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Good Stewards To The End: Estate Planning Is Essential For The Faithful
As good stewards of the many gifts our Lord has bestowed upon us, we know that sharing of our time, talent and treasure is a meaningful expression of gratitude for all that we’ve been given. How often, however, do we think about what will happen to our treasure once we have passed from this earthly life? With a little foresight and planning, our stewardship of God’s gifts can become a lasting legacy.
Mark Henry is the President of the East Texas Catholic Foundation, an organization devoted to helping individuals make estate planning decisions in a way that reflects their Catholic faith.
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“We help people align their finances with Catholic values and implement them with philanthropy,” Mark says. “Most dioceses have a foundation and the purpose is to raise funds, but to do so in a way that largely involves estate planning and more detailed tax strategies. These foundations are the depository of assets which are planned gifts through estate planning. Our approach is to bring a Catholic faith-based and stewardshipbased approach to the discussion because it is a useful tool for the Catholic faithful in supporting the Church in a more meaningful and long-term manner.”
Mark recognizes that conversations surrounding end-of-life planning can be difficult, but it is important to plan. “It’s a responsible thing to have a will, and yet it is the second most common estate plan — the most common estate plan is no estate plan,” he says. “If you don’t do anything and something happens to you, your estate is exposed to the will of the courts. This isn’t good stewardship because we are called to provide for our families and be good witnesses to them, and making sure that they don’t end up fighting over things in court is one way to do that.”
As Mark points out, there is a reason we call it “planned giving” — rather than simply writing a check, a lot of intentional decisionmaking is involved in end-of-life planning. There are many opportunities for parishioners to continue sharing their treasure with the Church following their passing. Someone may direct a portion of their treasure to an organization through a bequest in their will. Other options include establishing a charitable gift annuity or charitable trust, or even naming the parish or diocese as a beneficiary of an IRA plan or the like. According to Mark, there are about a dozen ways gifts can be made to the Church, and all provide tax benefits. In addition to estate planning, end-of-life decisions may also involve medical decisions. Observing how health rationing has entered the public discourse during the COVID-19 crisis, Mark emphasizes the need to consider Church teachings when drawing up a legal document with medical directives.
“The living will is pro-euthanasia, and Catholic documents are very different from that,” he says. “There is a lot of lack of knowledge regarding the Catholic approach, and most people don’t have a protective medical document in place. It’s one of those important things that should be taken care of and can go a long way to making sure you have a faithful finish, so to speak.”
With intentional estate planning and responsible healthcare directives, we are given the opportunity to continue answering the Gospel call to be good stewards of God’s many gifts in this life and the next.
“A lot of people figure they will give on Sunday and don’t think about providing for the Church after they’re gone,” Mark says. “Then when they pass away, it is a double loss — their current gift goes away and the much larger gift out of the will or trust never happens. So our foundation brings estate planning to East Texas and shows people how they can be good stewards. Often, that simply means eliminating taxes and passing those savings on to the Church.
“This is what we’re called to do as Christians,” he adds. “The Bible is replete with Scripture that speaks about money and the need to use it responsibly. We are asking people to recognize in their estate plans that God is the source of all blessings — He is the master and we are the stewards.”
