Why as Pastor I never wanted to know what people gave

It will dishearten you:

While Wall Street continues to endure a string of high-profile scandals and plummeting markets, a church in nearby Queens, N.Y., has decided to tackle its financial difficulties by making things personal-a little too personal for most of its members.

Two weeks ago St. Luke's Church in Whitestone, Queens, began publishing a breakdown of members' tithes and offerings in the weekly bulletin. Though the listing doesn't name any specific names, it reveals how much was given in each offering envelope and how many gave similar amounts.

For instance, last week's printed "announcement" indicated a weekly collection of $8,527 from 661 donations. Of those, 21 parishioners gave only $1. The majority of givers tossed $5 in the offering plate, with $10 coming in second place as the most popular amount given.

"It just left a bad taste in my mouth," said one 20-something churchgoer. "What someone gives is their personal business. They shouldn't be made to feel bad that they're on the lower end of the spectrum."

Many members argued that offering such public financial disclosure was not only embarrassing but also seemed like a ploy to get people to give more. "I think it will embarrass some people a bit," said Fred Peterson, 82, a parish member since 1951. "Their names aren't on there, which would be really bad. But privately, people may be embarrassed."

But St. Luke pastor John Tosi said the reason was more for financial transparency than to shame individuals. "The idea was to let them know where our money comes from and where it's going, which is important," Tosi said. "We're not embarrassing anybody, we're not judging anybody," he added. And if the efforts causes a parishioner to reach deeper into his pockets, "That's not such a bad reaction, is it?" [nypost.com, 2/22/09]