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St. Peter’s Parish Maintenance Committee: Ensuring Good Stewardship Of Our Parish Home
Chad Hartwick was working as a maintenance supervisor for an apartment building in downtown Lincoln and knew that he needed a change.
“I enjoyed what I was doing, but I had been wanting to work for the church in some capacity for a number of years,” Chad says. “My wife mentioned this job, so I applied, and the rest is history.”
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Since June of 2018, Chad has been the Lead Custodian at St. Peter Parish, and he and his family are parishioners of St. Leo’s Parish in Palmyra. Part of Chad’s position at St. Peter’s includes working with the Parish Maintenance Committee.
The Parish Maintenance Committee maintains the parish property and studies the necessity or advisability of certain building projects. Many of the current members are parishioners who are actively giving their time, talent and treasure in other capacities in the faith community.
“Parishioners with experience in buildings and ground maintenance and an interest in repairs around the church, offices and rectory are encouraged to join,” Chad says.
For Chad, keeping the church and its grounds beautiful is so important because the church is like a “King’s throne room here on earth.”
“The throne of our King should be beautiful and awe-inspiring, causing our focus to draw upwards towards Him,” Chad says. “With that in mind, it is important to keep it as nice as we can and to be good stewards of all that our Lord has blessed us with.”
Many members of the Parish Maintenance Committee have volunteered and stepped up to help maintain the parish and its property.
In recent months, Chad has been working with parishioner Raul Saavedra on this ministry and beginning this summer, there will be coordinated workdays. To begin, the focus will be on outdoor projects.
“Raul is planning to start a schedule of workdays to go through the flowerbeds and landscaping and to keep up with it through the growing season,” Chad says. “I hope, with the help of Raul and the committee, to look at some other areas of the church’s exterior and grounds, and start coming up with a game plan for upkeep and repairs if needed.”
Part of maintaining what the Lord has blessed us with includes caring for the inside and the outside of the church buildings, and the Parish Maintenance Ministry offers faith community members the opportunity to act as stewards in the beautification of our church property.
“It is important to keep the outside of the church beautiful because it gives us pause to note the work of the Creator and helps to draw us in,” Chad says. “That is how we transition from our busy lives to beginning to settle down internally and physically to focus on God.”
