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A Note from the Pastor |
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Thoughts on Stewardship Stewardship booklet 2007Father Joseph J. Kleppner, S.T.L., Ph.D. One of the words commonly used today in our Catholic Church is the word stewardship. An older form of this word and concept was tithing. However, the word stewardship is much broader in its meaning than tithing. The concept of stewardship involves an attitudinal change, a paradigm shift, if you will. With stewardship the concentration is not on the church’s need but on the need of the giver to give. It focuses on the need for individual and family participation as a matter of practicing and honoring one’s faith. Stewardship begins not with our institutional needs, no matter how important they are, but with the personal needs of each one of us to return to God a truly grateful portion of our time, talent and treasure in thanksgiving for all the blessings that he has given us. The highest motive for giving is our gratitude to God for his many blessings. It is Good News for the church, when a substantial number of people become good stewards. The Church’s needs are met and there are funds for needed growth and expansion. Stewardship is rooted in the Gospel itself where Jesus tells us to seek first his kingdom and everything else will be given. When we decide that the first part of our stewardship belongs to God and his poor, we make a faith decision. Stewardship and spiritual renewal go hand in hand. Certainly no pastor relishes the necessity of high-pressure fundraising and continual talking about money. Added to this, traditional fundraising methods seem to have become more and more ineffective. With two people in a family working, it is getting harder and harder to get volunteers for things like festivals. Stewardship is holistic in its approach, stressing the stewardship of time, talent and treasure. With regard to time, it challenges us to ask ourselves whether or not we are giving quality time to the lord, especially in the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, prayer and adult education and love-giving service to our brothers and sisters. In regard to talent, stewardship challenges pastors who are responsible in collaboration with their pastoral councils for identifying, affirming, calling forth and supporting the various talents and abilities from the parish community. It challenges all of us to ask how we are using God-given talents and abilities to further the work of his kingdom. With regards to treasure, stewardship challenges us to have a mission statement with a realistic set of priorities together with goals and objectives to meet those priorities. A parish budget is nothing other than its mission statement written in numbers. Authentic stewardship, grounded in spiritual renewal and conversion of the heart, individually and communally will enable us as a faith community to continue to move beyond maintenance toward evangelization, mission and spiritual growth. (Reprinted with permission from Copia New Series number three, winter 1998-99) |
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