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Stewardship Committee Invites Parishioners to Live their Faith Daily
In 1992, when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops composed Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, the introduction to this pastoral letter served as a wonderful description of why stewardship is such an important part of living as an intentional disciple of Jesus:
“Stewardship is an expression of discipleship, with the power to change how we understand and live out our lives. Disciples who practice stewardship recognize God as the origin of life, the giver of freedom, the source of all they have and are and will be.”
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In order to reinforce our dedication to stewardship here at St. Vincent de Paul, our parish has a Stewardship Committee. This group seeks to help the church reach out to parishioners and make active discipleship a part of their everyday lives.
As Director of Stewardship and Ministry Renée Bader explains, there are various ways our Stewardship Committee fulfills this mission.
“The Stewardship Committee’s role is to help the parishioners in our parish learn to live out true stewardship the way Christ intended it to be,” Renée says. “In our meetings, we discuss the needs of the parish and see what we can do to help out. We do our annual renewal at the end of January and early February, and we host ministry fairs. We also host an annual stewardship retreat.”
Ministry leaders at the 2020 Ministry Fair
This year’s retreat was held last month using a virtual format. With the global pandemic forcing many of us to find new ways to live out our faith at home, the retreat theme — “Starting Stewardship in Your Home” — was especially timely. As Renée points out, true stewardship is about learning how to serve God in your circumstance. At St. Vincent de Paul, we are blessed to have many parishioners who have chosen to follow this stewardship way of life.
Since our Stewardship Committee was first formed in 2017, parish life at St. Vincent de Paul has continued to blossom.
“It is growing,” Renée says. “This parish has always been a very active parish and very service-oriented, so we’re good at going out and being there for the community. But since we’ve been working on stewardship, we have a lot more people stepping up and willing to do things.
“I’ve also definitely seen a difference in the prayer life of the church,” she adds. “We’re starting to see more people show up before Mass for the Rosary in May and October, and the fact that Fr. Philip arrives early for Reconciliation and still doesn’t have enough time to get through everybody — those things are a great testament to how stewardship is changing the hearts and lives of parishioners.”
Ministry information available at the annual Ministry Fairs, hosted by our Stewardship Committee
Moving forward from this year’s renewal period, the Stewardship Committee hopes to continue growing and helping the parish spread the message about the beauty and rewards found in the commitment to share of our time, talent and treasure in thanks for God’s abundant blessings.
“We’re blessed with the group we have right now, but we’re definitely looking to add a few people to add to that,” Renée says. “We have people who are new to the parish and have young children, some who have been here a while and have teenagers, and some who have been here almost from the beginning of the parish”.
“It is great to have completely different viewpoints on the parish,” Renée adds. “It really helps to get that perspective. Having the Stewardship Committee helps give me a better picture of what the needs are of the parishioners, from the pews of the church. We are looking for individuals from all walks of life because we truly want the ministry to be a good snapshot of our parish.”
The annual Ministry Fair, hosted by our Stewardship Committee
The 2020 Ministry Fair
