Threshold - Spring 2004

Stewarding Our Resources Wisely
Sister Rose Marie Stallbaumer. OSB

When I joined the Benedictine sisters in 1965, I was one of 21 young women between the ages of 18 and 27 entering a community of over 500 sisters. There must have been 100 of us, almost all in our 20’s, in varying stages of initial formation. The community’s energies were focused on education and the sharing of the Word of God; little thought was given to finances and the question of setting money aside for future needs. In those days our investment was in the education of youth and our own young sisters, educating and preparing them for a lifetime of ministry and service.

This picture of life in 1965 stands in strong contrast to life at the monastery in 2004. Today we consider ourselves fortunate to have one sister in her 20’s and five in initial formation. Care of our frail and elderly members is a major concern for us with 40 of our sisters in need of nursing care and many others in their retirement years. Today, one-third of our sisters are wage earners, a fourth of whom are part-time earners due to age or health.

Since 1965 there has been a rising concern among religious about how to care for the growing number of elderly religious women and men as the number of members involved in active ministry continues to decline. Today it is rare to find a religious congregation without funds set aside for the care of their members and for the support of ministries no longer staffed solely by religious with little or no remuneration.

Involvement in the world of investments has become a new phenomenon for us. As treasurer of our community, I have found myself in the unfamiliar arena of making investment decisions, decisions about safeguarding our funds and optimizing earnings, and, equally important, making socially responsible investment decisions.

Along with religious throughout the world, I have become more aware of the impact our investment decisions have on others. Through the purchase of stock we become shareholders in a corporation and partners, for good or harm, in the practices of that corporation.

In growing portfolios and growing numbers, religious congregations have been in the forefront in the world of investment managers, banks, and corporations, challenging ourselves and others to use our investments in socially responsible ways, addressing issues of justice in such areas as environment, human rights, poverty and debt, employment practices, militarism and health.

Our finance committee here at the Mount has established social screens eliminating from our investment portfolio those corporations involved in the manufacture or sale of nuclear, chemical and indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction, corporations which are discriminatory of minorities and women or have other unfair employment policies, and corporations whose production practices exploit persons or environments.

By joining our small efforts with those of thousands of religious congregations and churches of all denominations, our actions can and have made an impact on shaping the policies of companies. I take seriously my responsibility, as treasurer, to vote for shareholder resolutions which promote socially responsible actions. These resolutions, often initiated by a religious organization, vary from environmental issues in third world countries where a corporation produces its product to just wages and practices for all its employees.

Our finance committee is also committed to investing funds in community investing, where our money is used by community development banks or nonprofit loan funds to make loans to low income individuals and groups seeking to rehabilitate housing or begin a small business. Currently, Mount St. Scholastica has funds with Shore Bank in Chicago, the first community development bank in the country. We invested in Shore Bank to add our support to the bank’s commitment to address economic and social issues in Chicago’s south side through the creation of services and credit opportunities for low-income families. Other community funds are invested in such projects as Mercy Housing where affordable housing, childcare and job training are provided in poor neighborhoods throughout the country.

In our American culture today, there is much emphasis on planning for our future. Only the poorest of our nation are unable to set aside some retirement funds. We would be remiss to think that the use of our investments to work for a more just society was sufficient to fulfilling the gospel imperative to reach out to the poor among us. Even with fewer members, we sisters here at the Mount continue to be committed to our community vision of empowering women, the poor, and those in greatest need. Among our ministries in northeast Kansas, we minister to women and the poor at the Keeler Women’s Center, Donnelly College and the Atchison Women’s Wisdom Center, and we share our Benedictine spirituality with all who come to us at Sophia Center.

Even as we are recipients of your generosity, assisting us in the care of our aging members and joining us in our ministry commitments, it is essential to our own spiritual growth that we also give to others less fortunate than we are. Direct donations of money are made regularly to local centers providing assistance to the needy. We continue our meatless Monday practice of donating the money saved to feed the hungry, and the International Heifer Foundation project has become a favorite Advent and Lenten project for us.

In the gospel story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, the apostle responds to Jesus’ inquiry with “There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that for so many?” In our fearful, protective mode, we too could respond, “The needs are enormous, the reserves are few, so what can we do?” But Jesus challenges us to look beyond ourselves, even in our diminishing numbers and growing needs, and acknowledge all as gift to be shared, not hoarded, for God’s house is a house of abundance.

(Sister Rose Marie Stallbaumer has served in the community’s Business Manager for sixteen years and has been Treasurer of Mount St. Scholastica for four years.)