Commercial Break: Charitable Giving

It occurs to me, when I am in my hard-nosed housewife financial reporting mode, that I am not mentioning my faith very much. Those reading this blog may not be Catholic, but they may be Christians, or other religions, or simply people who are concerned about cancer or the homeless. And they might wonder: where does our charitable giving/tithing practice fit in with all the emphasis on saving and cutting the bottom line?

Part of the reason is because I am taking it for granted that the giving category is not a category that should be cut. Granted, it may shrink from time to time, but it should actually increase as your debt is paid off and your pile of savings starts to grow. There is no need to be pedantic as to the amount. The Catholic Church suggests that, out of a 10% tithe (I am assuming they mean 10% of your net take-home pay), you give 5% to your parish, 1% to the archdiocese, and the rest to the charities of your choice. But the point is that you give a consistent amount, and it should be enough that you "feel" it--remember the widow's mite.

But the actual numbers reveal that most Catholics, sadly, give far less. It's probably because they are feeling the squeeze from taxes, inflation, high housing costs, escalating costs of everything, the double-whammy of paying taxes for public schools while shelling out for private school, etc, etc. Then here comes the priest with another homily about stewardship or another capital campaign. "Sheesh!" they practically roll their eyes in frustration. "Does it ever end?"

I read a statistic today that needs reckoning with. If you are lucky enough to make $50,000 a year, you are in an elite club--the wealthiest 1% in the world! Makes all those parables warning about the fate of rich men hit home, eh? And yet, most people making this figure hardly resemble the rich man of last Sunday's Gospel, who ignored poor Lazarus during life and met his dismal fate in hell. And yet, the forces that keep us so mired in financial navel-gazing must surely be Satanic in origin: advertising, oppressive government taxation and unjust policies, the all-too-easy financing of the last several years. They contrive to make us feel poor, to ponder our checkbooks and shrinking bank balances, wondering if there will be enough for our seemingly endless needs, let alone our desires.

Is it justifiable to clean up our own financial house in order to save (and perhaps even invest)? Or is this just accumulation for its own sake? Would Jesus, suffering on the cross, approve of Bill Bonner, for instance, the founder of one of my favorite financial sites, The Daily Reckoning? After reading his account of spending the equivalent of $800 USD on a night of dinner and theatre while visiting with grown children, then "rousing the girls" to get them to Mass the next morning, I have to be amazed at his candor. He as much admits he's a Catholic by saying so, but he's never commented on the purpose of wealth, or the moral imperative it imposes. Perhaps he fears alienating his readership. But I am watching closely, and so is God.

There are examples of wealthy men in Scripture who are, nevertheless, right with God. We may all wish to be one of them, but we "can't serve both God and mammon." I experienced this dilemma while researching the right allocation mix for my husband's IRA. What right do I have to be trading stocks while other people are starving to death? I asked myself. We have an eighteen-inch tall statue of the Blessed Virgin in our bedroom now--and let me tell you, it's hard to face her sometimes. According to Blessed Mary of Agreda, Mary and Joseph gave one third of their income to the temple, one third to the poor, and lived on the remaining third. Mary lived in grinding poverty her entire life.

And yet, there is the example in Proverbs 31. This woman is my hero, and part of my untiring efforts to keep up my house and find new "efficient" ways to do things is inspired by her example. And yet, she is described as undertaking capital ventures. She makes and sells things. She looks over a field, buys it and plants a vineyard. There is the parable of the talents. The man who did nothing with the talent was punished severely by the master. And everything that we have, both material and non-material, should be considered a gift (a "talent") from the Master. And so we must do something with it.

Obviously, if we're in doubt, we must pray. And the chief part of our prayer should be thanksgiving, even if we have nothing. For God has seen fit to give us what we have, for the sake of our eternal souls. And then we must ask, "How can we be better stewards of the resources You have given us?" This is an excellent prayer for husband and wife to pray together. Then just keep praying it and try to be at peace until God points out some answers. Remember the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Read through one of the Gospels, prayerfully, passage by passage. Keep listening.

All good things come from God. High wages, money in a bank account, even stocks can all be used for the Lord. It's His, anyway. Just ask Him what He wants you to do with it. Same thing with debt. "God, I give it to you. What do you want me to do? Thank you. Help me learn. Help me be a steward of the resources You have given me."

I have an uncle who is deeply in debt. I keep urging him to be thankful, ask God for solutions, and to try to be at peace. We also discuss practical solutions to his problems, but it begins and ends with God. Even Job's riches couldn't save him.

Having said that, I don't think it's against God's will to get our financial house in order. We are being good stewards, is all. Getting ourselves out of debt and providing for reasonable financial needs gets our gaze off our own navels and lifts it back out to the world, where it should be. The difference is in the purposes for our wealth. Don't buy the big-screen TV just because you can afford it. Be ever-mindful of those who don't have as much. Wear out some holes in your socks before you just automatically buy more. Think about people who don't have shoes. Eat some TVP, even if you can afford prime rib. Cultivating poverty of spirit along with prudent money management will cushion some of the knee-jerk desire to spend the money as soon as you have it. Who knows? God might be asking you to help fund a local maternity home.

And keep a watch out for the "Lazarus" in your life.

Catholics must live their faith out loud, and yet they will never be able to do so if they are caught up in the getting-and-spending mode our economy urges on us. In the economic trough ahead of us, the squeeze is just going to get harder, and good jobs and low prices will be scarce. And yet, there will still be parishes to run, churches and schools to build, suffering people to succor. Our wealth is there in part to serve them. Who will give if we do not?