ST. JAMES PARISHIONER JOANN EVJEN SHARES REFLECTIONS ON INTENTIONALLY LIVING STEWARDSHIP

Here at St. James in the Holy Family Area community, we are in the midst of the annual Stewardship Renewal. As we prepare to commit, we look back to last year when longtime St. James parishioner Joann Evjen presented a lay witness talk about stewardship and her commitments to the parish. In reflecting on Joann’s talk, we hope to further inspire our parishioners into service and stewardship.

“I think Commitment Sunday is very important,” Joann says. “It gives people a chance to sign up for something that they perhaps have wanted to do and just didn’t know how to go about it. That’s the first step. I think people do like to be personally asked, but that’s not always possible.”

Joann and her husband, Mark, have been parishioners since 1977, except for three years when they were members of St. Peter’s Parish in Canby while they lived in Porter. They have three sons and one daughter — all four kids are now married — and they have 14 grandchildren.

“I’ve always loved this parish,” Joann says. “It’s here where I met my first and dearest friends, being new to this community.”

Raised in the Catholic faith with both sets of grandparents being Catholic, prayer and the Church held importance in Joann’s upbringing. She recalls her parents being involved in their home parish, Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Taunton, saying that church life was a normal part of her upbringing.

“I will say that I wasn’t very wellcatechized,” she says. “I considered my religious instruction ‘Kumbaya.’ We mostly discussed feelings and what we were good at.”

Last year, when she received the Stewardship Commitment Card, Joann signed up for a few things.

“One of the things was going to Confession monthly,” she says. “At one point in my life, I didn’t go to Confession at all. Then after about 16 years, I knew I had to start. So I went twice a year. But when I saw on the Commitment Card to go monthly, and knowing this was way outside of my comfort zone, I decided to just do it. It’s really changed my life.”

Joann says the commitment to regular Confession brings her peace. And while it isn’t her favorite thing to do, she says it has been of significant benefit.

“So, I encourage you all to complete your Commitment Card and return it,” Joann says in her witness talk. “Sign up to participate in our parish. Give of your finances. Give more than you normally do and see if you miss it. Pray for particular causes. Be a reader, usher, teacher, money counter, group leader, cleaner, or musician. Attend adoration, Stations of the Cross, and the Lenten Adult Education study. Give of yourself, try something new, and get involved. You get so much in return.”

Over the last year since presenting her witness talk, Joann says she wouldn’t change anything in her approach to stewardship. Daily, Joann prays, reads from The Word Among Us with her husband, and they say the Rosary together. Last commitment Sunday, Joann signed up to say the Divine Mercy Chaplet, something that is now a regular practice for her. She also says that being involved with stewardship and service has given her more courage in being open about her faith and belief in God and His Mother.

“I also try to stand up for the Catholic Church in my daily living,” she says.

Joann participates in several ministries within our parish including the Stewardship Committee. She serves as a Rosary leader before Mass, as a sacristan, as a funeral worker, and brings Holy Communion to the homebound. Her advice to other parishioners in the community is simple but valuable.

“Sign up for something,” she says. “Be involved in your parish. Give of yourself. Say ‘yes!’”