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The Collection Ministry: Ensuring Good Stewardship of Our Parish Treasure
We all have our own gifts that we can use to glorify our Lord. Some of us have gifts to directly aid in the Mass, whether we have been blessed with a strong singing voice or speaking voice. Others have talents that can help behind the scenes — and our parish’s Collection Ministry serves as a perfect example.
Three volunteers gather each week to count, organize and calculate all the collections from the Masses at St. Francis Xavier. As we all know, it takes the gift of treasure, large or small, to keep our parish operating. Likewise, it’s an important ministry to accurately count the offering.
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Finance Manager Kathy Bower oversees this ministry of about 15 counters who rotate. It takes around an hour to divide the money and checks and count and record it all. Then, it’s all put together for Kathy to deposit.
“Everyone who volunteers with this ministry is humble, trustworthy, and dependable,” Kathy says.
Ministry members prepare to count the collection.
The counters all come from many career backgrounds, but they have in common the attributes of being trustworthy and confidential. These are both essential for this ministry. Kathy also appreciates the accuracy of the current counters.
“This is such an incredible group of people,” Kathy says. “There is rarely a mistake, and they are all so helpful when there is an issue.”
As we consider the ministries at St. Francis Xavier, the Collection Counters are behind the scenes doing work that is of the utmost importance.
“When you look at the importance of this ministry in allowing us to operate, be fiscally sound and evangelize, you see how important this is,” Kathy says. “Serving as a counter is a silent ministry, but important.”
Kathy would invite anyone with a knack for numbers to consider joining the Collection Ministry. It’s a commitment of about one hour every five or so weeks. Also, there is always someone to substitute, if needed. With Kathy looking toward retirement, someone else will take the helm of this ministry — Kathy plans to step into this ministry as a volunteer.
“A gift with numbers is a gift some people would overlook,” Kathy said. “We all need to use our gifts to serve the Lord.”
