Saturday

Sunday  

Sunday  

Sacrament of Reconcilliation Saturday at 9:00 am

 

Stewardship

 

FAITH IN ACTION

A model of the perfect steward, Jesus taught a key part of the meaning of life is giving. Although he gave no riches - having none to give - and his few words were left for others to share, what Jesus did give was worth far more; he gave of himself. He taught that while our words count much, our deeds count more. That it's not the gift, but the giving that makes a difference.

Jesus' great lesson was that, more than anything else, we are here to serve and give to each other.

God has given us an abundance of riches. We are part of a dynamic faith community. We are blessed with a beautiful church, generous volunteers and staff and vibrant ministries both inside and outside our community. Gratitude could not be more appropriate for all we have been given.

This abundance is not ours to have, rather, it is ours to give. And Holy Family has always given generously. When we give on behalf of our faith, our giving becomes our faith in action. Stewardship can be seen as faith in action. The mystery of stewardship is this: we cannot wait for our faith to grow before we give; we must give and watch our faith grow as a result.

There are three dimensions to our stewardship: the time we give to the parish, the talents which God has given us and we, in turn, are willing and able to share with the Church and finally, the treasure or monetary contribution which we offer to our parish. All three are necessary for a parish to function for the benefit of all.

In the Bible, there is the time-honored idea of tithing, of making a regular contribution "off the top" which is returned to the church as a thanksgiving to God. Along with the notion of tithing comes "sacrificial giving"; looking with real honesty at the percentage amount of our incomes which we give to the church and to always see if we can increase it, perhaps another two percent or even one-half percent. "Sacrifice" doesn't only mean doing without something. The word itself means "to make holy" and that is what happens with your offerings to the church - it helps to bring the presence of God into our lives. It also makes each of us a little holier. We don't often mix the idea of money and God, certainly not very comfortably in our Catholic tradition, but the reality is there: we can be generous and trust that God will take care of our needs. In the process, we are able to take a little more ownership over our responsibilities to our God, our neighbor, our parish and ourselves.

 

YEAR END PLANNING

Many of us put off much of our charitable giving until the end of the year. Some of this is due to procrastination but it also makes economic sense. You get the same income tax charitable deduction for a gift in December as you do for a gift in January but with the December gift you have the use of the gift funds or property for almost an entire year. As you consider your year-end gifts, please prayerfully consider including Holy Family Parish on the list. The following information is general in nature. If you have specific questions, you should consult your own tax advisor.

 

CASH GIFTS

Gifts of cash to the Parish or other qualified charities are deductible on your income tax return for the year of gift up to 50% of your "adjusted gross income" (the last line on page 1 of Form 1040). If you are in the 28% federal income tax bracket, a gift of $1,000 saves $280 of federal income tax and therefore costs you only $720. You must itemize deductions to take advantage of charitable deductions.

 

GIFTS OF APPRECIATED SECURITY

You can deduct the full fair market value of appreciated securities (stocks and bonds) that given to the Parish or other qualified charities. In addition, the appreciation in value of the donated securities escapes capital gains taxation completely! For example, if you sell $1,000 worth of stock that you paid $200 for, you incur a combined federal and Wisconsin capital gains tax on the $800 gain of approximately 22% or $176. A gift of the $824 balance to the Parish saves $231 of income tax at 28%. The net savings is only $55 ($231-$176). A direct gift of the appreciated stock to the Parish, on the other hand, avoids the $176 capital gains tax and nets the full $280 tax savings of a cash gift. Gifts of appreciated securities are only deductible to the extent of 30% of adjusted gross income and must have been held for more than one year. The transfer must be completed before the end of the year to get the deduction on this year's tax returns.

 

LIFE INSURANCE POLICY

A gift of a life insurance policy that you no longer want or need can make a perfect year-end charitable gift. To qualify for the income tax deduction, the Parish must become the owner and beneficiary of the policy. If the policy is paid up, your deduction is equal to the lesser of the replacement cost of the policy or (more likely) the total premiums you have paid for the policy. If the policy is not paid up, the payment of future premiums on the policy, once it is owned by the Parish, will also be deductible in the year of payment.

 

DEFFERED GIVING

You may want to make a gift to the Parish but are afraid that you might need the income from the asset to live on. There are several ways to make such a gift, some of which qualify for a current income tax deduction even though the actual transfer to the Parish is delayed until later.

 

BEQUEST

The simplest way to make a deferred gift to the Parish is to add a specific gift to the Parish under your Will or Living Trust. The Parish holds bequests in its endowment fund using the income only to meet annual expenses. It represents your lasting gift to the Parish. You can even specify the purposes for which the income from your gift is used. If each of us added even a modest gift to the Parish to our estate plans, the Parish's financial future become much more secure in no time.

 

CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUST

This type of trust can be an especially effective way to make a delayed charitable gift and also enhance lifetime income. A charitable remainder trust ("CRT") pays a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage of the annual asset value to you and if you want, your spouse, for life or for a term of up to 20 years. At the end of the term (your death, the death of the survivor of you and your spouse, or the expiration of the term of years) the remaining trust assets pass to the charity. If you transfer appreciated securities or real estate to a CRT and the trust later sells the securities or real estate, the tax on the capital gain is deferred and sometimes avoided. The trustee gets to invest 100% of the sale proceeds to earn income to support the payments to you during the term. In some cases, the right to receive an annual percentage payment for life on 100% of the sales proceeds has a present value that is greater than outright ownership of the after-tax proceeds of a sale of the appreciated asset. The Parish is prepared to work with you and your attorney in structuring a CRT that meets your individual needs.

CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee assists parishes with charitable gift annuities. A charitable gift annuity is an agreement between you and the Archdiocese where you transfer assets, such as cash or appreciated securities, to the Archdiocese and, in return, you receive a guaranteed payment from the Archdiocese for the rest of your life. You receive an immediate income tax deduction for the present value of the gift at your death, avoid capital gains tax on appreciation, a fixed payment providing income to you for life, some of which is tax-free. The minimum gift annuity for the Archdiocese is $5,000. The payout rate is determined by your age at the time of the contract. At your death, you can direct the residual gift to the Parish and/or other Catholic charities. It is even possible to make a gift now and defer the start of payments until a future date. This type of gift is called a deferred gift annuity. The rates are generally higher than the rates on current gift annuities depending on your age and the length of the deferral before the start of payments.

 

REMAINDER INTEREST IN A PERSONAL
RESIDENCE

You can make an irrevocable gift of a personal residence to the Parish that is not effective until your death and receive a present income tax deduction equal actuarial present value of the Parish's right. The older you are, the greater the income tax benefit. Nothing changes regarding your use and enjoyment of the residence during your lifetime and the gift can be made without the use of a trust by means of a deed.

The Parish is ready to help you with year-end or deferred giving.
Contact or email Tony Monfre in the Parish Office at 332-9220.