Lenten alms giving: 40 Bucks for Lent

As part of your Lenten alms giving, please allow me to suggest to you a worthy and urgent charitable cause, namely the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ suffering greatly in the Middle East.

As part of their ongoing Christians At Risk campaign (#ChristiansAtRisk), the Knights of Columbus are encouraging us to give "40 Bucks For Lent." The new aspect of the Christians At Risk campaign, which has already raised more than $10 million, comes with its own Twitter hashtag: #40BucksForLent

You can make your donation either through the Christians At Risk web site, or by sending a check made payable to "Knights of Columbus Charities, Inc." with "Christian Refugee Relief" on the memo line to this address:

Knights of Columbus Charities
One Columbus Plaza
P.O. Box 1966
New Haven, CT 06509-1966

Please also remember the persecuted members of the Body of Christ daily in your prayers and offer your sufferings for them.

Pope requests aid for Iraqi Christians, where to give

Today Pope Francis issued another plea on Twitter for the persecuted Iraqi Christians:

Those driven from their homes in Iraq depend on us. I ask all to pray, and for those who are able, to give material assistance.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) August 10, 2014

I suggested the same in my homily this weekend and am pleased to know not only that I am thinking with the Holy Father, but also that many people asked after Mass how they might contribute. One  organization come immediately to mind: the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), a papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support.

The CNEWA has a page set up so may make contributions directly to their work in Iraq. Donations may be made in your own name or in the name of another, are secure, and tax deductible.

Please, be as generous as you are able; no donation is too small!

Paprocki running for pro-life causes

One week from today His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, will run his eighteenth marathon in Kansas City with the Life Runners, a network of runners who raise funds for pro-life causes.



Bishop Paprocki will run to raise funds for pro-life activities in his Diocese:

• youth scholarships for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.
• multimedia resources to educate youth
• advertising campaigns about post-abortion assistance

If you are able, please make a donation online as Bishop Paprocki runs for this most worthy of causes.

Physical or virtual giving

Jonathan Sullivan has a post today in which he considers the benefits of using the Sunday envelope instead of giving to the Church electronically. He says:

While I think the electronic option would be good for older couples or single persons, as a father with small children it is important to me that my kids see how our family supports the Church financially. If they never see the money we give -- if it comes straight out of our accounts to the Church -- it is a lot harder for them to see the connection. By handing them the envelope and encouraging them to "put it in the basket," hopefully they will learn the habit of giving intentionally to the Church.

For what it's worth, I think he's right.

Almsgiving done wisely

It is a sad statement of fact that people of good will best be wise and prudent when giving alms to various organizations and charities. It is becoming more difficult to find groups not connected with practices contrary to the faith and to human decency.

Their Excellencies the Most Reverend Paul A. Zipfel, Bishop of Bismark, and the Most Reverend Samuel J. Aquila, Bishop of Fargo, released on Ash Wednesday a list of organizations to which Catholics and people of good will should not contribute because their practices are contrary to the moral law (March of Dimes and Susan G. Komen Foundation are on the list).

Their statement offers the teaching of the Church on the sacredness of human life and of marriage, provides guidelines for almsgiving, and states why the groups cited should not receive our contributions.

Let us keep these two brave Bishops in our prayers.

Capello tip to Thomas Peters, who suggests a few more organizations to which we should give.

Paprocki: If we are not generous, our selfishness will lead to bitterness and resentment

The Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki reflected in his weekly column in the Catholic Times on the importance and value of Lenten disciplines of increased prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

His text follows, with my emphases:

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Ash Wednesday falls on March 9 this year, marking the beginning of the season of Lent. In the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, Jesus reminds us that prayer, fasting and almsgiving are three key ways for us to make the most of this sacred season.

Prayer, of course, is something that people of faith should do every day, not just during Lent. Prayer is our conversation with God, and such conversation is not relegated or limited to certain times of year. For example, the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or Breviary, is a form of prayer used by priests, deacons, nuns and some lay people to mark the rhythms of each day. Morning prayer, daytime prayer, evening prayer and night prayer keep us and our activities connected to God during the different times of day.

Just as each day has different times, there are different seasons during the course of the year. The church also observes these seasons in her liturgical calendar, with special prayers for Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. The rest of the year we call Ordinary Time, not because it is ordinary in the sense of being plain or routine, but because it marks the orderly progression of time from one week to the next.

Many parishes offer not only increased opportunities for prayer during Lent, but also different forms of prayer such as a Lenten mission and the Stations of the Cross.

Regarding fasting during Lent, many people fast with the hope that they will lose weight, especially the extra pounds accumulated during the Christmas season. There is nothing wrong with such a goal, as God wants us not only to avoid the sin of gluttony, but also to look out for our health. I believe that the old maxim, “a sound mind in a sound body” is a worthwhile objective, and I try to live by it.

But ultimately our Lenten fasts are not merely weight reduction programs designed to reduce corpulent figures, but a means for helping us stay connected to God. When we are hungry and thirsty, we are reminded that the deepest hungers and thirsts of our hearts are satisfied only by God. When we become aware of our longings and desires, we are reminded that the deepest longing and desire we can have is to be connected in a close and loving relationship with God. When we are tempted to become attached to a life of conspicuous consumption of rich foods, exotic drinks, expensive cars, luxurious homes, fashionable clothes, gaudy jewelry and sexual pleasure, we are reminded that the only attachment of our hearts that matters when all is said and done is for our hearts to be attached to God.

Fasting during Lent can also be an opportunity not just to limit our own consumption, but also become more mindful of those who lack the basic necessities of life. Operation Rice Bowl is one such way of helping the hungry.

St. Paul wrote that athletes deny themselves all kinds of things in order to win a perishable crown, but Christians deny themselves in order to win a crown that will never wither or fade, namely, life eternal in God’s heavenly kingdom.

Regarding almsgiving, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 2462), says, “Giving alms to the poor is a witness to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.” A person usually does not have to look very far to find opportunities to help the poor. Often our daily mail delivers scores of solicitations from charitable organizations, many of them quite worthy, who perform a variety of benevolent works. Sometimes we encounter beggars or homeless people on the street. There are various approaches that we can take in response. Some people are willing to give a small amount of cash to strangers they meet. Others will give them coupons for food that they can use at local restaurants or grocery stores. Another approach is to refer these people to responsible social service agencies, such as Catholic Charities.

Perhaps the most commonplace for our charitable giving is the collection basket at Mass. In this case our donations are more than just charity, they are obligations required by the fifth precept of the church, “You shall help to provide for the needs of the church.” This means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the church, each according to his own ability (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 2043). This “ability” will vary from person to person, of course, so I would like to offer a suggestion that I had made when I was pastor of a parish: each person’s first hour of work should be dedicated to God, meaning that you should give your first hour’s pay each week as a donation to the church. In this way, the dollar amount will depend on how much you are paid, but the time dedicated to earning that pay (one hour) will be the same for each person.

Remember the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible? Abel brought an offering to God from the firstlings of his flock, while Cain’s offering was not so generous. The Bible tells us that the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but did not look favorably on Cain or his offering. Cain resented this, and the bitterness of his resentment led Cain to kill his brother Abel. (See Genesis 4: 3-8.) If we are generous with God, he will reward us. If we are not generous, our selfishness will lead to bitterness and resentment.

Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving during this upcoming Lenten season, with God’s grace we can overcome our self-centeredness and become more focused on God, leading us further on the path to holiness.
May God give us this grace. Amen.

Papal Message for Lent 2008

In his Message for Lent 2008, Pope Benedict XVI reflects on that tried and true form of penance that has led countless people to holiness: almsgiving. The Holy Father and I must be thinking along the same lines this year.

Almsgiving is important, he says, because it teaches us "to respond to our neighbor's needs and to share with others whatever we possess through divine goodness" (1).

With the giving of alms, there is often a desire to be noticed for what is given. This is especially true in our day. Simply consider the large number of banquets and golf outings used as fundraisers. Far too many people will not give money to those who have need of it without expecting something in return, either some gift of some sort or public recognition, or very often even both.

Cautioning us that we are only "administrators of the goods we possess" (2) and that "Jesus explicitly admonishes the one who possesses and uses earthly riches only for self" (2), the Holy Father reminds us that "everything, then, must be done for God's glory and not our own" (3).

This understanding, dear brothers and sisters, must accompany every gesture of help to our neighbor, avoiding that it becomes a means to make ourselves the center of attention. If, in accomplishing a good deed, we do not have as our goal God’s glory and the real well being of our brothers and sisters, looking rather for a return of personal interest or simply of applause, we place ourselves outside of the Gospel vision. In today’s world of images, attentive vigilance is required, since this temptation is great. Almsgiving, according to the Gospel, is not mere philanthropy: rather it is a concrete expression of charity, a theological virtue that demands interior conversion to love of God and neighbor, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, dying on the cross, gave His entire self for us. How could we not thank God for the many people who silently, far from the gaze of the media world, fulfill, with this spirit, generous actions in support of one’s neighbor in difficulty? There is little use in giving one’s personal goods to others if it leads to a heart puffed up in vainglory: for this reason, the one, who knows that God “sees in secret” and in secret will reward, does not seek human recognition for works of mercy (3).

The Church encourages the giving of alms because "by drawing close to others through almsgiving, we draw close to God; it can become an instrument for authentic conversion and reconciliation with Him and our brothers" (4).