Stewardship: How Much?

How Much Should I Be Giving To The Church?

In our Catholic faith “Tithing” is understood as giving 10% of your gross income - with 5% being given to the Church and 5% being given to the poor.

Tithing is a responsibility for all Christians and should be taken very seriously. However, there are legitimate exceptions to tithing such as family members living in poverty with very little money to cover their basic needs. Those who have the ability should make their best effort to tithe. Those who say their budget does not allow them to tithe but are buying things that are unnecessary, should look at where they are able to cut discretionary spending. By cutting discretionary spending, they are placing God before themselves. Regardless of the circumstances, every family should try to sacrificially give something no matter how small the gift. Jesus gave us an example of this in Mark 12:41, where the poor widow gave a few pennies from what she had to live on. In Tobit 4:8, Tobit tells his son Tobiah, “Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that. But do not hesitate to give alms."