Tom and Joan Jacobs: Reflections on Stewardship, a Lifelong Stewardship Journey

When Tom and Joan Jacobs moved to Grass Valley in 2004, they could have never imagined how much the timing of their first visit to St. Patrick Parish would impact their life in our faith community! At their very first Mass here, it was announced that the parish was getting ready to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Since Tom and Joan had helped with the 50th-anniversary celebration at their previous parish, they both felt called to step up as volunteers.

After getting over some initial “newcomer nerves,” Tom and Joan offered their help.

“We probably walked in front of the rectory in little circles for 10 minutes before we rang the doorbell,” Tom says. “By helping with the anniversary, we met a lot of really nice and sharp people, so that was nice. Then, about 12 months later, Helen Shearer rang up and said Father wanted us to come to the next Stewardship Committee meeting.”

Tom and Joan are both lifelong Catholics — in fact, the couple first met on the bus to their Catholic high school! When their oldest child was 3 and started attending Catholic school herself, Tom and Joan began volunteering with the school and various parish ministries. Although a shared active faith had long been a central part of their married life, neither felt familiar with the concept of stewardship when they were first invited to the committee.

“We were brand new to stewardship then,” Joan says. “In fact, Tom’s mother was called into a meeting with her Parish Council that was about stewardship, and she had come home saying it was all about money. So when we heard about the committee here, we thought it was a money thing. With time, I think we grew into an understanding of stewardship, just by being there and learning what we were supposed to do.”

As Tom and Joan began to understand the stewardship way of life as discipleship and an answer to the Gospel call to serve, they realized that providing parishioners with a way to share their time, talent and treasure with God and His people was essential. Through the Stewardship Committee, they began hosting ministry fairs and publishing a quarterly calendar of parish events and activities.

In addition, Tom began writing a stewardship column for the church bulletin that included information about various opportunities for parish involvement.

“Our focus has always been on trying to make people aware of the talents that they have and the

things that are available for them at the parish, including all the ministries,” Tom says. “The bulletin articles were a way to give people the opportunity to use their talents. We just kind of stumbled onto it — somehow, God put us there.”

Another project close to the couple’s heart is the annual outdoor Mass and picnic that the Stewardship Committee initiated some years ago. With about 400 parishioners and visitors gathering on the county fairgrounds each year, this Mass has proven to be a wonderful way to bring the community together for an increased sense of connection and fellowship.

With the same spirit of “family” in mind, Tom began a new calling ministry. He was able to find 40 parishioners willing to call 20 St. Patrick households each in order to check in, say "hello" and ask what the parish could do for them. Like the annual outdoor Mass, this ministry draws people closer to their faith community.

In all their years on our parish Stewardship Committee, Tom and Joan have certainly picked up a lot of experience and knowledge along the way. Tom has even written a book, Starting a New Stewardship Committee, that covers many of the basics involved in getting a Stewardship Committee up and running for its first year.

Even with their extensive experience, however, Tom and Joan still feel they are continuing to learn more about what it means to live the stewardship way of life as a parish.

“Somewhere in the last couple of years, I just started to get a glimmer of what this stewardship is really all about,” Tom says. “What has happened is Fr. Estrella has shown up, the parish secretary Michelle McDaniel has shown up, and our son, Tom, who spent years in a stewardship parish in Georgia, has shown up. So these three people have come together and Father is encouraging us on stewardship, so it’s like the stars have all aligned.”

Having witnessed the deep devotion of their fellow St. Patrick parishioners — “saintly people,” Tom calls them — the Jacobses have no doubt that wonderful things will continue to happen right here in our faith community! “With God and Fr. Estrella, everything is possible,” Joan says.

“We want to see stewardship grow here the way it has in places like Wichita,” Tom says. “We’re just excited to see what happens.”

Tom and Joan Jacobs

Having witnessed the deep devotion of their fellow St. Patrick parishioners, the Jacobses have no doubt that wonderful things will continue to happen in our faith community!

Even with their extensive involvement and experience, Tom and Joan Jacobs still feel they are continuing to learn more about what it means to live the stewardship way of life as a parish.