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CSA is 'good works' of the Church

In the summer of 1998, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to China on my way to Bangkok, Thailand, for a World Conference on Christian Families. I was one of a 21-member U.S. delegation.

Deacon Bill Stimpson Jr.

While this experience provided a marvelous collage of memories, there is one memory that pointedly comes to mind at this time. In a country known for its oppression of religious freedoms and anti-Christian activity, many young people were openly wearing cloth-braided bracelets with the letters WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?). Most of the young people I would ask about the bracelet would not talk to me — Chinese citizens were discouraged from talking openly with Western foreigners – but the few that did, had no or little idea who this Jesus was. The bracelet was a fashion statement and a tolerated demonstration for religious freedom.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, Jesus did not provide an exact blueprint for every circumstance in human life. We just don't know What Jesus Would Do in every situation of human existence. He did give us though, a broad frame to work with, but very little specific detail.

There once was a man who wanted to surprise his wife with a homemade, from scratch, birthday cake. Not knowing what the ingredients were or how to go about baking a cake, he decided to go to a supermarket and read the ingredients and directions off a cake mix box. Unfortunately, the ingredients listed on the box did not give measurements such as how much flour, how much sugar, how much oil, etc.

Through a long period of frustrating trial and error, he discovered that 2 cups sifted flour, 4 tablespoons of baking powder, ½ cup of sugar, 2 eggs, 2 cups milk and ¼ cup canola oil worked best for a cake.

The point being that nearly 2,000 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, His Church is still experimenting through frustrating trail and error, to find the perfect recipe for peace and human justice. We still aren't there yet, but we are still trying.

However that perfect recipe will look at the end of time, we can only dimly imagine. But, the ideals of what we in Detroit, now, as CSA will be an important ingredient.

Being Church is much more than a number of buildings, architecture, schools, or missions. Being Church is really about serving the needs of all people to experience the Risen Christ. Yes, church buildings are essential for they provide a common place of the faithful to gather and schools are important in promoting a mature faith through education. But, they are but only means, not the end.

CSA, also a means and not an end, helps facilitate the functions of the parish, the family and schools, through its many outreach and funding programs. In many regards, CSA is the "good works" of the Church of Detroit. As James writes: "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). More than some Chinese youth, we know Jesus, and the question — What Would Jesus Do?— is a very important question we should often ask ourselves.

In regard to CSA, I believe Jesus would ask us to be generous toward the needs of His whole Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit. I believe that Jesus would endorse and bless our generosity. That is the what, I think, Jesus would do!

Deacon Bill Stimpson Jr. serves at Precious Blood Parish, Detroit.