DEAR ABBY: Can you please advise me about what to do about a mother who has gone overboard with church donations? She drained my parents' savings and gave her old church $20,000. She complains to Dad that they can't afford to go out to dinner once a week, but she's doing this?
What can I say to her? I get that it says in the Bible you're supposed to tithe, but my folks are on a budget, and they are in danger of losing their home because of this. Twenty thousand dollars is close to 30 percent of their combined pretax income, and that's not even taking into account what she's giving to the church she currently attends. Help! -- OVERBOARD IN NEVADA
DEAR OVERBOARD: You can't handle this problem alone. Your father will have to become proactive about what your mother has been doing. This may involve him talking to an attorney about what would be involved with separating his earnings from your mother's.
That said, is it possible that your mother is "forgetting" she has already made some of these donations, or why they can no longer go out to dinner once a week? If that's the case, it's important she be evaluated medically and neurologically to be sure she is still of sound body and mind.