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Is it our responsibility at the end of our lives to share 5% of everything we have with our Church and/or other charities? What about young couples who must consider their own small children's needs should anything happen to them while the little ones are young? Should they divert money that, if they are gone, their family might need to support the minor children they leave behind? Surely there are many circumstances where one need not consider 5% of everything to be a responsibility. And yet our Church asks us to take stewardship seriously. In dividing up our estate, what is our responsibility to the Church, our family, those in need? Is it 5%, 2%, 10%? What does our faith tell us? Archbishop Tom Murphy, a Chicago native, was asked once if stewardship meant that we had to give 10% of our income to the Church. His response was that the Christian steward is asked to be less concerned with the 10% and more with how he or she is using the other 90%. Christian stewardship is not about percentages. As citizens of the richest country in the world, we have a great many blessings. It is definitely our responsibility to allow our faith to inform our decisions and our planning. As stewards, we must consider our gifts, material or otherwise, as sacred trusts. All that we have has been loaned to us to be used for God's glory. In a society that spends as much as ours does on sports equipment and video games, we must question whether we take that trust seriously enough. So what is "Our Responsibility"? It is to take our role as Christian stewards seriously. In planning our estate, family comes first, of course. Many of us can meet family needs and leave a beautiful legacy to our parish and school as well. Our estate plan is a wonderful opportunity to say thank you, to touch lives, to allow God to work through us. Our responsibility does not lie in percentages or numbers. When we approach our estate plan prayerfully, the numbers fall into place. We are deeply grateful for those who remember Holy Name Cathedral Parish in their estate plan. The Archdiocese of Chicago's staff is available to help. You can reach the Office of Planned Giving at 312/563-5726. Thank you for all that you share with our Church. God bless you.
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You
may have noticed some billboards put up by the Jewish United Fund. They
show the face of a beautiful child and encourage believers to share 5% of
their will to endow a child's future through education. In big block
letters it says, "It's Our Responsibility." That simple, direct
message gets me thinking. Responsibility, after all, is a strong word.