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Faith, Hope and ServiceBy Leslie Lenkowsky

Leslie Lenkowsky, Ph.D. is professor

of public affairs and philanthropic

studies at Indiana University.

Lenkowsky returned to the university

in January 2004 after stepping

down as chief executive officer of

the Corporation for National and

Community Service, a position

to which he was appointed by

President George W. Bush and

confirmed by the Senate in 2001.

Prior to joining the Indiana University

faculty in 1997, Lenkowsky had

served as president of the Hudson

Institute, an internationally renowned

public policy research institution

headquartered in Indianapolis. He

was also the founding director of The

Fund for American Studies’ Institute

on Philanthropy and Voluntary

Service.

A graduate of Franklin and Marshall

College, Lenkowsky received his

doctorate from Harvard University.

FREEDOMTeachingTeachinga series of speeches and lectures honoring the virtues of a free and democratic society

hank you very much for honoring

me with this year’s David R. Jones

Award for Leadership in Voluntary

Service. I had the great privilege of

knowing David personally, admiring his

efforts to build The Fund for American

Studies, and working with Roger Ream,

Neal Freeman, Bill Hybl and others to

establish the Institute on Philanthropy

and Voluntary Service in his memory.

His dedication to a free society and

skills in nurturing institutions

and programs that foster it were

unparalleled. What was said about the

great architect Sir Christopher Wren,

might be said about David as well: “Si

monumentum requiris circumspice,”

if you would see his monument, look

around, in this room and in the many

young people who have come through

The Fund’s programs. To be thought

worthy of an award named for him is a

humbling experience indeed, but it just

goes to show you that if you have been

around long enough and are willing to

come to Washington in the middle of a

long, hot summer, anything is possible.

Each of you has come to Washington as

a step on your own journey, one which,

both you and I hope, will give you

opportunities to be a leader in society

in the future. Since you are still just

at the beginning of the road, not, like

me, close enough to the end to receive

awards like this, I would like to share

with you a few thoughts to keep in

mind as you try to achieve your goals.

A road figures in one of the most

important stories about the importance

of serving others in our heritage: the

In 1998, The Fund for American Studies established the David R. Jones Center

for Leadership in Philanthropy to conduct programs to prepare people for

roles in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. The Fund for American Studies

established the annual David R. Jones Award for Leadership in Voluntary Service

to recognize outstanding individuals who promote the American traditions of

philanthropy, volunteerism, free enterprise and individual responsibility. Les

Lenkowsky, Ph.D. is one such individual. He received this award in gratitude

for a lifetime of philanthropic service in 2010 at a ceremony attended by IPVS

students. Below are his acceptance remarks.

parable of the Good Samaritan. I am

sure you all remember it. A man is

journeying on the road when he is

attacked by thieves who rob him of

his belongings and leave him half-

dead. A Pharisee, one of the priestly

caste, passes by and does not stop.

A Levite, a religious leader, does the

same. Then comes a Samaritan, a

member of a breakaway sect that

is condemned by the leaders of

mainstream Judaism. The Samaritan

stops, pours oil and water in the

man’s wounds, binds them up,

and puts him on his donkey. The

Samaritan takes him to the next

town and deposits him at a local inn,

paying for the man’s care out of his

own pocket.

We have only the bare bones of

a story – all plot and no interior

dialogue – which has made the

parable of the Good Samaritan a

story that resonates throughout a

variety of cultures and ages. People

have interpreted it in different ways.

In the Middle Ages, theologians

read the story allegorically, with

the inn symbolizing the church

and the man finding rest by

coming into relationship with the

community of believers. Many

modern thinkers read the story

almost exactly opposite – one man’s

individual virtue at work, outside

of the limiting bonds of organized

religion, as symbolized by the

cold-hearted religious figures who

pass by. Some have even put forth a

Marxist reading: only the oppressed

Samaritan proletarian has the

compassion to stop, whereas the

bourgeois Pharisee and Levite leave

the beaten worker in the ditch.

In truth, we don’t know anything

about why the Samaritan stopped.

The story is a blank screen on

which we can project our own ideas

about service to others. It is useful,

though, to consider some of the

things that the Good Samaritan

doesn’t do. He doesn’t petition the

local authorities to improve the

lighting along the road, advocate

for security cameras, or call on the

police to beef up patrols. He doesn’t

nominate himself for citizen of the

year. He doesn’t, when reaching out

to the beaten man, reflect on how

good this will look on his application

to grad school or for a promotion.

I’m being a little tongue-in-cheek

with you. There’s nothing wrong

with being an advocate for structural

improvements that alleviate the

need for charity. There’s even

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During the David R. Jones Award for Leadership in Philanthropy reception, IPVS students and TFAS staff grant a check for $3,200 to Capital Partners for Education. The students worked throughout the summer to raise money for the local D.C. charity as part of a class project.

“ It is useful,

though, to consider

some of the things that

the Good Samaritan

doesn’t do. He doesn’t

petition the local

authorities to improve

the lighting along

the road, advocate for

security cameras, or

call on the police to

beef up patrols.”

nothing wrong with getting a little

recognition for your good deeds.

But these things are not at the heart

of service to others. The Samaritan

gave of himself – that’s the singular

fact presented by the parable – and

he did so, spontaneously and freely,

out of love for another person and

respect for his dignity as a child of

God. I would submit that that is

the only thing necessary when it

comes to service – the gift of self.

Everything else is icing on the cake.

Ultimately, such gifts are motivated

by faith, not a particular faith, but

the widely held belief that we are in

this world to serve a purpose that

goes beyond this world. Studies

confirm what most of us know:

that for many people, faith is one

of the primary motivations behind

doing good. Research repeatedly

shows, for example, that giving and

volunteering – for both religious and

secular causes – are much greater

among people who attend worship

services regularly than those who

do not.

We only have to think about some of

the greatest volunteers in history to

recognize the connection between

faith and service to others. Mother

Teresa, of course, is the preeminent

modern example. But there are

others. Millard Fuller, the founder

of Habitat for Humanity, was driven

to build houses for the poor by his

evangelical beliefs. Chuck Colson

founded Prison Fellowship Ministries

after his religious experience in

prison in the 1970s. Most people

don’t know that Goodwill Industries,

one of the nation’s largest charities,

was founded by a Methodist minister,

Edgar Helms.

And of course we should remember

the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

We use a saying of his – “Everybody

can be great because everybody can

serve” – as the motto for the Martin

Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

that occurs each January. What we

don’t mention is that the saying

comes from a sermon Reverend

King gave at the Ebenezer Baptist

Church in Atlanta shortly before he

was assassinated. It takes as its text

the words of Jesus from the Gospel

of Mark: “Whosoever will be great

among you shall be your servant;

and whosoever of you will be the

chiefest shall be servant of all.’’ As

Reverend King explained: “You only

need a heart full of grace, a soul

generated by love, and you can be

that servant.’’

So, the connection between faith and

service seems obvious to many of us.

But when you think about it, things

did not have to be this way. All

major faiths have made a distinction

between this world and the next,

and this world has never come off

very well in the comparison. St. Paul

reminded the early Christians, “We

have here no enduring city, but seek

the city that is to come.” The early

Christian theologian Augustine took

the image further, dividing human

existence into two cities, the City of

God and the City of Man. Inhabitants

of the City of God merely sojourned

on Earth, looking forward to the day

when they would be called to their

eternal reward. As for this world,

Augustine believed – well, life is

tough, and not likely to improve.

Given this, one would think that

people of faith would be justified

in ignoring this lesser world and

its petty concerns. Feeding the

poor wouldn’t seem like much of

a priority if you’re waiting for the

heavenly kingdom to arrive. But

that has never been the case. No

major religion has ever taught its

adherents to shrink from meeting

the needs of the poor, the homeless,

the downtrodden and the oppressed.

In fact, just the opposite: the

concern for bettering the estate of

the poor runs in all major faiths.

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3

The Jewish religion, through the

principles of tzedakah (charity or

justice) and tikkun olam (healing

the world), teaches that social

action to improve the lot of the

less fortunate is perhaps the most

important obligation of Judaism.

Catholics have always presented

the seven corporal works of mercy

– with commandments to feed the

hungry, clothe the naked, care for

the sick and the like – as essential to

living a holy life. Zakat, the practice

of giving aid and comfort to the

poor, is one of the five “pillars of

Islam,” the dictates of the Muslim

faith. Protestant Christianity, while

emphasizing the importance of faith

over works as the means of salvation,

nonetheless calls believers to engage

in acts of compassion for the poor.

You might say, then, that service is

in the very DNA of religion. Service

is one way the faithful of almost

every religion demonstrate their love

of and obedience to God, by reaching

out to His children. For all of us,

service is a reminder that the most

precious gift we can give is our love

and concern for others.

Service is even a way of redeeming

the sinner. Last spring, I was invited

to keynote a dinner in Titusville,

Pennsylvania. For those of you – and

I suspect that is most of you – who

have never heard of Titusville, it

is where oil was discovered in the

United States. In an effort to recover

some of its past glory, the town

fathers have been sponsoring a year

of events to commemorate the 150th

anniversary of that discovery. The

final event was a conference on

“Oil and Philanthropy” at which I

was to speak.

Why “Oil and Philanthropy,” you

might ask? Titusville was also the

place where one of America’s most

important philanthropists, John D.

Rockefeller, began accumulating his

vast fortune. However, so hardnosed

were his business practices,

especially in Titusville (the home

of Ida Tarbell, the muckraker who

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Leaders FUTURE

assailed his Standard Oil trust), that

when he turned his attention away

from getting and toward giving, a

minister urged his denomination

to reject a donation Rockefeller

had offered on the grounds that

it was “tainted money.” Ironically,

Rockefeller himself was a very

religious man, whose records show

that he tithed as soon as he started

earning enough to do so.

My talk explored the continued debate that goes on in the nonprofit world about whether or not to accept contributions from sources that may be considered disreputable. (I began by describing a fundraiser that occurred earlier this year at a men’s entertainment club in Toledo, called “Lap Dances for Haiti.” Notwithstanding the dire situation the earthquake had created, the organizers had a difficult time finding a charity that would accept the nearly $1,000 they earned.) But I was also curious about where

the idea of “tainted money” came

from in the first place. The phrase

sounded Biblical to me, and so I did

some research.

I found it in chapter 16 of the Gospel of Luke. As translated by J. B. Phillips, the verse goes: “Now my advice to you is to use ‘money,’

tainted as it is, to make yourselves

friends, so that when it comes to an

end, they may welcome you into the

houses of eternity. The man who is

faithful in the little things will be

faithful in the big things. So that if you are not fit to be trusted to deal with the wicked wealth of this world, who will trust you with true riches?”

Rather than providing justification for turning back a gift, as Rockefeller’s critics and many since have thought, the fact that a fortune may have been made through dubious means is precisely why charities should take it. For in doing so, they will not only enable society to benefit, but also allow

even the unrighteous among us to

reveal their true worth, their love for

others.

Giving and volunteering thus serve valuable purposes – in fact, they are essential to a healthy civic life – but we should be honest that even the best intentions can go awry. Institutions, programs, social welfare professionals: these are important, maybe even necessary, but they can sometimes make us forget the value of spontaneously given service. All of us who teach students who aspire to careers in the nonprofit sector wrestle with this constantly.

Most dangerous of all is the

temptation to build utopias. You

can make the world a better place

through service, but you cannot

make it a perfect place. Sin and

suffering are the human lot; even Christ reminded His apostles, “The poor you shall always have with you.” Service, in the religious context, is not about building a utopia, a word that, after all, means

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(l.-r.) Kate Lenkowsky, TFAS Executive Vice President Steve Slattery, Leslie Lenkowsky and TFAS President Roger Ream enjoy a reception honoring Dr. Lenkowsky.

“ You can make

the world a better place

through service, but

you cannot make it a

perfect place.”

6

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Teaching Freedom is a series of remarks published by The Fund for American Studies, a nonprofit educational organization in Washington, D.C. The speakers featured in each issue of Teaching Freedom delivered their remarks at a TFAS institute or conference or serve as faculty members in an institute.

The speakers who participate in the educational programs contribute greatly to the purpose and mission of TFAS programs. The speeches are published in an effort to share the words and lessons of the speakers with friends, alumni, supporters and others throughout the country and world who are unable to attend the events.

Visit www.TFAS.org/TeachingFreedom to read past issues of Teaching Freedom.

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save the

DATES

“no place” in Greek. We are not

meant to create heaven on earth.

Augustine is right: We presently

sojourn in the City of Man and look

forward to the City of God.

But we are also called to fix up the

City of Man while we’re here, easing

the lives of the most needy among

us. This is where faith and service

truly intersect: both of them give

hope to the hopeless. What is faith,

after all, if not the purveyor of hope?

Similarly, the service given by people

of faith inspires in the hearts of

others the hopefulness of loving and

being loved.

We’ve been through an awful lot of

trying times in the past few years.

We’ve watched as thousands of

people were murdered by fanatics

with a twisted view of a proud and

ancient faith. We’ve seen the world’s

economy go to the brink of collapse.

We’ve even heard doubts about

whether our democracy – what

Lincoln called “the last best hope of

mankind” – would indeed prevail.

This is the road you are traveling –

and you still have a long way to go.

“Lucky me!” I can hear you thinking.

Well, yes. Lucky you. Lucky you, that

you are in a position to be of service

now, when your country needs you.

Lucky you, that you will be equipped

with this summer’s experience, when

there is urgency in renewing our

proud traditions of philanthropy and

volunteering. Lucky you, that you

will have a greater understanding

of, and thus more ability to advance

such fundamental principles as love

of country, freedom and reverence

for the divine in all of us.

Clearly, not everything is at ease in

our world. There are frightening

forces at work, along with much

uncertainty. But in this troubled age

there is also the opportunity for you

to render service to the inhabitants

of the City of Man that will take root

and flourish beyond your wildest

imagination. It is not too optimistic

to say that, with courage and love,

the gift of self that you offer to your

nation, your community and your

fellow citizens might not change

the world, but it might make our

sojourn here in the City of Man a

little more comfortable.

“Be strong and let your heart take

courage, all you who wait in hope for

the Lord,” says the Biblical psalmist.

At the risk of offending the authors

of that passage, both human and

divine, I would make an addition:

while you’re waiting, get out there

and do some good.

Good luck to each of you and thanks

again to The Fund for American

Studies for honoring me with this

award and allowing me to share

these thoughts with you.