What Is Enough?

A ten-week guided cohort exploring your relationship with money, rooted in Catholic Social Teaching and led by Greg Little.

How do you know when you have enough? Most of us never actually ask. A Contemplative Approach to Personal Finance is a ten-week cohort built around that one question, using Catholic Social Teaching to look honestly at how you spend, save, and invest.

Over ten weeks, you will be part of a small cohort working through personal identity, consumption, saving, and investing in light of Catholic Social Teaching. This is not a budgeting course (although we will talk about budgeting!), and it is not a course about optimizing returns (although we will talk about "returns!"). You'll have a space to slow down and notice the patterns already driving your financial life, and with that increased insight, have the freedom to choose what's next.

What This Course Is

Contemplation begins with a gift already given: the reality that our lives are held in God's loving presence, whether we notice it or not. To contemplate is to grow aware of that presence already at work, even in the middle of your finances.

As Parker Palmer put it, contemplation is "anything that penetrates illusion and touches reality."

Applied to money, that means noticing the unconscious beliefs, the inherited habits, the quiet anxieties that shape how you spend, save, and give, and asking whether they reflect the beauty of the gospel and serve your commitments of faith.

Each week brings a short reading (released Saturdays), a case study exploring how this material takes shape in one person or community's life, and space for reflection.

Every other Thursday, the group meets live to talk it through together.

What You'll Walk Away With

• A working understanding of Catholic Social Teaching as a framework for your own financial life, not just abstract theology
• Your own Financial Rule of Life, a personal document you build across the course, connecting your daily financial habits to what you actually believe
• A set of contemplative practices (including Centering Prayer and the Examen) you can keep using long after the course ends
• A small community of people asking the same honest questions, walking through it with you

What Participants Say

"This course is such a gift. I feel like we've been accompanied with so much wisdom and grace into such difficult and complex territory... inviting us into a deeper integration of our faith into the confusing world of our modern financial lives into a more compassionate and loving way.

And sharing so many possibilities of other ways and ideas forward to live into, that are attractive and beautiful and meaningful!

Brilliant course...and this is just your first go at it. And so thankful for each of my classmates for sharing yourselves along the way in this journey. Thank you all!"

— Bill DeFulvio, Partnership Coordinator at StepUp Durham

"Before hearing about this course, I had never thought to combine contemplation and my approach to finances. It opened my eyes to the ways I can be more mindful in dozens of daily decisions, big and small.

But along with a mindful approach to finances, I received two unexpected gifts: a small cohort of seekers like myself who want to discern how to use their individual leverage for the greater good, and joy. I've long avoided dwelling on money any more than necessary, thinking it a "dirty necessity," but it turns out that careful, thoughtful reflection can bring joy to every aspect of life. I look forward to applying the lessons learned in this class to create integrity around my financial decisions."

— Marybeth Bishop, Writer and Editor

"This cohort course experience changed my perception of personal finance from a "solo, checklist endeavor" to an invitation to a "integrated communal journey". So much of our default financial ways of operating are digital, transactional, siloed, and sterile. The course leaders, other participants, case studies, contemplative practices and reflection modules all helped open up for me an alternative that includes ways to ground myself in God's love,  rich animating questions to guide my financial life, and opportunities to build relationships with others"

— Peter Steiner

I sincerely appreciated the opportunity this course provided to deeply reflect on "personal" finance-- a topic that is so often treated as a technical one, with prescribed approaches that go unquestioned. As someone who has been conditioned to not talk about money, it was liberating to discuss the questions of "Where is there opportunity to integrate our values into our finances?" and "What parts of traditional personal finance wisdom do I want to challenge and where do I want to find alternatives?" with the cohort, in community. 

One of my favorite parts of the course was hearing case studies from brave folks who began the journey of asking "What is enough?" and "Is my money contributing to the world I want to live in?" a while ago and have insights to share. For some time, I had been trying to enact a few technical changes in my financial life to better align my money and values. But I had made little progress, as I was doing it alone and was nervous to take the first step. This course made me realize that by slowing down to accompany each other on this journey, we can foster, yes, an outward transformation of our finances, but also an even greater inner transformation, leading to more joy and ease in our daily lives.

- Evie Bauman

Who This Is For

For people eager to align their finances with their faith, and to use money with greater integrity with their beliefs. Anyone who senses a gap between what they believe and how they handle money, and wants to close it in community rather than alone. No investment background or financial expertise required. No specific income level required, the course is about your relationship with money, not the size of your portfolio.

The Format

Workshop dates: September 10 - November 19, 2026

Facilitated by Greg Little, with additional coach Douglas Tsoi.

• Asynchronous lessons, one to two released weekly on Saturdays
• Live Zoom gatherings every other Thursday at 12pm EST: Sept 10, Sept 24, Oct 8, Oct 22, Nov 5, Nov 19

Greg Little, Facilitator: 

Greg has spent his adult life immersed in shared community living, from a Catholic Worker hospitality house inspired by St. Francis, to Haiti's Wings of Hope, to Friendship House, and most recently Corner House in Durham. He orders his life around daily prayer, simplicity, and littleness, and comes alive in mutual spiritual accompaniment. His own financial formation has come largely through friendship with the poor, the lives of the saints, and Catholic Social Teaching. Greg works at Reality Ministries, fostering friendship between people with and without disabilities. He loves gardening, playing any sport with a ball, and building bonfires with his family.

Douglas Tsoi, Coach:

Douglas worked as a lawyer, a Quaker school teacher, and a sustainability manager for the government before retiring at 42 through voluntary simplicity. During the pandemic, he trained as a Franciscan spiritual director. He now teaches a personal finance course called Financial Freedom and writes a Substack newsletter called Money and Meaning. He loves soccer, Asian food, and his dog.

Common Questions

Is this only for Catholics? No. This course is for anyone who wants to examine their financial life in light of the gospel. The materials are rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, and the contemplative practices come from a Christian context.

Do I need investment experience or a certain income level? No. This course is about personal finances, and your relationship with money, whatever that currently looks like, not about managing a portfolio.

What if the $200 fee is a barrier? What do the different ticket prices mean? We never want cost to stand in the way.

The Scholarship rate ($200) exists for exactly that reason — no explanation needed, just register at that rate if that's what your budget allows. If even that's a stretch, email Cameron at cameron@francescocollaborative.org and we'll find a price that works.

The Pay It Forward rate ($750) helps make the Scholarship rate possible for someone else.

What if I can't make a live Thursday session? We hope everyone can be there for all six live sessions, that's a real part of what makes the group experience work. That said, life happens. Recordings of each session's case study are provided, and missing one won't exclude you from the course.

Reserve Your Seat

There are 20 spots in this cohort. Choose the ticket that fits your circumstances — Full Price ($500), Pay It Forward ($750) to help sponsor someone else's seat, or Scholarship ($200) if that's what your budget allows right now. Register before the September 24 launch to hold your seat.