A few weeks ago, I was at an
AGM. For those who may not know this
acronym, it stands for an Annual General Meeting, and it’s an opportunity for shareholders,
or people who have a vested interest of some kind to get caught up on the
successes and endeavors of the company in question. It’s also an opportunity for the company’s
shareholders to express their pleasure or malcontent about how the company is
being run.
Every week, people come through the doors of this church. We kneel in prayer, we listen to God’s word, the priest tries to interpret the message of the scriptures, we receive God’s gift of food for our souls, and then we go out the doors and into the world. The Church is a place of prayer, of solace, of celebration, and of thanksgiving, but in today’s world, the Church is also a business. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a Roman Catholic parish holding an AGM: it’s just not our way, but we do attempt to provide reports each year to the people who come through our doors, especially about the finances that are entrusted to our care.
At the entrances to the Church
this weekend, you’ll find copies of what I’m calling the Annual Report for
2011. Please feel free to take one as
you leave the church, if you haven’t already taken one on the way in. As in former years, I myself am filled with gratitude
for your generosity. If this report is
any indication of your pleasure or approval of the endeavors we have
undertaken, then the members of the parish Finance Committee and I are
humbled. If instead, it should be a
barometer of malcontent, then like Jesus and Ezekiel in the readings this
weekend, I’m afraid that we’ll be powerless to change what has happened, but we
promise to try harder next year.
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