Lent, Week Three: Up In Arms About Alms

(via The Deacon’s Bench)

Ah, yes. It’s time for the money talk.

Now before you storm out in a petulant rage whilst muttering something akin to “insufferable communist money-grabbing lib-sauce mumbo-jumbo,” I’d like to remind you that I’m a die-hard Capitalist and I don’t think that all your money should be taken from you and given to the poor. So get off the soapbox. This one’s mine.

That being said, as a Catholic, it is not only a suggestion that you give your treasures back to the church. It is your duty. To refuse to give alms is like saying to God, “gee, thanks for all the stuff. . . I didn’t get you anything.” Do you get away with that on Christmas? On your anniversary? Then why do people think they can do that to God, who has given us everything good?

When we give alms to the Church, we are not only participating in the latest community project. We are paying homage and reverence to our Creator by giving back some of the immeasurable blessings He has given us. By doing so, we not only demonstrate our love for Him, but our understanding that we should love the humans He has put in our lives as well because they are His also. It is not good for man to be alone. He must work in conjunction with the multitudes of the faithful to live a fulfilled life.

The Catechism puts it thus:

“The fifth precept (“You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church”) means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability.

The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his own abilities. (2043)

This means that the Catholic Church requires you to give alms, but there is no “magic percentage.” Still, you should give as much as you are financially able to, because where you put your money shows what is the most important thing to you. Is God your number one priority?

And alms-giving isn’t about doing away with private property. The Church (regardless of what some Catholics-In-Name-Only have tried to make her) is not a Communist system. The Catechism recognizes a man’s right to private property and to look out for the interests of himself and his family unit. (After all, alms are not a gift if they are forced from you. That’s called coercion and theft.) However:

The right to private property, acquired or received in a just way, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise.

“In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself.” The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family. (2403-2404)

This basically means that you have a right to private property (as long as you came by it honestly), but that it is your job as a steward of those good gifts to cultivate them and help others and the Church through their use. To neglect that is to ignore God’s gift of Creation to all man, and thus to ignore God’s desire for human solidarity.

(Now, before we get much further, we need to look at how the Church is spending our alms. Many organizations that church groups donate to are actually enemies of the Church who help sponsor moral sins like abortion. This has led many people to stop giving alms, and I can hardly blame them. In times like this, it is far better to donate directly to your local Catholic school or Catholic charity. But in a parish that does not indirectly sponsor those evils, one’s primary alms should go through the collection plate so the Church can put that money to use where it is most needed. In normal circumstances, donations to schools and charities do not count as your primary alms, but are in addition to it.)

This sounds like a lot to deal with, I know. And in a time of financial insecurity, it’s hard to give any money away, isn’t it? But have faith. If you give God all that you can, He does have a way of making sure that there’s enough left over for the other stuff too. He loves you and will always provide for you if you are faithful to Him and put Him first.

This Lent, try to think about how you can do more to help your Church community, and what you can do financially to support her mission. Give freely, give often, and praise God for all the wonders He has done for you. You’ll be a much happier person if you put His mission first.

-E. G. Norton