Doing my job...

All around there are people who work a job for a parish or for the diocese. There are the teachers at the Catholic schools, the secretaries at the parishes, the maintenance staff, the lunch ladies, the tech guys, and youth ministers. There people have a great opportunity to help the Catholic Church to grow and thrive. I've at times become jealous of their opportunity to work in such a God-centered environment. There have been times that I have considered applying for a position in the diocese or a Catholic school. I have looked at my job and worried because it wasn't serving God and the Church.

However, the other day I had a thought about my job that I wanted to share.

I do my best to do God's will. God has called me to be a husband and father. That means that I need to protect, serve, and provide for my family. Unfortunately, there aren't positions (at least in this part of the country) where I could work for the Church AND provide for my family. Instead, I have to work in a secular environment, with people who don't necessarily hold Christian beliefs. However, working here means that I can provide for my family. That means I am doing God's will by working here, and thus, I do work for the Church.

Additionally, the Church cannot afford to pay everyone. Even if everyone worked for the Church and tithed 50% of their income (well above the 10% God asks), there are not means to keep a sustainable income to outgo ratio. She needs people who work in outside industries who can give generously and allow Her to fiscally survive.

In most businesses a majority of the employees generate income for that business. Granted there are some who are not income generating, that is "support positions" (i.e. HR, IT, secretaries, and accounting), but a business cannot survive without income outweighing outgo. Don't get me wrong, support positions are ABSOLUTELY necessary for a large organization to run smoothly, but if a farm tried to run with an HR person, an IT person, a secretary, and an accountant but no farmer - it would not succeed.

Most people who work for the Church are in "support positions" and thus do not bring in a lot of income for the Church. This is not a shot at people who are called to work for the Church (or in support positions), I'm just saying - I don't know any parish secretaries who are creating significant income for their respective parish. I wouldn't want to see a parish without a secretary as I know they keep all of the parts running smoothly.

There are some people who bring in money for the Church, such as teachers (in tuition), but most of the schools could not afford to pay all the teachers and keep the school running on tuition alone. That being said, I want to again commend all people who do work for the Church - it is an honorable profession and I would love to work in such a God centered position. This post is aimed more at people who do work in outside positions - farmers, ranchers, doctors, programmers, carpenters, etc. My point is simply that for the Church to keep going, they need outside income. Our jobs ARE important. Our jobs DO serve the Church.

One area that I feel my job does allow me to serve the Church is tithing. Not only are we able to tithe each week, but we are able to support missionaries, Catholic charities, and Catholic works. We help contribute to that outside source of income by which the Church survives fiscally. We serve our Church not by doing a Church job, but by our support. In a way, we are the product that the Church produces that brings in the income that keeps her alive.

We are not simply good for our money though. An even bigger part of being able to work in an outside field is that we can make enough money at our primary jobs to support our family. Thus, we don't (typically) have to have a second job to make ends meet. This gives us time to spend with our families AND time to help others. This allows people who work in the outside world to volunteer, to help others, and to serve Christ through others.

Now it is time for me to go to work and do my job for God... so I'm back to my mission...