Welcome to the second week of our message series, “8^th Grade Faith.” As was mentioned last week, for many of us who were baptized as babies, we grew up in the Church. Not that long ago 90% of Catholic children went to Catholic schools, which meant that most of their friends were Catholics, most of their activities centered around their local parish, and they grew up in a very Catholic culture.

That is not the case as much today. Today only about 10% of Catholic children go to Catholic schools, where as 90% of Catholic children receive there faith formation in Religious Education. Of course the primary teachers of the faith to children are suppose to be their parents, but with only about 20% of Catholic going to Mass on Sundays, we have to wonder just how much many parents are teaching their children about the Catholic faith. Too many parents just want their children to get their sacraments, so once they get Confirmation, they kind of drop out of Church, at least until they plan to get married.

So for many people today, their faith formation ended in 8^th grade, when they likely received Confirmation. As we said last week, having an 8^th grade faith when you are in 8^th grade is fine, but it is lacking when we are adults. As we have matured in all the other areas of our lives and relationships as we grew older, so should our Faith – which is essentially our relationship with God – mature. This series is only all about moving on, identifying and moving on to a more useful approach to our faith as adults.

Today's message is all about moving to a whole new level of thinking about who we are in relation to God, thinking differently. And this happens in part by thinking differently about, among other things, money, and possessions. To do so, we are going look at the parable that Jesus told in today’s Gospel, and what it teaches us about stewardship.

On the surface, today’s parable is a puzzling one. The “bad” steward is about to be fired, so to make friends he seems to cheat his boss by changing his debtors promissory notes. To the guy who owes the master 100 measures of oil, the steward says to rewrite the promissory note to make it only 50. He does a similar thing to a couple of debtors. When the master finds out what the steward has done, instead of being angry at him, he praises him for acting prudently.

Again, at a first reading it would seem to be praising a person for stealing and cheating, but that is not what is going on. As was the practice at the time, a steward would add his fee to a debtor’s promissory note. So the one guy probably only owed 50 measures of oil, the other 50 was the steward’s fee. In each of these deals, the guy would have received a commission and what he's doing is shaving off his share, thereby reducing their debts and obviously winning their favor. The steward is giving up an immediate reward, namely his commission, in the hopes for a long-term reward, namely that one of these debtors might give him a job.

From this parable, there are two huge insights that we can learn that can move us beyond an 8th-grade faith. First lesson, we're stewards, not owners, of possessions and money. Everything that we have really belongs to God, and He has asked us to be good stewards of what He has entrusted to us. That means that we need to use what God has given us to do His will in our lives, and the only way we can know what God wants us to do, is to have a living, growing, personal relationship with Him. We have to go beyond just an 8^th grade faith.

Lesson two: you can use your money and possessions for your eternal best interest. Just as the dishonest steward in the parable gave up his immediate reward for a long-term reward, we are also called to look toward our eternal destiny, and not just what we can get for ourselves right now. The Bible teaches you can actually invest in eternity, and it says that we do so in two ways: giving to the church, and giving to the poor. When we do that, the Bible tells us we build up treasure in Heaven.

Often when we talk about giving to the church we use the phrase “time, talent, and treasure.” It is true when we volunteer to do things in the parish, using the talents and abilities that God has given us to serve the parish and make it a living community of faith, that time and talent builds treasure in Heaven. That is why for the past two weekends we have been having our Ministries Fair; to invite all of you to get involved in our parish. I must admit, I was disappointed last weekend with how the Ministries Fair went at Holy Name. The various ministries did a great job putting together attractive displays of what they do, yet hardly anyone stopped by after Mass to look at them, and I think only two people signed up for a ministry. The responsibility for making Resurrection Parish a lively, loving community of faith rests on all of us.

Today I need to talk to you about the other “t” – treasure. I am going to give it to you straight: the parish is in debt. Right now, all of our debt is owed to the Diocese, but if you have following our monthly summary of financial activities which we have be publishing in the bulletin since June, you will see that our monthly expenses exceed our monthly income. The only thing has has kept us afloat has been some exceptional and generous gifts, but we cannot rely on those each month.

About a month ago I met with the Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer for the Diocese about the parish’s financial situation. The Diocese is not in a position where they can continue to allow parishes to owe them money. On one hand, Resurrection Parish owes a lot less than many other parishes; about $200,000, but that is only going to get worse if we do not increase our first collection each week. 

We need about $10,000 in our first collection each week in order to pay our bills. We are now getting around $7000. I am asking every family in the parish to increase their donation to the parish by $25 each month; that is $6.25 a week. I have already changed my Parish Giving account to increase my monthly donation by $25/month.

I know that no one likes to hear a “money talk,” and I certainly do not like giving them, but as the head steward of this parish, I have to up front with all of you about our situation. We are not overstaffed, just see my column this week. We are always looking to reduce our expenses. I discontinued the cable television service in the rectory because it was too expensive; I just use a cheap streaming service.

If we do not close the gap between our income and our expenses, more drastic measures will need to be considered, which will involve reduction of services. If Resurrection Parish is going to not just survive but thrive, we all need to do our part. Support the parish now, will build up treasure in Heaven.