August 17. Money management.  The conversation in the group came around to possessions and money management. This is a sore point in many places.  Men complain that women are spenders, women complain that men are mean and irresponsible, drink or gamble.  “My husband refuses to tell me what he earns.”  “I need to ration the money I give to my wife because she just spends it all.”  “That is why some of us prefer not to be bothered with a man and do our own thing.” “That is OK if you can afford it.” So comments came from around the group. Angela had pre-empted the discussion and had invited a speaker on Catholic Social Teaching to help facilitate a discussion that also considered the effects of money on the environment and proposed a budgeting plan.

I tell you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man (or woman) to enter the Kingdom of God. Matthew 19:23-30.

Pope Francis. We treat material objects and the environment: everything is disposable; everyone uses and throws away, takes and breaks, exploits and squeezes to the last drop.  AL39.    A true ecological approach always becomes a social approach, it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.  LS49.