates, parishes with stewardship committees or councils in place (no matter what their organizational arrangement) generated significantly more treasure (12 percent more), volunteer time (7 percent) and outreach time (18 percent). Those that were organized as a separate council received more treasure (22 percent) and more outreach (20 percent). Those that were the same as or subcommittees of the parish pastoral council had no impact on any of the stewardship outcomes. Those parishes that had somehow folded their stewardship committees into their parish finance council not only failed to experience a significant increase in any of the stewardship measures, they suffered a five percent decrease in outreach.
It is important that all three groups, stewardship council, pastoral council, and finance council, work together. One solution is to have members from the various groups sit as liaisons and attend the other organizations' meetings to ensure adequate information. But since each has a significantly different role to play in the parish, each council should stand on its own.
What about other characteristics on the stewardship council? Surprisingly, three factors were found to have no impact at all on any of our measures of parish stewardship outcomes. They were: the frequency of council meetings; the extent to which the pastor attends the meetings, and the issue of whether or not the council develops an annual plan (although 63 percent of the parishes in the sample indicated that they did have an annual plan).
One characteristic of the council that played a relatively minor role was the length of time it had been in existence. Parishes in which the stewardship council had been in place for a longer period of time (seven years or more) generated significantly more treasure than the average parish in our sample. However, longer serving stewardship councils had no impact on our other outcome measures.
It is important that stewardship councils, like all parish organizations, regularly participate in education and formation activities. In our survey we asked about five typical council developmental activities. Two, studying the Bishops' Pastoral (77 percent of the committees had read it) and attending stewardship retreats (23 percent had attended at least one), had no impact on any of our stewardship outcome measures. The only education/formation activity that affected more than one outcome measure was attending the annual ICSC conference. This activity led to significantly higher outcomes in all stewardship measures except treasure. It might be noted that attending the ICSC
conference, along with attending diocesan or regional stewardship conferences, were the only stewardship council activities that significantly impacted the parish's spiritual time. It might be that such conferences emphasize the spiritual dimensions more than any of the other activities listed.
In short, it is important that a parish have a stewardship council. The organizational form that it takes, whether or not it stands alone or is a subcommittee of another parish advisory committee, is of less importance. Also, few stewardship formation activities make a difference
Lay Witnesses
One of the most important tasks of the parish stewardship council is to identify and train lay witnesses. Lay witnesses are individuals, couples, or in some cases an entire family who are willing to stand before the parish community and testify to the impact that stewardship has had on their lives. This is not an easy thing to do for most people. Care must be taken to select the right people, and then to train them.
Most lay witnesses are parishioners, although some parishes from time to time will bring in an outsider to serve as a lay witness. They motivate parishioners who can relate to the lay witnesses' stories and understand how stewardship can work for them. It is not a plea for money or a plea for volunteers. It is about a real life person's journey. It goes without saying, then, that it is essential that lay witnesses have credibility with parishioners for the way they lead their lives. Their stewardship should be intentional and planned, so they can explain it to others. It ought to encompass all three components, time, talent, and treasure. They should be enthusiastic about their stewardship, and comfortable in sharing that enthusiasm with others.
Is the use of lay witnesses an effective stewardship strategy? Yes. As Table 3 indicates, the parishes in our sample who utilized lay witnesses at least annually received significantly larger than average contributions in all four of our stewardship outcome measures.
Who should serve as a
lay witness?
Who should serve as a lay witness, beyond meeting the general standards described above? Every parish is different. Every parish has its own personality. Every parish has its own culture. Every parish will look for different demographic characteristics in its lay witnesses. But we did find some patterns.
Table 3 shows the effect of four demographic types of lay witnesses. Three of them have a significant impact on three stewardship outcomes, while the other, the use of ethnic presenters, affected two. Young families and youth had the greatest impact on treasure, while old families and ethnic presenters significantly affected spiritual activities.
Perhaps the most interesting finding in Table 3 is that leveraging lay witness demographic characteristics by utilizing a variety of demographic types can be a very effective strategy. Using two or more demographic types significantly increased the outcome for treasure, volunteer time, and outreach time.
Again, the conclusion is that every parish is different. Each parish needs to invite lay witnesses from demographic groups that make the most sense for it.
While most parishes use their own parishioners as lay witnesses, from time to time they might want to bring in someone from the outside to give a lay witness presentation. This is especially true for a parish that is just beginning its stewardship effort. Parishioners might not be familiar with the concept of serving as a lay witness and might be reluctant to step forward and volunteer for that role. Also, a guest lay witness might come with some built-in credibility.
In Table 3 we see that parishioners who serve as lay witnesses significantly increase contributions to all four of our stewardship outcomes. For the parishes in our sample, utilizing guest lay witnesses had a significant effect on three measures, but did not result in a significant increase in treasure. We can only speculate as to why this might be the case. Perhaps guest lay ministers, who are strangers to their audience, are reluctant to spend their limited speaking time talking about treasure. Maybe, as outsiders, they lack credibility with parishioners who don't know them when they testify about stewardship and their own treasure contributions. Or, maybe there is a bias in our sample, and the parishes that have used guest lay witnesses are the parishes that are just starting out on their stewardship journey. Most parishes that are just starting out focus on the time and talent dimensions initially, introducing treasure only later.
Whatever the reason, it is clear that using parishioners as lay ministers is a very effective tactic in developing stewardship across all four of our outcome measures.
Homilies
Nearly every Sunday's scripture readings present an opportunity for the homilist to preach on the topic of stewardship. After all, more than half of Jesus' parables were concerned with issues like money or possessions – far more than the number of parables that focus on love. Apparently, Jesus thought that money or possessions are a greater threat to our salvation than a lack of love would be. Likewise, giving of time, talent, and treasure are frequent topics in St. Paul's letters and in the Acts of the Apostles.
No one would argue that stewardship should be the theme of the homily on every Sunday. But pastors and stewardship council members should know that a parish that is serious about stewardship will recognize that parishioners need reminders on a regular basis. Surely, stewardship needs to be preached on more frequently than once a year, in conjunction with the parish's annual Stewardship Sunday. In our survey, about 20 percent of the parishes indicated that stewardship was the topic of the Sunday homily "seldom or never".
Are frequent homilies on stewardship effective? Yes. Table 4 indicates that those parishes in which stewardship is the topic of the homily six times a year or more (still a relatively low standard to meet) receive significantly greater contributions of time and talent in the form of volunteer hours, time spent in spiritual practices, and outreach activities. The only stewardship measure unaffected by stewardship homilies was treasure. Perhaps this reflects the reluctance on the part of many homilists, in particular priests, to preach on the subject of money and possessions. Dan Conway, in his two excellent studies "The Reluctant Steward" and "The Reluctant Steward Revisited" has pointed out that, for a variety of reasons, priests are hesitant to discuss money from the pulpit. John and Sylvia Ronsvale, in their book Beyond the Stained Glass Windows, found that only six percent of the pastors they surveyed agreed with the statement, "Most pastors enjoy preaching about money".
One of the primary reasons is their feeling that seminary training has left them ill-prepared to speak authoritatively on the topic. Another is the concern that their celibate lifestyle causes them to lose credibility when they preach about money. Some might fear that talking about money will alienate their parishioners.
At the same time, communicating with parishioners on the role of money and possessions in their lives is an obligation of every priest. We wouldn't let a priest who was uncomfortable with making sick calls avoid that responsibility. So too, we need to impress upon our priests that preaching on the treasure component of stewardship is not an optional part of their priesthood.
Ministry Fairs and Commitment Sunday
In many parishes, the highlight of the stewardship calendar is the annual parish Ministry Fair, often held in conjunction with a Commitment Sunday. The intention of a Ministry Fair is to educate parishioners on the many opportunities to serve in a ministry in the parish. Typically, the parish stewardship council prepares a catalog of parish ministry opportunities and contact people that is either mailed in advance or available at the Fair. At the Fair itself, ministries sponsor booths that describe the work of their ministry and make ministry members available to answer questions. The Ministry Fair often coincides with the opportunity for parishioners to indicate their interest in joining a particular ministry. Some parishes keep the two events separate, with the Ministry Fair held on one weekend, and Commitment Sunday held on a different weekend. In many of those parishes, Commitment Sunday involves the opportunity to commit to treasure contributions as well by completing a pledge card.
How effective are ministry fairs and commitment Sundays at forming parish stewardship? According to the data shown in Table 4, both ministry fairs and commitment Sundays are useful in generating more time spent in spirituality practices. They are ineffective in promoting any of the other components of stewardship, including volunteer time and outreach activities. Perhaps this is not surprising. Nearly every scholar who has researched individuals' decisions to volunteer (both to religious and to secular causes) has concluded that the most valuable tool is a personal invitation to volunteer (see Freeman 1997). In fact, the Independent Sector (2001) has estimated that 71 percent of all volunteers had been asked to volunteer.
This is not surprising to most parishioners. In many parishes, particular ministries are viewed as being controlled by a clique. An outsider in those parishes would be reluctant to volunteer without an invitation. At the same time, most parishioners would agree that it is difficult to turn down a personal request to join a particular ministry, especially if that request comes from the pastor.
While ministry fairs might be useful as education and communication tools to alert parishioners as to ministry opportunities in the parish, they are probably less successful in actually recruiting new members to join a particular ministry. They certainly are not nearly as effective as a personal invitation, especially if that invitation comes from the pastor. Ministry fairs have a role to play, but in most parishes the expectations about their value in promoting stewardship should be modest.
Support of Time and Talent
Another task typically entrusted to the parish stewardship council is to support those who are contributing their time and talent. The three most common types of support are assisting in gift discernment, holding a ministry commissioning ceremony, and sponsoring a ministry appreciation function. In our survey we learned that some parishes provide other types of support, as well.
Gift Discernment
As St. Paul has reminded us:
"Now, there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Corinthians: 4-7).
Frequently, parishioners consider some ministries, such as those involved with the liturgy, to be more important than others. The implication of St. Paul's letter is that all ministries are equally important. All of the gifts that parishioners possess are needed.
What is needed is a discernment process to help parishioners identify their particular gifts and where these gifts can make the greatest contribution.
A critical aspect of a parish's stewardship effort is to assist each parishioner in discovering the ministry where their individual gifts are most suited. In many ways, allowing parishioners to serve in the wrong ministry is worse than if they hadn't served at all.
As might be expected, based on the findings presented in Table 4, parishes that utilize some form of gift discernment experience significantly more volunteer time and outreach activities. Treasure and time spent in spiritual practices are not significantly affected.
Ministry Commissioning
A second activity that would be supportive of contributions of time and talent is a special ministry commissioning ceremony. Often held as part of the Sunday liturgy, a ministry commissioning ceremony provides public witness to the importance of stewardship of time and talent in the parish. This not only serves to recognize and encourage those engaged in ministry, it also provides an opportunity for other parishioners to reflect on their own contributions of time and talent.
From Table 4 we see that, like gift discernment, a ministry commissioning ceremony is associated with significantly greater levels of parish volunteer time and outreach activity. However, unlike gift discernment, it is also related to larger contributions of treasure. A ministry commissioning ceremony can also be an occasion for parishioners to reflect on other components of their stewardship
Ministry Appreciation Dinner
Finally, a parish might choose to recognize all those parishioners who have served a ministry in any capacity by holding a general thank-you function such as an appreciation dinner. While this seems consistent with a sense of Christian gratitude, the concept has some detractors. They point out that, through our Baptism, we have not only a right but also a responsibility to participate in a ministry. To thank someone for merely carrying out their responsibility strikes some as unnecessary and perhaps even counter-productive. Thanking those who engage in a ministry might lead them to think that their participation is a volunteer activity, not a ministry.
Perhaps a better way of viewing any ministry appreciation function is not as a thank-you, but as an act of affirmation. Inviting those engaged in a ministry to the function is not meant to convey the message, "Thank you for doing something that you did not have to do". Rather the message is one of affirmation, "What you do is very important to the life of this parish". It is important that the right message as to why the appreciation function is being held is properly conveyed.
Sponsoring a ministry appreciation dinner, as indicated in Table 4, has the anticipated result of leading to higher levels of parish volunteers and outreach activities. But it is also associated with greater participation in parish spiritual activities.
Sponsoring each of these activities individually, as Table 4 reveals, can lead to significant increases in various measures of parish stewardship outcomes. However, as the table indicates, parishes that sponsor two or more activities meant to support contributions of time and talent receive greater contributions in three stewardship measures. And, based on the value of the coefficients, the increase in outcomes is generally greater than that received from the sponsorship of any one activity.
To sum up, supporting parish contributions of time and talent with such activities as gift discernment, ministry commissioning ceremonies, ministry appreciation dinners, and other similar activities can significantly influence stewardship contributions in areas other than just volunteer time and outreach activities.
Parish Planning
One of the themes of this book is that in order to be successful, stewardship must permeate the entire parish. This is most evident in the importance that stewardship plays in the parish planning process.
We asked our sample to indicate the extent that stewardship is incorporated into the parish's normal planning process. Table 4 indicates that those parishes that indicated that stewardship played a critical role in their parish planning received significantly larger contributions of all four of our stewardship outcomes.
The message is clear. Parishes that are serious about stewardship will ensure that their planning revolves around their identity as a stewardship parish.
Parish Formation and Educational Programs
To be truly effective, stewardship must permeate the entire life of the parish. One opportunity for ensuring that stewardship inculcates the entire parish is through the parish's on-going formation and education programs. In our survey, we asked about the extent to which stewardship and the language of stewardship are included in a variety of formation and educational programs offered by the parish. The results appear in Table 5.
Youth Programs
Most parishes offer an array of religious educational programs for their children and teenagers. Many sponsor a parochial school, either on their own or in cooperation with neighboring parishes. Nearly all offer religious education for students who are not enrolled in a parochial or private school. A good number of parishes try (with varying degrees of success) to offer formation and educational programs for their high school youth. And, of course, sacramental preparation is taken seriously in most parishes.
These formation/education programs provide an excellent opportunity to develop stewardship in a parish. Not only do they reach the children and introduce them to the possibilities that good stewardship offers, but they also provide an entree to the parents. Parents who experience their children learning about and asking them about stewardship might be more inclined to investigate it themselves.
There are a number of age-appropriate stewardship activities that can be introduced in these programs. Parish envelopes could be distributed and children encouraged to tithe their allowance. Classes could take on service projects that call on the children's time and talent. These could then be high-lighted in the parish bulletin or newsletter.
Sacramental preparation is an especially opportune time for stewardship to be introduced to both parents and children. For example, time, talent, and treasure discernment is a most appropriate facet of the preparation for confirmation. But the benefits can reach beyond the confines of the individual family. In some places the entire parish is invited to become involved in sacramental preparation. This serves as an occasion for stewardship renewal for all parishioners.
So, how productive is it to incorporate a discussion of stewardship into the curriculum of a parish's children and teenager religious formation/education programs? As Table 5 shows, the results are mixed but generally positive.
Stewardship education in parochial schools elicits greater contributions of treasure and outreach activities, but does not have a significant impact on contributions of volunteer hours or spiritual time. Sacramental preparation that incorporates a segment on stewardship is associated with larger contributions of volunteer time, spiritual activities, and outreach efforts, but not treasure.
On the other hand integrating stewardship into both religious education and (notably) youth groups significantly impacts all four of our stewardship measures.
One interpretation of these findings is that providing stewardship education to children and teenagers serves to promote stewardship across the parish, that is, stewardship education causes good parish stewardship. On the other hand, it is difficult to attribute a parish's success at stewardship to the fact that they have been able to form their youngsters as good stewards, since these cohorts are unlikely to be big contributors of time, talent, and treasure. An alternative interpretation is that parishes that are already absorbed in stewardship are more likely to ensure that stewardship is an integral part of the curriculum, or, in other words, good parish stewardship causes stewardship education. But perhaps the best interpretation is a combination of these. Parishes that are already dominated by the spirit of stewardship ensure that stewardship is an essential part of the religious education and youth group curriculum. This, in turn, serves to promote stewardship in the parish by inspiring children and youths, and ultimately their parents, to join the stewardship movement.
Adult Programs
Since adults are the primary contributors of time, talent and treasure, the impact of stewardship formation programs for adults on parish stewardship outcomes is more direct. At the same time, though, we should expect a feed-back effect, where parishioners who have adopted a stewardship way of life will press for more stewardship formation opportunities.
The data shown in Table 5 reveals that stewardship education for adults is extremely successful at eliciting greater levels in each of our measures of stewardship outcomes. We asked our sample about four adult-oriented stewardship formation activities: adult education, senior citizens groups, evangelization through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, and spiritual renewal programs. With the exception of RCIA programs, integrating stewardship into each of these formation activities was associated with greater contributions of treasure and volunteer activity and more involvement in spiritual and outreach activities. Incorporating stewardship into RCIA increased all of our outcome measures except spiritual activities. As an aside, it should go without saying that a parish that is serious about stewardship would make every effort to introduce the concept to all of its new members, whether they are converts coming through the RCIA program or newly arrived parishioners.
Many parishes struggle with adult education. In this day of busy two-earner and single parent households, it is difficult for parishes to entice members to attend their adult education offerings. But this is one activity where a stewardship emphasis can play a significant role in increasing all four measures of stewardship.
A successful strategy is emphasizing stewardship in parish sponsored senior citizens events. The results in Table 5 concerning the effectiveness of senior citizens stewardship formation programs are a bit surprising on two accounts. First, since as described in Chapter Three, many senior citizens are retired and have a bit more discretionary time to contribute, it is not surprising that including stewardship in programs intended for them results in more volunteer hours and more participation in spiritual and outreach activities. What is surprising it that it also results in greater contributions of treasure. Ordinarily, we would not expect a group of parishioners, many of whom are living on a fixed income, to be such successful stewards of treasure.
A second surprising finding is that, not only does incorporating stewardship into senior citizens programs bring about larger amounts of each of our measures of stewardship outcomes, for each outcome the increase is greater than for any other formation/education activity. The increases range from 22 percent (for volunteer time) to 35 percent (for outreach activities). Even treasure contributions are 29 percent greater than the average of all parishes in the sample.
Finally, keeping with our theme of stewardship permeating the entire parish, Table 5 demonstrates that those parishes that incorporate stewardship into a multiple (three or more) of their formation/education programs (no matter what they were, youth or adult) received significantly greater levels of each of each of our stewardship outcome measures.
Tithing and Pledging
One of the key factors in assisting parishioners in their stewardship journey lies in the parish's teachings on the type of commitment it expects from them. This isn't necessarily a stewardship issue. Parishes that aren't heavily invested in stewardship might still expect their members to make some sort of financial or time commitment to the parish. But every parish that takes stewardship seriously should be clear about the level of stewardship commitment that it expects from its parishioners. Stewardship cannot be a casual undertaking.
This expectation generally takes the form of some variation of "first fruits". Recognizing God's generosity to us, we should make returning a portion of our time, talent, and treasure to furthering His work on earth our first priority, not simply what is left over after we've satisfied all of our other earthly commitments. For example, this might entail contributing our wage income from the first hour(s) that we work each week.
Tithing
In many stewardship parishes, this involves asking parishioners for a commitment to tithe. The Biblical teaching of tithing, of course, emphasizes contributing ten percent of our resources. Very few parishes insist that all ten percent go to the parish. Some, for example, use the formula of eight percent to the parish and two percent to other causes. Others might ask for a commitment of five percent to the parish and five percent to other causes. Some pastors tell their parishioners that they can count their parochial school tuition as a part of their tithe. And, of course, there will always be some parishioners who will ask if the tithe should be based on pre-tax or post-tax income.
Actually, very few Catholics tithe. The data that supported Why Catholics Don't Give was based on a survey primarily of regular Mass attenders. Seventy-five percent of that sample indicated that they attended Mass at least weekly. Yet, when we asked them if they tithed, only four percent indicated that they did. In the survey that supports this study, only seventeen percent of parishes asked their parishioners to tithe.
Some parishioners, while reluctant to tithe, will commit themselves to contributing an annual percent of their income that is something less than a tithe. As with tithing, though, very few Catholics do this. Of the primarily regular Mass attenders reported on in Why Catholic Don't Give, only six percent indicated that their contributions were based on their goal to donate a given percent of their income. Thirty-five percent of the parishes that responded to the survey for this study encouraged their parishioners to contribute a given percent of their income.
In the survey for this study, only five percent of the parishes encouraged their members to contribute a specific dollar amount (e.g., $20 per week, or $1000 per year). But that was the most popular approach taken by the regular Mass attenders in the Why Catholics Don't Give survey, with 53 percent indicating that was how they determined the amount that they would contribute to the parish.
Perhaps of greatest concern is the number of parishes who make no recommendation at all about how much their parishioners should be contributing. Thirty-six percent of the parishes responding to the survey supporting this study either made no recommendation at all, or told parishioners that they could contribute whatever they thought they could afford. It's no wonder, then, that thirty-seven percent of the regular Mass attenders in the Why Catholics Don't Give study based their giving decision on how much they thought they could afford each week. We all know how that goes. If parishioners feel they can give more that week, they will. But if their checkbook is a bit light that week, they will give less (or nothing). And all too often, if they miss Mass for some reason (out of town, sick, etc.) they are unlikely to make up that week's contribution.
Pledging
It is imperative that we ask our parishioners to make a firm commitment to support their parish. Unfortunately, pledging is not a popular concept with Catholics, who were raised in a Church that relied on the free-will offerings that were deposited in the offertory collection basket each week. Many view it as a Protestant concept. Others worry about what would happen if their circumstances change, and they are unable to meet their pledge. Some are even concerned about what the pastor will think of them when he sees the amount they have pledged.
One danger with pledging, regardless of the form it takes, is that it can be disassociated from stewardship. Parishioners might view their pledge merely as necessary to meet the budget. That is, the motivation is to give to a need, rather than develop a need to give. Pastors need be preaching on stewardship to ensure that parishioners are not basing their pledge merely on their satisfaction with the parish's programs.
Encouraging parishioners to make a commitment to support their parish, whether it is through tithing, pledging, or some other means, is one of the strategies that is generally believed to be effective. But is it? In Table 6 we see that the answer is a qualified "Yes".
Encouraging parishioners to tithe their income has a substantial impact on parishioners' treasure contributions. As noted above, only about one-sixth of the parishes in this survey promoted tithing. But those that did received an average of 27 percent larger per household financial contributions. Unfortunately, this generosity did not spill over to other contributions, such as volunteer time or time spent in spiritual practices. Tithing treasure was associated with a significantly larger parish outreach effort.
The most successful approach was to ask parishioners to pledge. Parishes that encouraged pledging of treasure received significantly larger contributions of treasure, volunteer time, and outreach activities. The same was true for parishes that practiced pledging of time and talent. Pledging of each of time, talent, and treasure resulted in significantly larger contributions of treasure, volunteer time, and parish outreach activity. The increase in treasure in all three cases was not as great as it was for tithing, but pledging had a broader impact on parish stewardship outcomes than did tithing.
Conclusion
This study has looked at parish stewardship activities in an attempt to discover which activities are actually effective (reality), and which sound good in theory but are in fact ineffective (myths). Among the myths about parish stewardship activities are that the following are important:
Among the realities are that the following are effective stewardship activities:
References
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Conway, Daniel (2002). "The Reluctant Steward Revisited", Saint Meinrad, IN: Saint
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TABLE 1
Parish Stewardship Outcomes
Mean
Outcome Value
I. Treasure – per household regular contributions $517
II. Percent of Parishioners Volunteering Time 27.4
III. Parish Spirituality Index – Sum of the Percent of
Parishioners engaged in the following activities 46.3
· Regularly attend weekday Mass
· Regularly attend other liturgical celebrations
(e.g., adoration, rosary)
· Regularly attend bible study groups
· Regularly attend small group retreats
· Member of small faith group
IV. Sum of Parish Outreach Activities 3.34
· Soup Kitchen
· Food Pantry
· Tutoring/Literacy Program
· Hospital/Nursing Home Ministry
· Prison Ministry
· Habitat for Humanity House
· Sister Parish
· Sister Diocese
· Hospice Program
· Community Advocacy
· Other
Table 2
Impact of Stewardship Committee
Volunteer Spiritual Outreach
Activity Treasure Time Time Time
Parish has a Stewardship Committee 1.12 1.07 * 1.18
Stewardship Committee is a separate committee 1.22 * * 1.20
Stewardship Committee is a subcommittee of the PPC * * * *
Stewardship Committee is a subcommittee of the PFC * * * .95
Stewardship Committee 7 years or more 1.27 * * *
Frequency of Stewardship Committee Meetings * * * *
Pastor Attends Stewardship Committee Meetings * * * *
Committee has an annual plan * * * *
Committee Education/Formation Activities
Committee has read Stewardship: A Disciple's Response * * * *
Committee has studied other stewardship materials * * 1.20
Committee has attended stewardship retreats * * * *
Committee has attended diocesan or regional stewardship days * * 1.06 *
Committee has attended ICSC Conference * 1.15 1.11 1.31
Committee has engaged in 3 or more Education/Formation Activities * * * 1.24
Table 3
Impact of Lay Witnesses
Volunteer Spiritual Outreach
Activity Treasure Time Time Time
Lay Witness Annually or More Often 1.11 1.09 1.11 1.17
Who Should Serve as Lay Witness
Young Families 1.16 1.15 * 1.25
Old Families * 1.18 1.09 1.28
Youth 1.17 1.12 * 1.35
Ethnic * * 1.28 1.35
Two or More Types of Lay Witnesses 1.15 1.18 * 1.27
Parishioners 1.11 1.09 1.07 1.19
Guest Lay Witnesses * 1.18 1.29 1.20
Table 4
Other Parish Stewardship Activities
Volunteer Spiritual Outreach
Parish Stewardship Activity Treasure Time Time Time
Six or More Stewardship Homilies Annually * 1.15 1.12 1.24
Ministry Fair * * 1.14 *
Commitment Sunday * * 1.07 *
Support of Time and Talent
Gift Discernment * 1.13 * 1.27
Ministry Commissioning 1.09 1.12 * 1.16
Ministry Appreciation Dinner * 1.10 1.09 1.17
Stewardship a Part of Parish Plan 1.18 1.19 1.13 1.24
Table 5
Parish Stewardship Formation and Educational Programs
Volunteer Spiritual Outreach
Parish Stewardship Formation/Educational Program Treasure Time Time Time
Youth Programs
Parochial School 1.15 * * 1.19
Religious Education/CCD 1.08 1.09 1.06 1.13
Youth Group 1.15 1.16 1.12 1.24
Sacramental Preparation * 1.10 1.11 1.09
Adult Programs
Adult Education 1.09 1.14 1.09 1.19
Senior Citizen Group 1.29 1.22 1.25 1.35
RCIA 1.12 1.08 * 1.12
Spiritual Renewal 1.17 1.15 1.21 1.26
Three or More Stewardship Formation/Educational Programs 1.12 1.12 1.08 1.16
Table 6
Parish Teachings on Giving
Volunteer Spiritual Outreach
Parish Teaching Treasure
Time Time Time
Tithe Treasure 1.27 * * 1.20
Pledging
Pledge Treasure 1.16 1.09 * 1.17
Pledge Time 1.13 1.14 * 1.15
Pledge Talent 1.12 1.15 * 1.12