Post by ybrown on May 5, 2006 8:48:43 GMT -5
'$5,000 is not enough'
Pastor tells lottery winner she should give more . . . so she did
- Father Darrin Gurr - WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez
"I'm sorry but I cannot accept your gift,"
By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton
Once a Winnipeg woman hit a jackpot of $1.8 million in the Super 7 and decided to give the Church $5,000. Her pastor, Father Darrin Gurr, rejected the offering because it wasn't generous enough.
"I'm sorry but I cannot accept your gift," he told the woman. "If I accept your gift I probably would be doing malpractice because I would be giving you the impression that you are being generous. This is not generosity; this is a token gift."
He suggested the woman give around five per cent of her earnings to the Church and a similar amount to the community. His fellow priests thought he was crazy to reject the woman's gift.
But to their surprise, the woman returned a couple of weeks later with a cheque for $80,000 for the church. And she gave an additional $80,000 to inner city charities to fund a two-day food basket for street people.
She found joy
The woman told Gurr that after she gave generously she found joy and felt free. Six months later she hit the jackpot again, this time for $600,000. "The more we give generously, the more we know God's generosity."
Gurr, the keynote speaker at the Stewardship Days 2006 Conference, related this story to underscore the point that Catholics ought to be as generous as God is. "Give until it feels good," he said. "The more generous we are the more we look like God."
Gurr spoke on the Three Pillars of Stewardship and on the Spirituality of the Collection Basket at the conference.
Some 300 people, including representatives of 50 parishes, took part in the April 28-29 conference at St. Theresa Parish.
Gurr, currently the founding pastor of the newly created parish of St. Gianna in Winnipeg and director of liturgy for the Winnipeg Archdiocese, has employed stewardship in all aspects of his ministry. He has facilitated workshops, conferences and retreats on stewardship across Canada.
Three pillars
The three pillars of stewardship are gratitude, generosity and trust in God.
Gratitude has a fundamental role in everything in our lives and is critical to discipleship and stewardship, Gurr said. "Being grateful means we take a step forward to recognize that everything that we have is from God."
A spirit of gratitude leads us to acknowledge our own gifts and the gifts of others and to respond with the gift of self, the priest stressed. "When we enter into a spirit of gratitude we are able to give to God generously."
Society encourages us to focus on self but Christians must be generous because "God is generous," Gurr said. "God is so generous he gives us everything we need in abundance.
"So if we are going to be in the image and likeness of God who made us, we have to be as generous as he is. The more generous we are the more we look like God."
When we are able to understand this we find happiness and joy in acts of generosity, the priest said. "Generosity changes our lives. It changes how we do what we do."
Generosity keeps us human and "we give not because there is a need out there but because there is a need in us to give," Gurr said. "When we stop giving something within us dies."
Pastor tells lottery winner she should give more . . . so she did
- Father Darrin Gurr - WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez
"I'm sorry but I cannot accept your gift,"
By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton
Once a Winnipeg woman hit a jackpot of $1.8 million in the Super 7 and decided to give the Church $5,000. Her pastor, Father Darrin Gurr, rejected the offering because it wasn't generous enough.
"I'm sorry but I cannot accept your gift," he told the woman. "If I accept your gift I probably would be doing malpractice because I would be giving you the impression that you are being generous. This is not generosity; this is a token gift."
He suggested the woman give around five per cent of her earnings to the Church and a similar amount to the community. His fellow priests thought he was crazy to reject the woman's gift.
But to their surprise, the woman returned a couple of weeks later with a cheque for $80,000 for the church. And she gave an additional $80,000 to inner city charities to fund a two-day food basket for street people.
She found joy
The woman told Gurr that after she gave generously she found joy and felt free. Six months later she hit the jackpot again, this time for $600,000. "The more we give generously, the more we know God's generosity."
Gurr, the keynote speaker at the Stewardship Days 2006 Conference, related this story to underscore the point that Catholics ought to be as generous as God is. "Give until it feels good," he said. "The more generous we are the more we look like God."
Gurr spoke on the Three Pillars of Stewardship and on the Spirituality of the Collection Basket at the conference.
Some 300 people, including representatives of 50 parishes, took part in the April 28-29 conference at St. Theresa Parish.
Gurr, currently the founding pastor of the newly created parish of St. Gianna in Winnipeg and director of liturgy for the Winnipeg Archdiocese, has employed stewardship in all aspects of his ministry. He has facilitated workshops, conferences and retreats on stewardship across Canada.
Three pillars
The three pillars of stewardship are gratitude, generosity and trust in God.
Gratitude has a fundamental role in everything in our lives and is critical to discipleship and stewardship, Gurr said. "Being grateful means we take a step forward to recognize that everything that we have is from God."
A spirit of gratitude leads us to acknowledge our own gifts and the gifts of others and to respond with the gift of self, the priest stressed. "When we enter into a spirit of gratitude we are able to give to God generously."
Society encourages us to focus on self but Christians must be generous because "God is generous," Gurr said. "God is so generous he gives us everything we need in abundance.
"So if we are going to be in the image and likeness of God who made us, we have to be as generous as he is. The more generous we are the more we look like God."
When we are able to understand this we find happiness and joy in acts of generosity, the priest said. "Generosity changes our lives. It changes how we do what we do."
Generosity keeps us human and "we give not because there is a need out there but because there is a need in us to give," Gurr said. "When we stop giving something within us dies."
LOL!