Professor Brown’s book seems like a very relevant and instructional read.
I have two comments:
1) I read a passage this morning from 2 Corinthians where St. Paul is urging the Church to give generously and not sow sparingly. It seems to me that generous giving should be an indispensable part of any program for property & wealth management in the church -at the diocesan level, the local level, and the household level.
2) In my profession I deal with financial & Insurance instruments for risk management, investing and wealth accumulation, and the transfer of wealth upon death. Our market economy and our tax system - for all its problems - does provide for many good instruments that even people of modest means can use to leave the Church at death. As much as we are taught (and rightly so) to remember our own mortality as Orthodox Christians, our mortality can also be a trigger for gift giving.
You make two very good points and one we in the Church would do well to keep in mind.
As a former fund raiser, one of the best ways to foster generosity in your donor basis is, I think, to invest in not only your current donors but also non (or if you prefer, potential). This is part of any biblically (and practically) sound stewardship program. An appeal that's only concerned with keeping to doors open and the lights on is already a failed program.
But generous stewardship requires that we invest in people. Put the Church's resources into foster the good of our own faithful and they will be generous in return.
The same with evangelism. Invest in those who aren't Orthodox and they'll become Orthodox.
Your second point about the free market is also well taken. Indeed, the system isn't perfect but it doesn't claim to be and, even if it did, it can't be.
However in my view this isn't a bug but a feature of a market economy. The economic and moral failings of the market are precisely those we would expect from creatures who are also sinners pursuing their own self-interest. While it can take time, a market economy provides feedback for immoral and imprudent decisions. Again, this is a feature not a bug even if it is bitter medicine.
In the 1970's I worked in Boston around the corner from the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. It's a large, elegant building across Boston Common from the State House. At that time, on a good Sunday they might get two dozen people for the service, but they employed a full-time staff of about a dozen, mostly high-paid clergy. When I asked a local Episcopal priest (my friend) how they could afford this operation, he said that it was from endowment income from the gifts of three centuries of donors. Their clergy were mostly sodomites and lesbians with little or no biblical faith, but a great love for the "high life" of liquor, drugs, and promiscuity, with minimum labor. I don't think that this is what those many generations of faithful donors had in mind with their gifts and bequests. To me, it was an object lesson in the evil potential of church endowments. May God deliver Orthodox churches and institutions from endowments. Yes, the Church can have good uses for money and property, but this is not among them. Gifts and income should be used for good works now, not set aside for future generations to squander or use for evil.
I'm a little confused by your observation about the misuse of endowments. It is correct as far as it goes but I think you go too far when you ask God to "deliver Orthodox churches and institutions from endowments." While the situation you describe is tragic, it is the result of clergy (and I assume those responsible for overseeing funds) abusing the freedom the endowment provided.
That is to say, the problem you describe is simply the problem of sin. We misuse our freedom. Whether, in the case you mention, it is the economic freedom of a generous endowment or our political freedoms, are important details. But we can't overcome sin by undermining freedom.
The challenge we face in America (the West more generally and increasingly in traditional Orthodox countries) is that we are not only free but wealthy. The Church has a well developed ethical tradition for deprivation and persecution. This tradition is so well developed and rich that some Orthodox Christians seem eager to ascribe these conditions to the Church despite evidence to the contrary. At least in America the Church is neither poor not persecuted and so we need to learn how to be free and, frankly, rich.
Looking at the data for Orthodox Christians (and other religious traditions) in America, it seems that wealth and freedom have done more to erode our faith than persecution.
Again though. No one is forcing us to abandon the faith. We lose people because the world offers not just a more inviting way of life but a life that often seems to fulfill the demands of the parable of the sheep and the goats.
Yes, the Cathedral staff you described misused the material blessings they received but have Orthodox Christians done any better?
"Have Orthodox Christians done any better?" Sometimes yes, sometimes no, I think. I wrote nothing about restricting the freedom to have endowments, nor would I advocate such restrictions. God leaves us free to choose sins and stupidities, but He would rather that we avoid them. I view perpetual endowment funds to be short-sighted mistakes and invitations to avoidable temptations to future generations. Let the wealth God has entrusted to us be used now for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Let it's use be monitored by those who earned it and gave it for purposes dear to their hearts. Let future generations do the same, each giving account of their stewardship to our Lord and Master. You are accustomed to wealthy Orthodox churches in America, but my life has been spent almost entirely in struggling start-up mission churches, both in America and elsewhere, perpetually short of cash. Now I live in the Patriarchate of Georgia, a country rich in faith, but very poor in money. The parish clergy here receive no salaries, but live entirely on gifts of the faithful (and/or their own tentmaking). The Church is flourishing here, in just about every way. We know that God loves cheerful givers. I'm not so sure about His preference for endowments, but if you are sure, have at it. I won't stand in your way. I wonder what would happen if wealthy churches shared their excess with poor missions and the needy rather than funding endowments for institutional perpetuity, and the greater glory of the moneyed few? Might there be less erosion of faith by wealth? Might there be less management fees and fewer losses from failed investments? Might there?
God bless you for your willingness to serve poor communities both in the US and now in Georgia. For what it's worth, while I served wealthy parishes, I have mostly served cash strapped communities. And, like the priests in Georgia, I don't receive a salary as a priest.
The economic and moral question though is what has caused this state of affairs? Especially on the level of individual parishioners and parishes, the Church in America (my frame of reference here) is wealthy. The question, as you suggest above, is what are we doing with our wealth?
I suspect we are closer than it might at first appear.
While I appreciate the temptation and financial costs of endowments, they need to be entered into prudently. This means not only making investments that are both profitable but also compatible with the Gospel. It also means, to touch on your original comment, using the profits for right purposes.
I agree with you that that the existence of cash poor mission (and whole national Churches like Georgia) is evidence that we have misused our wealth. I serve a small, cash strapped mission on the campus of a major university. While the diocese (Ukrainian Orthodox Church-USA) has helped us but they don't have much either. People worry about young people drifting away, at least in America college students aren't an evangelical priority even of Orthodox communities in university towns.
This is what I mean when I say we misuse our freedom. Whether the medium of misuse is financial (e.g., thinking endowments free us from the need to be stewards) or cultural (e.g., shifting blame for our catechetical and evangelical failures to the culture), it's all sinful.
Professor Brown’s book seems like a very relevant and instructional read.
I have two comments:
1) I read a passage this morning from 2 Corinthians where St. Paul is urging the Church to give generously and not sow sparingly. It seems to me that generous giving should be an indispensable part of any program for property & wealth management in the church -at the diocesan level, the local level, and the household level.
2) In my profession I deal with financial & Insurance instruments for risk management, investing and wealth accumulation, and the transfer of wealth upon death. Our market economy and our tax system - for all its problems - does provide for many good instruments that even people of modest means can use to leave the Church at death. As much as we are taught (and rightly so) to remember our own mortality as Orthodox Christians, our mortality can also be a trigger for gift giving.
You make two very good points and one we in the Church would do well to keep in mind.
As a former fund raiser, one of the best ways to foster generosity in your donor basis is, I think, to invest in not only your current donors but also non (or if you prefer, potential). This is part of any biblically (and practically) sound stewardship program. An appeal that's only concerned with keeping to doors open and the lights on is already a failed program.
But generous stewardship requires that we invest in people. Put the Church's resources into foster the good of our own faithful and they will be generous in return.
The same with evangelism. Invest in those who aren't Orthodox and they'll become Orthodox.
Your second point about the free market is also well taken. Indeed, the system isn't perfect but it doesn't claim to be and, even if it did, it can't be.
However in my view this isn't a bug but a feature of a market economy. The economic and moral failings of the market are precisely those we would expect from creatures who are also sinners pursuing their own self-interest. While it can take time, a market economy provides feedback for immoral and imprudent decisions. Again, this is a feature not a bug even if it is bitter medicine.
In the 1970's I worked in Boston around the corner from the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. It's a large, elegant building across Boston Common from the State House. At that time, on a good Sunday they might get two dozen people for the service, but they employed a full-time staff of about a dozen, mostly high-paid clergy. When I asked a local Episcopal priest (my friend) how they could afford this operation, he said that it was from endowment income from the gifts of three centuries of donors. Their clergy were mostly sodomites and lesbians with little or no biblical faith, but a great love for the "high life" of liquor, drugs, and promiscuity, with minimum labor. I don't think that this is what those many generations of faithful donors had in mind with their gifts and bequests. To me, it was an object lesson in the evil potential of church endowments. May God deliver Orthodox churches and institutions from endowments. Yes, the Church can have good uses for money and property, but this is not among them. Gifts and income should be used for good works now, not set aside for future generations to squander or use for evil.
Dear Reader Mark,
Thank you for your comment.
I'm a little confused by your observation about the misuse of endowments. It is correct as far as it goes but I think you go too far when you ask God to "deliver Orthodox churches and institutions from endowments." While the situation you describe is tragic, it is the result of clergy (and I assume those responsible for overseeing funds) abusing the freedom the endowment provided.
That is to say, the problem you describe is simply the problem of sin. We misuse our freedom. Whether, in the case you mention, it is the economic freedom of a generous endowment or our political freedoms, are important details. But we can't overcome sin by undermining freedom.
The challenge we face in America (the West more generally and increasingly in traditional Orthodox countries) is that we are not only free but wealthy. The Church has a well developed ethical tradition for deprivation and persecution. This tradition is so well developed and rich that some Orthodox Christians seem eager to ascribe these conditions to the Church despite evidence to the contrary. At least in America the Church is neither poor not persecuted and so we need to learn how to be free and, frankly, rich.
Looking at the data for Orthodox Christians (and other religious traditions) in America, it seems that wealth and freedom have done more to erode our faith than persecution.
Again though. No one is forcing us to abandon the faith. We lose people because the world offers not just a more inviting way of life but a life that often seems to fulfill the demands of the parable of the sheep and the goats.
Yes, the Cathedral staff you described misused the material blessings they received but have Orthodox Christians done any better?
"Have Orthodox Christians done any better?" Sometimes yes, sometimes no, I think. I wrote nothing about restricting the freedom to have endowments, nor would I advocate such restrictions. God leaves us free to choose sins and stupidities, but He would rather that we avoid them. I view perpetual endowment funds to be short-sighted mistakes and invitations to avoidable temptations to future generations. Let the wealth God has entrusted to us be used now for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Let it's use be monitored by those who earned it and gave it for purposes dear to their hearts. Let future generations do the same, each giving account of their stewardship to our Lord and Master. You are accustomed to wealthy Orthodox churches in America, but my life has been spent almost entirely in struggling start-up mission churches, both in America and elsewhere, perpetually short of cash. Now I live in the Patriarchate of Georgia, a country rich in faith, but very poor in money. The parish clergy here receive no salaries, but live entirely on gifts of the faithful (and/or their own tentmaking). The Church is flourishing here, in just about every way. We know that God loves cheerful givers. I'm not so sure about His preference for endowments, but if you are sure, have at it. I won't stand in your way. I wonder what would happen if wealthy churches shared their excess with poor missions and the needy rather than funding endowments for institutional perpetuity, and the greater glory of the moneyed few? Might there be less erosion of faith by wealth? Might there be less management fees and fewer losses from failed investments? Might there?
God bless you for your willingness to serve poor communities both in the US and now in Georgia. For what it's worth, while I served wealthy parishes, I have mostly served cash strapped communities. And, like the priests in Georgia, I don't receive a salary as a priest.
The economic and moral question though is what has caused this state of affairs? Especially on the level of individual parishioners and parishes, the Church in America (my frame of reference here) is wealthy. The question, as you suggest above, is what are we doing with our wealth?
I suspect we are closer than it might at first appear.
While I appreciate the temptation and financial costs of endowments, they need to be entered into prudently. This means not only making investments that are both profitable but also compatible with the Gospel. It also means, to touch on your original comment, using the profits for right purposes.
I agree with you that that the existence of cash poor mission (and whole national Churches like Georgia) is evidence that we have misused our wealth. I serve a small, cash strapped mission on the campus of a major university. While the diocese (Ukrainian Orthodox Church-USA) has helped us but they don't have much either. People worry about young people drifting away, at least in America college students aren't an evangelical priority even of Orthodox communities in university towns.
This is what I mean when I say we misuse our freedom. Whether the medium of misuse is financial (e.g., thinking endowments free us from the need to be stewards) or cultural (e.g., shifting blame for our catechetical and evangelical failures to the culture), it's all sinful.