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October 12, 2008

Our faith offers guidance in times of financial worry

By Joyce Duriga

EDITOR

It’s the talk in the office, on the train, in the store, among friends and family. What will be the fallout of the economic crisis and what does the future hold? There is a near palpable sense of fear and worry among people today.

Will my retirement money be OK? What about our investments? We’ve saved money for our children’s college fund but now it’s dwindling. What do we do? Is my job safe?

For those living paycheck to paycheck before major banks started crumbling, the questions are more dire. How do I pay my rent? Will we have enough money to pay for heat this winter? How will we feed our family? Or afford gas for the car?

There are no easy answers to all of these questions. But our Catholic faith can guide us. The Catholic Church’s social teaching offers advice for those in business and financial circles on how to best conduct their work. And, for the people of faith, we can turn to God’s teachings and love for help and remember that the Lord’s love is the only constant in life. Financial prosperity is fleeting but he isn’t.

Money doesn’t bring joy

The current global financial crisis illustrates why it is a mistake to build a life on passing realities like money and success, Pope Benedict XVI said, in a Catholic News Service report.

“We see this today in the collapse of the great banks: This money disappears, it’s nothing. And so all these things we thought were real and were counting on are in fact realities of a second order,” he said Oct. 6, the day European stock markets plummeted following news of government bailouts for two more mortgage and banking companies. The pope made these remarks at the opening of the Synod of Bishops on the Bible in Rome on Oct. 6. (See full story on Page 2.) Cardinal George is one of four U.S. delegates to the synod.

“We need to change our idea of realism. The realist is someone who recognizes in the word of God, in this reality that appears so weak, the foundation of everything,” the pope said.

Father Robert Barron agreed.

“We can get so confident in our own economic system. It goes through these negative cycles,” the Word on Fire founder said from his office in the Northwest Mutual Building in downtown Chicago. Barron said people working in his building are noticeably tense but that overall they advise patience with the economy.

Barron advised faith.

“We don’t rely on our wealth and our prosperity to bring us happiness. The church reverences the free market but we don’t find our ultimate joy there,” he said.

God is source of joy

This time of uncertainty can remind us what does bring us ultimate joy. God.

“We have here no lasting city. We have in our economic prosperity no lasting security,” Barron said. “It’s a reminder that there’s a deeper reality to life. We get too reliant on the things of this world.”

It is also a time for us to think about living simply, said Shelia Liaugminas, Chicago-area resident, blogger and a regular contributor to Relevant Radio.

“We’re probably going to have to start living with less,” she said. “If we have less it brings me back to my own question ‘How much do I really need?’ It’s time to look at what we can live without.”

It’s also a time to look outside ourselves to see how we can help others. Our Catholic faith is not something we do in isolation. It’s a communal experience, she said.

“We are about community. We’re in this together,” she said, adding that we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ to ask how they are doing and to offer help during this time if we can.

“Ask others ‘Are you doing OK?’ Listening is a moral act, and just being there for people,” Liaugminas said.

When we share our burdens together, they do not seem so dire or threatening, she said.

This is also a time to not cut back on our donations to our churches that are also feeling the strain.

“Whatever we give to the church has to come off of the top,” she said.

Catholic News Service contributed to this story.