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Volume 2 - Issue
9 |
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November 18, 2011 |
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(podcast)
When
Giving to the Church is the
Result of Coercion |
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| Patrick O’Meara, President and
Founder of O’Meara, Ferguson, Whelan, and Conway speaks of the dangers of coercion
in this podcast. He states, “In Mission Advancement it is easy to use coercion
to facilitate gifts, and such coercion takes many forms: guilt, building a false sense of obligation
to a community, exerting pressure, creating a false community from which they
fear exclusion, and others. Regardless of the method, coercion destroys that
which it seeks, namely the mission of the Church to build the Kingdom of God and
is equally destructive of the |
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individual’s self donation to Christ.” |
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For Pat O’Meara, asking a donor
to give a gift is to invite that person to do something eminently personal, for
giving to the Church is “in the highest form, the incarnation of an individual’s
self donation to Christ.” ... |
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 listen to the podcast
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| Good Steward Newsletter –
November 2011 |
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November is Gratitude Month |
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 Robert
Morneau is the Auxiliary Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is also the pastor
of one of his diocese’s largest parishes, a Packers fan (some might say
fanatic), and an inspiring poet and preacher. He shares all these gifts—with
warm humor and keen insight—whenever he speaks on stewardship at diocesan,
regional and international conferences. |
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If Bishop Morneau is listed as a speaker at a conference you’re thinking about
attending, do whatever is necessary to get there. You will come away deeply
satisfied by the power of his message, by his evident spirituality and by
laughter, which truly is the best medicine for the physical and spiritual ills
that beset us all. |
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At the annual meeting of the International Stewardship Council held in Orlando
last month, Bishop Morneau told the more than 1200 participants that we have two
choices in life. We can be grateful for all that God has given us, or we can be
perpetually dissatisfied ... |
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read
the full article |
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Stewardship in a
Postmodern World:
Affirming the Truth under a “Dictatorship of Relativism” |
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| Today, having a clear faith
based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas
relativism, that is, letting oneself be “tossed here and there, carried about by
every wind of doctrine”, seems the only attitude that can cope with modern
times. We are building a |
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dictatorship of relativism that
does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists
solely of one’s own ego and desires. |
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~ Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal.
Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice,
April, 2005 |
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| The day before he was elected Pope
and received the name Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger proposed the
descriptive phrase “a dictatorship of relativism” to define the central threat
of Postmodernism, the prevalent belief system of the early 21st Century.
Postmodernism, a philosophical worldview that is highly skeptical of any system
which claims to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races,
vehemently denies all truth statements in favor of a more enlightened position
that all truth is relative to the individual. Nothing is definitive. There is no
Truth. |
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| It should be no surprise that
the Church faces a challenge from relativism at the dawn of the 21st Century. As
Rene Girard has pointed out, the predisposition towards relativism has evolved,
in part, from the necessities of our time. Societies are mixed. A plurality of
peoples and belief systems dwell side-by-side on the local and global stage.
Mankind inhabits a truly “global village.” Such diversity of beliefs living in
close proximity to one another requires a sense of tolerance and, at the very
least, an acknowledgment of the worth of the individual regardless of beliefs ... |
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read
the full article |
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Catholic
Education: Sustaining the Mission
Integrating Finance, Development, Planning and Operations to Strengthen Catholic
Education |
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• February 8 – 10, 2012 /
San Antonio, Texas
• Keynote: Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit
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Click here to
register and for additional information |
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| The Growing Hispanic Church: Unique Challenges and Opportunities in Catholic Education |
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• Thursday, February 9th, 2012
— 3:30-6:30 p.m.
• Conducted in Spanish with simultaneous English translation |
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| Benefit from and offer your own
insights to the wisdom and vision of leaders as they address the challenges of
the Hispanic community in the Church and Catholic Education. |
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| This series of talks, concluding
with a panel discussion, will be lead by H.E. Archbishop Emilio Carlos Berlie
Belaunzaran, Yucatan, Mexico. |
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| Also presenting will be: Bishop Oscar Cantú, S.T.D.
(Archdiocese of San Antonio), Martha Fernández-Sardina (Archdiocese of San
Antonio), and Fr. Joseph Corpora, CSC (University of Notre Dame) |
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Bradenton, FL | Ann Arbor, MI | Ashburn, VA
703.889.1100 | Toll Free 877.889.2526 | Fax 703.889.1090 |
© 2011 O'Meara Ferguson |
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