|
Parish Stewardship: the why, the how, and the what to expect
Ed Sampson
Parish Stewardship Commission Chairperson
I view parish stewardship as a great enabler. A parish that develops the stewardship way of life becomes blessed with countless, committed disciples of Jesus Christ who are focused on action - people who day-by-day live out their discipleship by taking concrete actions to help build the Kingdom of God.
Stewardship enables us to ensure the viability, vision and vitality of parishes for future generations. It positions us to address the challenges facing our Archdiocese, including enabling vibrant worship communities, reaching out to the uninvolved and alienated, and serving the poor and those on the margins of society.
I believe that parish stewardship will become accepted as the great enabler that will result in an effective implementation of our Archdiocese's pastoral plan to proactively confront the realities of reduced numbers of active priests, and further reliance on permanent deacons, religious, and appropriately equipped lay leaders to continue vibrant parish life.
To some, stewardship may be a new term and a new concept. The question may be raised: "What is stewardship all about?" And, perhaps more importantly, "How can each of us benefit from stewardship as we grow in our Catholic faith?"
Stewardship is a belief - a conviction - a way of life - an expression of discipleship - that acknowledges that all we are and have are gifts from God. It's an absolute certainty to state that all of us entered our earthly lives with nothing, and will surely leave our earthly lives with nothing. One may recall the Old Testament passage, "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I go back again." (Job 1:21). During our earthly lives, we are only stewards - trustees - temporary caretakers - of the gifts that God has given to us. All of creation demonstrates the concept of stewardship: God created the world, but entrusted it to human beings. God made all of us - men and women, children and young adults, seniors - all of us, God made stewards of his creation and of the unique combinations of gifts he has given us.
What are these gifts? We can categorize them as time, talent and treasure. God gives each of us a certain amount of time to live on this earth. God gives each of us particular talents in life. God gives each of us material treasure during our earthly lives. As stewards, our role is to gratefully receive these gifts of time, talent, and treasure; to cherish, cultivate and develop them in a responsible manner; to share them in love and justice with others; and to return the gifts with interest to the Lord. All of this we do out of gratitude to, and love for, a generous heavenly Father.
A serious, responsible disciple of Jesus Christ - one who attempts to pattern his or her life after that of Jesus Christ - makes a conscious decision to follow him, and his teachings, no matter what the challenge or cost. Such a disciple truly experiences conversion - life-shaping changes of mind and heart that result in committing his or her very self to the Lord. Stewardship is a disciple's response to the call to be a follower of Jesus Christ, by sacrificing the time, talent, and treasure God has given the disciple to help build the Kingdom of God on earth. Stewardship shapes and molds our understanding of our lives and the way in which we live. Stewardship is the path to happiness in this life and beyond.
Stewardship has to do not just with our happiness during our lives on this earth, but with our eternal lives. Jesus teaches us that, at the end of our earthly lives, we will be judged for entrance into eternal life purely on the basis of how we have used our time, talent, and treasure during our earthly lives - either in imitation of his love, sacrificing for the least of our brothers and sisters, or not.
Parish stewardship is not a one-time project or a seasonal campaign. Rather, it is a biblically-based response to Jesus' call to discipleship. It is a way of life in which we follow Christ through our commitment to sacrifice our gifts of time, talent and treasure for the building of his Body, the Church.
To understand stewardship, one might compare it to the contributions made by the individual members of a vibrant family, each of whom sacrifices his or her time, talent, and treasure for the good of the entire family. Each person's embracing of the duty to perform certain tasks is a statement of family responsibility. Whether it's doing the dishes, washing the clothes, emptying the rubbish, or mowing the lawn, each task supports the operation of the family. Isn't this an example of each family member’s sharing his or her time and talent for the common good of the entire family? Isn't this done in a spirit of giving of self and of love?
So it is in the context of the parish family. Countless tasks are involved in the day-to-day operation of a parish. It is true that many tasks are performed by the pastor, clergy, sisters and staff. It is also a remarkable manifestation of active discipleship that most of what is done at a vibrant parish is accomplished through the sacrifice of time, talent and treasure by hundreds of parishioners.
If your parish would like to explore adopting the stewardship way of life, here is step-by-step strategic plan that has proven effective.
Initial activity should be focused on investigation, consideration and commitment. The "information gathering" portion of this effort is usually conducted by the pastor and the parish pastoral council. Available resources include the excellent pastoral letter "Stewardship: A Disciple's Response - Tenth Anniversary Edition" available from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (http://www. usccbpublishing.org), and materials from the Archdiocese of Boston Office of Parish Stewardship (http://www.rcab.org), particularly the video of Boston Catholic Television Jay Fadden's interview of Bishop John P. Boles on the subject: "Biblically-based Parish Stewardship".
Questions for consideration would include: "Is this right for our parish?" - "Is this the right time to introduce stewardship in our parish?" - and, "Are we will willing to commit the leadership and resources to adopt, and continue to foster, stewardship?"
The next step would be to establish, staff and educate a parish stewardship commission. The pastor would seek out qualified and committed parishioners to serve on the commission, optimally inclusive of all elements of the parish community. An organizational meeting of the newly-formed commission would take place and all members would become knowledgeable about stewardship.
At this point, planning the roll-out of stewardship in the parish is critical. Recognizing the time, talent and treasure aspects of stewardship, the commission should conduct a parish needs assessment, develop specific volunteer job descriptions, and examine the current financial condition of the parish. Questions to be asked include: "What are the priorities of the parish?" - "Are there parish ministries and organizations that need additional volunteers?" - and, "Have we established realistic and achievable financial goals?"
The roll-out of parish stewardship should be creative, effective and sincere. Preliminary efforts might be strategically aimed at creating "buzz" about stewardship. Personal witness talks at Masses about stewardship by committed volunteers have been found to be very effective. Homilies, bulletin articles, letters from the pastor, website insertions and videos can be utilized to introduce stewardship.
Follow-up and ongoing maintenance are essential to effective parish stewardship. If a parishioner "signs up" for a specific parish ministry, and no contact is made to accept and assign that person, the effort was useless. Don't forget the power of the phrase, "Thank you".
The stewardship way of life needs constant reinforcement. Communications about concrete accomplishments achieved by parishioners dedicated to stewardship are effective "success stories" that will encourage others. Reporting weekly offertory levels relative to an established goal in the bulletin convey the sense of the stewardship of treasure. Annual stewardship renewal sessions will maintain and further develop stewardship throughout the parish.
My enthusiasm for stewardship is experience-based and sincere. However, a parish adopting stewardship should not have unrealistic expectations. The success of the initial stewardship roll-out may be viewed by some as disappointing. Stewardship is not an instant gratification "silver bullet" to solve all parish problems. Remember that we are talking about a change in perception of Christian discipleship, an enhancement to a lifetime of perhaps simple weekly attendance at Mass. Stewardship is a spiritual culture that requires an attitudinal shift to a more active level of discipleship. Adopting parish stewardship and achieving its tangible success is not a sprint, it's a marathon. It requires dedicated leadership, committed "front line foot soldiers", persistence, and patience.
At my parish, Saint Patrick in Lawrence, we have been developing the stewardship way of life for nearly eight years. We initiated stewardship in the belief that God was calling us to increased discipleship, growth and vibrancy. Our parish community has experienced extraordinary increases in growth, spirituality, volunteer ministry participation, outreach to those less fortunate, and discipleship.
We continue to look to stewardship as the enabler by which our parish will continue to help build the Kingdom of God.
This article was published in the "Stewardship" insert
of the September 19, 2008 issue of
"The Pilot"
Boston, Massachusetts
|
