Catholic Stewardship - Children Lead the Way

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Forming Good Catholic Stewards

When we think of forming good Stewards, where should we start?  Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Everett has the right idea.  To form good Stewards they began at the beginning!  Third Graders at the school, created a Stewardship banner and had a Stewardship Prayer Service.  See below for how they began their prayer service.  Good Stewards in the making, indeed!  Please share with us any stewardship formation gems your parish or school might have by contacting parishstewardship@seattlearch.org.
 

Catholic School Stewardship Prayer Service

Student:  Good morning.  Welcome to our Stewardship Prayer Service. Stewardship is how we take care of everything God has given us.  God has given us a lot.  He has given us life.  He has given us family like moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers, or others who care for us.  God has given us a great world to live in and friends to share it with.

Student: Stewardship comes from the word steward.  A good steward is one who does a good job taking care of something.  If we want to be good stewards for God, we must take care of the many things God has given us.  That includes friendships and family, our gifts and abilities, our money and our world.  We respond to God’s great gifts by giving back to Him.  God is happy when we take care of these things and in return give to Him.

Student:  In order to be a good steward you must share yourself in prayer, service and giving.  There is nothing too big or too small for God.

Student:  God listens to ALL prayers.  God is always there willing and eager to listen to what we have to say.

Student:  God gives everyone the ability to do something well.  Use your abilities to serve your family, community and church.

Student:  Be giving of what God has given you.  Give your time, talent and treasure.  Give to make your world, your community, your school and your church a better place.

Student:  Be trustworthy; be a hard worker; be kind to others; be kind to the earth; be generous; and follow the Ten Commandments.

Opening Hymn (Please Stand) Choose your own hymn

Opening Prayer

Student:  We begin our Stewardship Prayer Service In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Good and loving God source of every grace and blessing.  We bring you thanks as we gather today to thank you for the many gifts you have given us.  We seek to be good stewards, Lord.  Bless us as we gather to share Your gifts.  Send us Your Spirit and be present among us – in the mouths of all who speak, in the ears of all who listen, as the heart of all we say and do, we ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen

 

(Customize Prayer Service as to the needs of your community)

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Great Evangelization Resource for Parishes

Welcome Newcomers Back On The Path

 

During Lent it is not uncommon – and hopefully we expect – to see the faces of those who rarely, if ever, come through our doors.  We want to encourage as many people as possible to come into our churches during Lent and Easter.   I’ve found a great deal of resources and inspiration from the Paulist Evangelization Ministries.  If you haven’t checked out the Paulist’s and their evangelization resources, or haven’t checked them out in a while, I’d encourage you to do so – especially during a season when we hope to see so many unfamiliar faces.  http://www.pemdc.org/    Sign up for their weekly Evangelization Exchange email.

Ash Wednesday, Stewardship and You

 

What does Ash Wednesday have to do with Stewardship?  We talk about Stewardship all during the year, so why does Ash Wednesday have such a powerful link to being good stewards.  Maybe it is because, it is the day when we are told, ‘remember, human, that you are dust and to dust you shall return.’  Humbling?  Absolutely!  But, maybe that’s what we need to hear.  This life is fleeting.  Our life with God is eternal.  He has given us everything that we have on this earth, we take care of it for a short time, then we return to God and everything here still belongs to Him. How will God judge the care we have taken of all that is His?  When our bodies are dust, will this world be a better place for us having been here?  Perhaps, we can make a commitment this Lent, to love and care for all that has been given to us, so that on leaving it behind, God will say to us in heaven, ‘Well done, good and faithful Servant.’   

St. Paul and Stewardship

 

The Apostle Paul

We learn from St. Paul, in this last Sunday's second reading from First Corinthians, that all good stewards must care for their gifts responsibly.  A crucial line is, 'it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.' 1 Corinthians 4:2, but what does that mean for us?

Perhaps, it is easier for us to understand, when we recall that God is just giving us temporary custody, as stewards, as caretakers, of all that we have.  Everything really belongs to God and ultimately must be returned to Him!

As stewardship leaders in our parishes, it is our role to remind our parishioners that all of us must examine how trustworthy we have been in using the gifts God has given each of us, according to His purposes. After contemplating below, feel free to use in the stewardship section of your bulletin or wherever it may help your parishioners:

As we read the below scripture from St. Paul, let us examine our hearts to see if we are using our resources in a responsible way.  In any area for which we find ourselves wanting, we can ask the Lord to help us be trustworthy stewards of the gifts that we have been given.

1 Corinthians Chapter 4: 1-5

Brothers and Sisters:
Thus should one regard us; as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of god.
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

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February



The Month of the Holy Family

As we end this ‘Month of the Holy Family’, what pearl of truth should we take with us on our journey? In Stewardship we talk about gifts and the nurturing of those gifts. What about ‘family’correlates to this concept? Pope Benedict XVI put it this way:

Parents "are not the friends, nor the masters of their children's lives, but guardians of this incomparable gift from God".

Wow! We aren’t the owners of our children? No, we are the guardians of these precious gifts from God. We are their teachers, their cheerleaders, their consolers, their first catechists, and their role models. So, how do we prepare them for the role for which God created them? It isn’t easy. Even Mary and Joseph suffered the anxieties that we all have about the well-being of our children. Think of the time Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, at the Temple, and was missing for three days. When they found him, Mary said, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” Luke 2:47 
 
Inspite of all the parenting anxieties that assail us, perhaps what we take with us from this month of the Holy Family is to remember that our children belong to God first. They, like ourselves, will one day return to Him.  Our duty is to raise them according to God’s will and Mary and Joseph are our role models; loving and good parents, guiding and protecting their precious gift, and ultimately setting Him free to fulfill God’s purpose for Him on earth. Exactly the process of living out Stewardship as set forth in the Pastoral Letter – receive gratefully, nurture responsibly, share lovingly, return to the Lord. Let us pray always, that God gives us the wisdom to be good guardians of our children, so that we work with Him to create hearts and souls willing and able to help build up His Kingdom.

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Snow in the Pacific Northwest

 



The Trouble with Snow!

 

The first snowstorm this winter hit SW Washington in a big way, causing transportation to come to a grinding halt.  Central Western Washington was next.  This past weekend the Northern parts of Western Washington had their turn with the snow.

 Beautiful as it is and as much as our kids are delighted, it has an unfortunate impact on our churches.  For many of us, it means lower Mass attendance and lower collections.  Please consider putting a blurb in your bulletin along the following lines:

• Our total collections were down ___% due to weather.  The collection was $_____ less than an average weekend.  If you stayed safe and snug in your house during the snow and missed adding your donation to our collection, it’s not too late.  We still need your help. Unfortunately, the snow didn’t stop any of our expenses.  Please send in your ‘Snow’ Sunday envelope or put it in the collection this weekend along with your regular donation.  Special thanks to all those who have already made up for the Snow Sunday!  

Parishes, if you have any ideas to share with us about coping with ‘Snow’ Sundays, please contact us at parishstewardship@seattlearch.org.

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What is Stewardship of Time?





Stewardship of Time

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints… Ephesians 6:18

How can we be good stewards of our time?  Does the scripture reading of Ephesians 6:18 give us a clue?  What does, ‘pray at all times in the Spirit,’ mean?  How can we be ‘alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…’?

We know that in our lives, in this world that we cannot sit quietly and pray at all times.  We must work.  We must take care of our families and our homes.  We must participate in ministry.  We must do many things.

Maybe praying ‘at all times in the Spirit’ means carrying God with us as we go about our daily activities?  Maybe it means looking for God in all that we do?  Maybe it means not forgetting our Lord when we are out in the world?  Maybe it means asking ourselves if what we are doing is righteous and good in the eyes of God?   

Does that mean we don’t need to go to Mass, set aside time for prayer, pray before meals, spend quality, intentional time with our families, teach our children to pray?  Maybe it means we do both.  Maybe the intentional ways we connect with God, help us carry Him in our hearts at all times.  What do you think?  What can you plan?  What can you do?  Let us ask the saints to pray for us and remember to spend time with God each and every day so that He is with us at all times, wherever and whatever we are doing.