Catholic Foundation seeks to promote stewardship, particularly financial stewardship.

Money, as a subject, is not much discoursed in the Church. Yet, having to manage and at times struggle and worry about money is a lived reality for most of us. And how we should do so in the light of our Catholic faith is not always clear.

The course, God, Money & Me, was created to fill what we believe is a gap in the understanding of how Catholics in Singapore should deal with our finances in a way that is aligned to scripture and the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Both. The course will cover what scripture and the Catholic Church say about wealth, poverty, financial stewardship, etc. At the same time, it will cover the practical aspects of financial planning, insurance, investments, debt management, etc. in a way that is aligned to the Church’s teachings. These practical aspects will be applied to your personal circumstances through Excel Workbooks that are an integral part of the course.

There is a pre-course component where participants are expected to do some preparation, on their own, in the month before the first formal session (Session 1). The necessary materials will be sent to the participants.

This is followed by five formal sessions over approximately 5 weeks:

• Sessions 1, 3 and 5 are big group sessions with presentations, and small group breakouts.

• Sessions 2 and 4 are small group discussions.

A small group comprises 5-10 participants, with a facilitator.

Course materials, consisting Participant Guide, Resource Guide and Excel Workbooks, will be provided. The workbooks are for completion in between the formal sessions.

From the previous question, you can see that you need to:

• Attend five physical formal sessions. Each session would take about 3 hours.

• Spend time before the course and in between the five sessions to complete your Excel Workbooks and read the supplementary materials in the Resource Guide. There are altogether 10 Excel Workbooks, and each Workbook can take between an hour to four hours to complete.

Unfortunately, no. It is to your benefit to attend and actively participate in every session as it would enable you to get the most out of this course. If you miss any session, your deposit will not be refunded. If you have any specific concerns, please inform your group facilitator or the overall course administrator (Catholic Foundation staff), who will advise accordingly.

In addition, we have limited places for the course. If you are unsure whether you can attend every session, or if you think you may not have the time to complete the Workbooks on a timely basis, we advise you to register for a future run of the course where the dates may be better suited for you.

We aim to hold this once or twice a year, depending on speakers’ and facilitators’ availability.

The course presenters are priests and lay Catholics with expertise and experience in the various aspects of Church teachings and financial management. The facilitators are volunteers with the Foundation who have a good knowledge of finance and money management, and desire to help Catholics steward their financial resources wisely.

This course is most suitable for working Catholics, whether you are an employee or are self-employed/freelancing. You will gain most of the course if you are between the ages of 25 – 60 years old. Couples who are married or are preparing for marriage may find it useful to attend the course together as a couple, so that they can order their finances jointly.

There are avenues and organisations that a financially distressed person could reach out to for services and support. This course provides education on sound financial management for Catholics. Depending upon your situation, this course could help put you on a better footing for you to embark on your journey towards ordering your finances. For example, we cover topics such as financial crisis and debt management. Do peruse the topics to determine if this course should be a priority for you.

Catholic Foundation created this course to fill what we believe is a gap in the understanding of how Catholics in Singapore should deal with our finances – in a way that is aligned to scripture and the Catholic Church. Non-Catholic spouses of Catholics may be keen to attend this course together as a couple as money matters are a significant part of any marriage. Non-Catholic individuals who wish to sign up should at least be undergoing the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).

This course has a large practical component and uses the Singapore context in its materials. For example, CPF is covered extensively in the topics on insurance and retirement planning. While basic concepts and Church teachings will still be useful to you, you may find that some sessions may not be as relevant.

We do not charge for the course because we want to benefit all Catholics, including those who may be financially challenged.

We would, of course, welcome any love offering at the end of the course to help defray the cost of developing and running each course. Or you can make a contribution to the Catholic Foundation’s Giving in Faith and Thankfulness (GIFT) programme, which supports the needs of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore. You can learn more about GIFT here.

We have limited spaces for the course, and our facilitators sacrifice their time to be with participants. To be fair to you, the facilitators and other potential participants, we require participants to commit to attending and participating fully in the course. The $100 deposit per participant is to encourage full commitment to the course. This will be refunded upon the participant’s completion of the course, i.e. attendance at all five sessions.

We have chosen to make it a refundable deposit as opposed to a course fee so as not to discourage those who are financially challenged and would benefit greatly from such a course. In any case, the value of the course exceeds the amount we are charging as a refundable deposit.

Unfortunately, no. When you register to attend as a couple, both of you will need to attend all sessions together. If you have any specific concerns, please inform your group facilitator or the overall course administrator (Catholic Foundation staff), who will advise accordingly.

If either of you is unable to commit to all sessions, you may want to consider signing up and attending as an individual instead. Please note that full attendance is also required for individual participants.