Lineamenta on Temporalities

Synod Lineamenta on Temporalities

THE CHURCH THAT CARES

Christ commissioned His followers to continue his redemptive mission in the world through the nurture and promotion of constant growth of the Church. To do this, the Church uses spiritual tools and material tools. The Church uses spiritual tools, such as worship and prayer, teaching of divine and human values and sacraments, to fulfill its mission. She uses material tools to provide sustenance and financial or material support to continue her apostolate and mission. As such temporal goods are not the end but the means to fulfill her mission. She needs buildings for worship, education and welfare; she needs cemeteries and structures of care; she needs money to provide sustenance and salaries and equipment for the proper conduct of necessary services. The Church cares for her people and to carry this out she practices a spirituality of stewardship and compassionate service. The spirituality of stewardship has two general principles: 1) Temporal goods are to be used in the mission of the Church; and 2) A Christian attitude is needed in the use of temporal goods.
Every Christian, in virtue of his calling, and every priest, in virtue of his particular calling to the apostolate, must be ready to use temporal goods and material tools in the work of mission: to administer temporalities, share in policy decisions, or provide resources when and where they are needed to build up the Christian community (PO, 17).
The overriding motivation and attitude in the use of temporal goods and material tools for the Church’s mission is the love of God and neighbor. The clergy should use temporal goods only towards ends which are permissible to the teachings of Christ and the direction of the Church.” As regards those goods which are, strictly speaking, ecclesiastical, they should always direct them towards the goals in the pursuit of which it is lawful for the church to possess temporal goods.
Our primary source of funds is the arancel system while we have the process of adapting tithing and other means of economic self-reliance in accordance with given customs and Christian values. What is to be enjoined in the observance of the arancel system is that while more may be accepted, more may not be asked, and while stipends are fixed, less may be requested and received depending on the circumstances of persons and places. Certainly, no one may be denied the basic services of the Church duly solicited on the premise alone of incapacity to give.
The Standardized Living Allowance (SLA) is an attempt of the Diocese for the equitable remuneration of the clergy reflects the example of the faithful of the early Church in Jerusalem, who had all things in common and distribution was made to each according to each one’s need (Acts 4:32, 35). Our system of Priests’ Care provides sufficient provision for the support of priests though the necessary support for priests who suffer from sickness and invalidity needs some improvement. Our program and system to care for our clergy and church workers has to be administered in the light of justice, equity and charity.

Questions for small group discussions:
1. What is the proper way of administering infrastructure projects and maintenance in our parishes?
2. How should we care for our clergy and church workers who are serving in our parishes?
3. What are the concrete means of helping our priests in times of sickness and invalidity?