A stewardship challenge: reconciling faith and finances

As financial constraints have tightened in recent years, Catholic health care facilities have undergone the double pressure of having to safeguard the integrity of their Christian mission while maintaining economic viability. The conflict between faith and finances, however, represents a tension that has been felt since Biblical times. The dichotomy between ministry and money can be traced from Scripture's admonition that money is the root of all evil, through the Manichean heresy of the early Church, right up to the conflict that today's sponsoring congregations experience in seeking to reconcile multimillion-dollar budgets with their efforts to maintain a simple life-style and raise the existence level of the poor. Mission integrity and fiscal viability are not irreconcilable, however. Effective management can advance, not impede, the mission's cause. Sound business decisions need not exclude social or mission values. Indeed, ministry and management are united in the Gospel message of stewardship. The Gospel itself abounds in management lessons, perhaps the clearest of which is the parable of the talents, in which we are told to manage our gifts wisely so that they are actually increased and not just maintained. Numerous contemporary Church documents also suggest that the multimillion-dollar services that we have inherited and developed must continue to be managed well so that their yield, ministerial and financial, is increased. To resolve much of the misunderstanding within sponsorship groups and health care facilities, an action agenda is needed: The nature of work must be given prayerful reflection, so that it can be understood as a sharing in the creative act of God and as a part of each person's spirituality. Moreover, an institution should be viewed and managed as a positive power base and educational center for developing and advancing positions consistent with the Gospel. Institutional policies and procedures, of course, should be made to reflect this new understanding of the management-ministry relationship. Considerations of ministry, economy, and quality should be included in mission statements and philosophies, and financial officers and mission personnel should be challenged to integrate fiscal viability with mission integrity. Finally, a model for ethical decision making should be developed and adopted so that both orientations--ministry and management--are harmoniously balanced in the institution's decisions.