The Catholic's Relationship to Money: Understanding Stewardship
By Christine Schmidt,
Stewardship:
Money has always been considered a taboo topic. For instance, it’s considered polite not to ask someone how much they make. Yet, it is a relevant subject for most people––many have loans, debt, 401ks, or are living paycheck to paycheck. As a financial advisor, I’ve seen this firsthand. In conversations during advisory meetings with others, it became evident that the majority try not to think about where their money goes or alter what they do with it, either because what they are doing seems to be working or because they don’t know where to start when broaching the topic.
Besides being a difficult topic to stomach for many, it is an even harder topic for Christians to focus on––mainly because the Bible favors a lifestyle of poverty, especially in the Gospels. Today, Christians need to start an open conversation about money and begin exploring how to responsibly use it; this dialogue should include understanding what the Christian attitude toward wealth should be, as well as how to practically live out this relationship by reviewing basic financial concepts and budgeting.
Coming from a Christian mindset, it is easy to call to mind the words of Jesus as he beckons the young wealthy man to leave all his possessions and to follow him, as well as the parable about the affluent having an easier time passing through the eye of the needle than entering into heaven.
Even the saints have been, on the majority, happily poor––after all, who can forget the stunning actions of St. Francis of Assisi, disowning his father in the public square to live by the mercy of others? While the examples of extreme poverty from Christ and the Saints are admired by all––and followed literally by some––there needs to be a proper understanding of what the purpose of money is for those of us who are not called to be poor in material terms.
These instances have always been difficult to reconcile and a recent saint, Jose Maria Escriva, also wrestled with how sainthood could be achieved while having some sort of wealth. As St. Jose Maria Escriva was ministering to Catholics in South America, he noticed that many were not trying to wholeheartedly practice virtue or their faith. Upon inquiry, he discovered the popular belief that, since many saints were poor, it must be impossible to achieve sainthood with money, so why try? While all of us are called to live out chastity, obedience, and poverty in some manner, Jose Maria recognized it was possible to achieve holiness as a lay member while having money, not only as a poor religious. Thus, he created Opus Dei, an organization founded on the philosophy that sanctity may be accomplished through the everyday by anyone. Today, many members in Opus Dei focus on holiness while properly utilizing their wealth, continuing to support those in need through donations.
Likewise, it is important to remember that there have been a plethora of affluent saints, including Bl. Pier Gorgio Frasatti, St. Jane de Chantel, and St. Frances of Rome, as well as royal saints, such as St. Elizabeth of Portugal, St. Helena of Constantinople, and St. Stephen of Hungary. The common characteristic shared by each of these great men and women is that they worked diligently in their station of life and strove to follow God within their means. These saints teach us that money is a tool to be used wisely in order to help those in need and accomplish our own callings. Their lives provide examples of the Christian’s appropriate treatment of wealth––namely, as a mean between idolizing money and ignoring it all together.
The typical attitude toward wealth is looking at money as an end in itself, idolized as the greatest good. A show of wealth and power is admired, and many live outside their means, spending more than they make. Illustrating this very concept is a common idiom: keeping up with the Jones’. The saying demonstrates the idea that one must be at least the same as, if not better than, their neighbor in every show of affluence, no matter the cost.
On the opposite side of caring only for wealth, there’s an attitude of not caring at all: being negligent about where one’s money goes to, without any plan for the future, disregarding what kind of impact it could have if taken seriously.
The attitude we must take is the mean between these two extremes: stewardship. Stewardship is taking care of something. Just as we are called to be good stewards of the earth, we are likewise called to be good stewards of the resources available to us––even the monetary fruit that comes from our work. Taking care of something does not mean fostering obsession or a materialistic mindset, it simply means making sure not to neglect what we are asked to be stewards of.
It’s commonly said that one cannot give what they do not have, the same reason why airplane stewards advise passengers to put on their own masks before assisting others; likewise, we should develop a way to take care of our own financial situation in order to be of greater assistance to others.
Practically, we should start by taking a look at where our money goes, easily done by creating a budget and then dividing it into different categories. Typically, our money goes into five umbrella topics: bills, savings, investments, protection, and charity.
Each of these financial categories needs to be considered individually, as well as how they work together for one’s financial wellbeing––all with great respect toward stewardship.
Bills, it goes without saying, are monthly expenditures to our lifestyle, such as rent, communication, and food.
Savings are accessible funds for short term goals or needs, like going home for Christmas or taking care of emergencies.
Investments is the category that we put money toward for mid or long term goals, such as a new car, a house, or retirement.
Protection is a means of making sure––should an accident happen––that one is able to take responsibility and be just in our dealings with others, a common example being car insurance.
Charity, while not necessarily on everyone’s budget to start, is a vital part of living out our call to follow Christ and fostering generosity.
In the next few months, I will be covering each of these categories in order to better understand what a Christian’s attitude should be towards finances and wealth. By following the example of the saints and using our wealth, whether great or small, as a tool to further the kingdom of God, we too can become good stewards.
