Why Frank Stronach and his money got left at the altar
LORNA DUECK
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
June 5, 2008
This week we learn that a billionaire can't build a church just because
he wants to. A model of the church in question was on display earlier
this week, and a pristine architectural achievement it is. The
billionaire is none other than 75-year-old Frank Stronach, founder of
Magna International. Unfortunately for the devout Mr. Stronach, the
shattering of his dream in a breakdown between money and faith is
enough to make you cry. It shouldn't be so hard for people to love
their God with all their heart, mind and wallet.
But Mr. Stronach, who offered land, money and expertise to the crowded
parish at Our Lady of Grace north of Toronto tackled more than what his
life's grand experience had taught him when he followed his generous
spirit down the trail of what it means to build a church. This is a
painful learning curve that's quite unsuited to be played out in the
media. All we know is that Mr. Stronach's gift of $19-million was left
at the altar of the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto - the marriage of
cash and clergy was incompatible.
Our Lady of Grace appears so healthy that it is gathering more product
than it can hold in the warehouse, so to speak. A new, bigger church
would be in order. But could it be that our Lady of Grace is also
healthy enough to actually fight for what the integrity of a church
community should be?
Church, by definition, is an interconnected union of complex members
all acting in such harmony that a beautiful picture is presented to the
world. Billionaires are in that synergy, so too, as in the case of Our
Lady of Grace, are hundreds of people whose spiritual journey will be
altered by what they receive and give.
To be spiritually healthy, a church cannot be the creation of one
person, it's a gift of community, where character is shaped around the
lessons of sacrifice and co-operation. Its vision is formed through the
voices of many, and life from its pews spreads far beyond the years and
time of any individual. What we do with the variety of personalities we
represent in church is meant to reflect love for our saviour.
But sometimes we are idiots in how to do church; people, from the
clergy on down, can hurt each other in this enterprise. We don't know
if that's what happened at Our Lady of Grace, but we have a glimpse
here of what Pierre Berton described in The Comfortable Pew,
"Christianity has, in the past, always been at its most vigorous when
it has been in a state of tension with the society around it."
The gospel is certainly robust enough to face that culture head on.
Here, it's found in a story where the material world met the spiritual
and it's a wrestle for the way forward.
I really liked the look of the model that Magna International's
architect created for Our Lady of Grace, but I can't help but wonder if
those same strategic gifts and precision had been applied to creating a
spiritual model for building people together that this story might have
played out differently.
Maybe it would look like golf games, galas, and bake sales where people
learned how to play and work together. For the inner life, that journey
could spread into contemplative retreats, soup kitchen service, liturgy
and sacred readings, all building together a foundation of how it is
people from billionaires to bums can benefit each other.
You can't put that together over a few lunches; this is about doing life deeply in the spiritual realm.
Money is not what instigates church buildings, spiritual formation
does; the heavy lifting, we now know, is not about bricks and mortar,
but about people forming together a gathering of what will it be to
work together to carry the presence of Christ into the world. When all
is said and done, if Mr. Stronach can emerge from this painful debacle
with devotion for God and love for God's people intact, he may find the
debate he sparked has done more to build the church than any cheque for
one parish ever could.
Lorna
Dueck
is the Executive Producer of Listen Up TV www.listenuptv.com
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On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
