We are wealthier\u2013far wealthier per capita than our grandparents could have dreamed of, and yet our churches and school continue to have to beg for money. We continue to have to put on gala fund raising events and coax people to cough up even just a little of their money.<\/p>\n
Yes, I know, I know. There are some Catholics who are very generous and thank God for them, but we also have to stop and be realistic.<\/p>\n
Many Catholics don\u2019t give very much to the church at all.<\/p>\n
The big scary problem here is that this lack of generosity is not primarily a social issue. In other words its not so much that the poor will be hungry and homeless.<\/p>\n
Instead the really big problem is that we have to draw the conclusion from the gospel that if you are rich and you are not sacrificially generous then you will go to hell.<\/p>\n
There I\u2019ve said it. \u201cIf you\u2019re rich (and most Americans are rich by world\u2019s standards) and you are not sacrificially wealthy you will go to hell.<\/p>\n
And now I will hear the good religious people tell me how wonderful they are, what good works they do, what time they give to the church, how they say their prayers and read their Bible and lead good lives.<\/p>\n
Read that gospel again. That\u2019s exactly what the rich young man said to Jesus. He told Jesus how good he was.<\/p>\n
The underlying principle is very simple. \u201cYou cannot serve God and money\u201d, and a sad majority of American church going Catholics still serve money not God.<\/p>\n
As I said at our local Catholic high school recently holding up in one hand a dollar and in the other a picture of the Lord\u2026 \u201cYou can\u2019t serve George and Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
So why should you give more generously? For Heaven\u2019s sake. For your soul\u2019s salvation, because if you don\u2019t you\u2019re serving George not Jesus, and if you serve a false God you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.<\/p>\n
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We are wealthier\u2013far wealthier per capita than our grandparents could have dreamed of, and yet our churches and school continue to have to beg for money. We continue to have to put on gala fund raising events and coax people to cough up even just a little of their money. Yes, I know, I know. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19122","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n