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I am
starting to feel resentment toward the catholic church. . . . Let me explain,
I am a good person (or so I like to think) but I do not have a lot of money.
I try very hard to make sure my children are brought up the right way. We
use to go to church every sun or sat night as a family. But then I was told
I don’t put enough money in my envelopes so they stopped sending them
to me. . . . Then when it was time for my children to start
a CCD program I was told it would be $75 for both of them. I told them I
could not give $75 all in one lump sum but could I please make payments.
I was told this was ok. I did pay in full before the year was up. Well this
year when I went to sign my children up for CCD again I was told that I needed
to make sure I had the whole $75 this time. There would be no “payment
plan”. Well I couldn’t do that so they are not signed up as of
yet. I feel like because I can’t hand out money at every turn I am being
told that I am not good enough to be a part of this church. I gave $1 every
sun, even if I had to give change I did it. I did pay the $75 fee for CCD
last year, it just took me a while to get it all there. Why is it that my
$1 was not good enough every sun?? Why is it that a “payment plan”
is not good enough?? . . . I have talked to people at the
rectory and I am not being giving any answers. Do you have any for me?? Am
I wrong?? I was raised roman catholic, I want my children to be raised roman
catholic but I guess I just can’t afford to be roman
catholic!
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 ou tell an astonishing story,
considering what Christ said about The Poor Widow’s Contribution:
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When He looked
up, He saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury,
and He noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I
tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those
others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her
poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” |
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—Luke
21:1-4 |
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What Christianity Is All About
 To
begin to answer your questions, then, it is important to understand what Christianity
is all about. One good example to whom we can turn in regard to matters of poverty is Saint
Francis of Assisi. As he taught, Christianity is about accepting suffering,
injustice, cruelty, and contempt with patience, without being ruffled, without murmuring,
and by enduring it all with charity and total
faith and trust in God.[1]
Moreover, realize that
there is a Church and there is a Church, and not
everyone who claims to be in the Church really has a clue to what Christianity is
all about. Therefore, if you want your children to be good Catholics, it
all depends on you, right now. The responsibility
for their education belongs to you, not to anyone else.
It’s important for you to be clear to them, through your personal example, about what
a Christian life entails.
Lady Poverty
Saint Francis knew that Christianity is not
about wealth or social status. He had all of those in his youth,
and he renounced them—and became a saint. That’s why Saint Francis praised
the virtues of Lady Poverty. But she is not a woman who sat around
smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, eating junk food,
watching TV, yelling at the children, and wallowing in
sexual perversion. She is a Lady
of virtue and chastity whose life and entire
being is centered in Christ.
Are you clear, then, about how you
spend the money you do have? If you set aside worldly pleasures for the
sake of more meaningful, spiritual things, then you are teaching your children
something good by example. But if you can afford to spend money on
entertainment and worldly pleasures, then it would be
better to rethink what it means to not have money for the Church.
Teaching By Example
Still, it’s not just a matter
of money. Your children can be taught to pray constantly,
for example, by praying constantly yourself. So, do you watch videos in the evening,
or do you pray the Rosary with your children? Furthermore,
do you study the Catechism yourself so that you can teach your children solid theology?
Also, if you don’t remain prayerful, without anger, despite how others treat you, then
how will your children learn what real heartfelt faith is all
about?
So, in the end, even if you
don’t have much money you can still teach your children to be Catholic without paying
anyone else to do the job. It all depends on you.
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 For,
though you live out
your life amid great need, you can always set aside your
anger, be humble,
pray diligently and condemn your own
sins; poverty is no hindrance. Poverty is not an
obstacle to our carrying out the Lord’s bidding, even when it comes
to that path of repentance which involves
giving money (alms giving I mean). The widow proved that when she put her
two mites into the box! |
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—From a homily
by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop
Office of Readings, Tuesday,
Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time |
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Notes
1. See
The
Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, Chapter VII.
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