“REJECT THE PATH OF WORLDLINESS.THE PATH OF WORLDLINESS IS A HOMICIDAL PATH. THE SPIRIT OF WORLDLINESS KILLS! IT KILLS THE SOUL! IT KILLS PEOPLE. IT KILLS THE CHURCH.” -POPE FRANCIS, VISIT TO ASSISI, (10/4/13)
Dear Archbishop Listeck, Father Kern, June and Michael,
I am writing to the four of you, I deeply respect, to join with Don of the parish council and the rest of us in saying No to the 1.1 million dollar proposed endowment fund for St. Catherine’s, the abundance received from the closing of Blessed Trinity parish. I have read the secret proposal made from an unnamed source and find it contrary to all the values of St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day we celebrate today and of our Holy Father who made it clear again today to reject the worldliness of an endowment fund and respect our Catholic Church’s teaching on sharing our abundance with the week, poor and marginalized of society. I have written to you many times about use of this money for basic necessitates like beds, stoves and refrigerators for residents of the most segregated, impoverished and criminalized neighborhoods of North Central Milwaukee where the money came from and where it was intended to be use to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As you well know Jesus tells us over and over again to share our abundance and not store it away in an endowment fund or barn. (Luke 12: 13–21). In the Matthew 25 Judgment of Nations parable scripture scholars tell us Jesus was not so much talking about individuals but of organizations and groups, like St. Catherine parish doing the works of mercy. An endowment fund using 3.5% of interest made on monies (usury) or more will not, in my opinion, be living the Gospel. In fact, from what I was taught by the Catholic Church in my 70 years is that this creation of worldly endowment for the monies would be a sin against the Will of God.
If you are worried about the money being subject to a lawsuit or being sustainable (which an endowment fund is Not) than look at the other proposals, like the Sustainable Works of Mercy fund, that was proposed and, to my knowledge, ignored in favor of this endowment proposal from an unknown source.
If you cannot commit yourself to using this money according to Gospel and Church teachings, at least open up the discussion about this 1.1 million or whatever is left, to the community at large. Let the people know where it came from, the intentions of the donors and the other proposals for use of the funds.
In the last few weeks I have made a number of St. Vincent De Paul home visits in the St. Catherine and Blessed Trinity neighborhoods where I had to tell a mother she needs to choose two of the three items she desperately needs for her family, a bed or two for her children, a stove or a refrigerator. This is an awful choice and with the abundance of funds, 1.1 million dollars, does not need to be made.
I hope the four of you our can hear the ‘cry of the poor’, God’s blessed ones, and respond. But since, like in the past, you may not, I will put a copy of this letter on the Diary of a worm web page and send a copy by mail to our Holy Father, who like St. Francis or St. Ignatius urges us to give our wealth and riches to those most in need. At least we can give of our abundance.
An investment in a endowment fund will make some rich worldly person richer; an investment in the poor and marginalized will shower down on us God blessings and grace that he only gives to the poor. Please “do the right thing”.
Your servant in Jesus the Christ,
Bob Graf
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