Money: Financial Freedom, Frankly style

Money

Financial Freedom, Frankly style MIXING MONEY & FAITH ...12

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Financial Freedom Money

Frankly Style

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Can money and faith go together?

People with an abundance of one are often expected to be deficient in the other. FRANKLY spoke to a priest and entrepreneur about the Catholic view on money as a gift and a tool at the service of true human freedom.

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Fr Tony Percy is a priest of the Canberra-Goulbourn Archdiocese and the author of Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition.

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Church on money Money is a created reality. Like any other created reality one can have an interest in it but you can’t get enmeshed in it, otherwise you get into major problems.

In the classic text on money, it says that ‘The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith...”

(1 Timothy 6:10). Initially, when people read this they say, “Oh money is an evil thing”.

But the text isn’t saying that. It’s saying that an excessive love of money is damaging; it leads to our enslavement.

The Church has never been into promoting material poverty but has always tried to alleviate it, so having an interest in money and in growing wealth is very important.

Money is a wonderful thing. It helps us to live, to get the basic necessities of life such as housing, food and education.

It is the main modern-day means of exchange. If you look a bit deeper it ultimately is for enabling communion between people.

For instance, when you invite a person to your house for a meal, you are usually inviting them to not only have a meal but also to grow your friendship.

Now that can’t take place unless you have money; you need housing, the provisions for a meal and some wine, or whatever else you’re going to supply.

Every material thing has a social mortgage on it which means that it is orientated towards the use of everyone.

The Church’s teaching is that we have a right to private property; we have a right to goods, including money. And the Church makes a really important distinction between the possession of something and the use of it.

One good example in recent times is the one million refugees in Lebanon who have been voluntarily taken in by the Lebanese people. Lebanon only has a population of four million. So these refugees are living in people’s homes and basements all over the place.

We have to own things as if everyone else owned them; we have to use them as if they are for everyone, with a generous spirit.

The Lebanese are living the Church’s social teaching by making welcome the people who don’t have anything. What they own, they are opening to the common good. It’s a radical example but a good one.

So if I have a DVD and you say, ‘Could I borrow your DVD?’ and I say, “No that’s my DVD”, that’s the incorrect attitude.

Cont...

By 2015, about one in five people

living in Lebanon was a refugee, mostly from Syrian conflicts. Many were welcomed into people’s private homes

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Of course, money can be a means of division but that’s only because we pervert it with sinful attitudes. We have to look at created things sensibly and realise that their origin comes from God. Therefore, we should always thank the Creator for them and use them responsibly.

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Responding to the poor The best thing we can do for the poor is to give them a hand up when they need it, but also get a system in place to give them access to incentives to work and provide for themselves.We try to help them get on their own two feet, not make them welfare dependent, which is very important for people’s dignity.

We believe in creating wealth and giving people access to it, and the best way to distribute

that wealth is defending the right to private property. So the Church’s position is very different to that of socialism, which it has always rejected.

When people are secure in that they can possess things and buy things, the wealth and wellbeing of a whole community can increase.

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The Marriage Gap Marriage is the basis of the family, and family is the basis for society.

It’s part of human dignity to be able to provide for one’s family, and home ownership is important. The best economic unit that we have is the family, and the best welfare scheme is the family, no question.

All great societies are built upon these two great institutions - marriage and family.

We see clearly that poverty really comes in when you break down marriage and break down the family. For example, it can become very difficult for people to survive

when their marriage breaks down, and suddenly their resources have to stretch to cover another home and a lot more things.

One of the most effective ways to promote social prosperity is to support marriage. F

Where does our money go?

The average Australian household spends a total of $1236.28 each week. Here’s what we spend it on.

Housing Food Transport Recreation $223.14 $204.20 $192.87 $161.44

18% 16.5% 16%

13%

Other $402.48

32.5%

(eg Education, Health, Clothing)

Alcohol $32.35

2.5%

Tobacco Church/Charity $12.57 $7.23

1%

.5%

Source: Christian Research Association (Household Expenditure Survey 2009-10) www.cra.org.au

The Pope has called for a return to “personcentred ethics in the world of finance and economics”. He has denounced unethical behaviour such as unregulated markets and financial speculation, increasing debt burdens on poorer countries, corruption and tax evasion, and a ‘throw-away’, consumerist mentality.

Money has to serve, not to rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ’s name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.

Pope Francis | Address, 16 May, 2013

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth.

Jesus Christ | Luke 16: 13-15

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Franc-is on the money

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Cathy Harris is the co-founder and co-director with her husband David of Harris Farm Markets, and one of Australia’s business and equal opportunity leaders. She is the mother of five sons and employs about 1500 people in the family business.

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Money is an essential ingredient of life and its sustainability. Let me tell you, it’s very important in life if you haven’t got it! I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with money. I think everybody should be working and endeavouring to do well in business life and in running not-forprofit organisations so that they’re highly sustainable. I think it’s very important that we’ve got a very strong sense of commercial reality.

I don’t measure success by money. I measure it by sustainability and by how we’re viewed by our customers.

On charity

so people can do that. If you feel called to go out and run a program for indigenous people, for example, you’ve got to have the money to do that properly, it’s got to be financially sustainable.

Giving financially isn’t only about cash donations.

For example, in our business we’re an employer of young people with intellectual disablities. We also give financially to a number of charities. That’s one of the nice things about having money - that we can help with all of these things.

It’s great to be a philanthropist, and money is a way that amazingly generous people can give to the community and keep the community sustainable. But if you grow up in the Catholic Church, go to Catholic schools, surrounded by nuns and priests, giving isn’t just about money. It’s about true sacrifice, it’s about seeing those amazing nuns who go and look after poor people in India for absolutely no reward whatsoever; they just give out of the generosity and love of their heart. Growing up Catholic we were immersed in a culture of giving.

You see this incredible self-giving throughout the Church and you’ve got to have the Catholics who provide the means A family business: Angus, David, Luke and Cathy Harris

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Lessons from hard times In the 80s we literally nearly lost the farm, so the kids got to see both sides. For about five years we really were broke, to the extent that we couldn’t afford new school shoes for the kids during that period.

There was a real sense of generosity towards us, and we saw our employees many of them who had worked for us for years - who stayed on and worked for no money. I think that had quite a dramatic effect on my kids.

Cathy on the family farm

Growing up in a Catholic family it was all about love, charity, giving back, and not being wasteful. F

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Thought about tithing?

Tithing is a commitment to allocate a proportion of your financial resources to God. Traditionally, Christians and Jews have set aside 10% for this purpose.

According to Rebuilt, the story by Fr Michael White and Tom Corcoran of a revitalised parish, there are four stages of responsible giving:

Priority giving (giving to God first before other expenses)

Progressive giving (increasing the percentage regularly)

Planned giving (designating money in the budget to give)

Percentage giving (giving a percentage of income, not a dollar amount)

We can’t out-give God

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance‌You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity.

St Paul | 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, 11

ONE MINUTE CATHOLIC

TO PRAYER How many passwords and PINs do you type in a typical day?

Think about it: smart phone, house alarm, laptop, ATM, bike padlock, social media accounts, wireless connection, online accounts, subscription services… the list goes on!

What if every time you typed in a password or PIN it was a prayer?

Blimey! Without even realising it, you’d be praying maybe twenty times a day!

Inspired Passwords Choose a password that relates to your faith, such as a prayer or scripture reference. For example: • Your baptism date • AMDG: All My Deeds for God, originally ‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’ - For the Greater Glory of God • n55378: BLESSu – upside down and back to front • WwydJ?: What would you do Jesus?

• J316: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son • JITIU: Jesus, I trust in you • 1BIC: One body in Christ • 2046: The Sign of the Cross • 2079: St Peter’s Cross • 1937: St Andrew’s Cross

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J 3 1 6

DG S u AM

BL E S

2046

WWJD

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