Stewardship is Our Vocation!

God Commands it, Expects it, and Blesses it!

Dear parishioners,

We take this opportunity to once again thank God for his enduring mercies and goodness to us as a parish community, and as individuals. I am grateful to you for yielding yourselves to the Holy Spirit and allowing him use you to expand the Kingdom through your service to God in our parish.

Our parish month of stewardship is in its fourth and last week. We began on October 7 with Stewardship to our parish. God has put us in this part of his vast vineyard to labor. And our work, as little as we imagine it, is invaluable to the good of the vineyard. We contribute out of what we have received to the work evangelization and the spread of the gospel. I thank you for praying about your giving to the parish and making necessary decisions to either renew or increase your tithe to the parish.

For those who are yet to decide, please pray about it and listen to what the Lord is calling you to do for his parish. On the weekend of October 14th, we had the opportunity to participate in the work of the vineyard by donating to our Annual Bishop’s Appeal. Through our gift to the diocese we contribute to the charitable works of our beloved bishop. We pledge our dollars to support catholic education, seminarian training, Catholic Charities, and many other charitable ventures of our diocese. I thank you for your continued generosity. Please help us meet our goal of over $75k.

The weekend of October 21st was another opportunity for us to learn of ways to support our parish at no cost to us. Our partnership with the Notre Dame Federal Credit Union Elevate Program provides some donation to our parish. In the last two years they gave our parish $10,000 to support our Food Pantry. Please consider how you can help our parish raise some funds while you do not have to change your current spending habits. I would be glad to connect you with a liaison of the Credit Union if you want more information on this.

This weekend, October 28th, I am inviting the Ministry Discernment Team, which I set up in the summer to discern ministries within the parish to determine how they fit with our parish mission and vision, and also to help improve their functioning, to address the parish. This team has worked tirelessly for the past months, and would share with us the fruit of their labor.

These are only few of the steps we have taken to emphasize that we have all been gifted by God with the resources at our disposal. And we are stewards , not owners of everything we have. God COMMANDS us to care for all he has given, to grow it and to return it back to him. God EXPECTS a return on investment, and not be like the unfortunate servant who returned the master’s talent without putting them to good use. And because God is generous, and cannot be outdone in generosity, God BLESSES us for our stewardship of what he has given us.

No one who gives to the Lord is beggared by that very fact. As King David said, “I was young, and now I am old; I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or his children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25).

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!

Fr. Julius