Stewardship and Development

 A Disciple’s Response 

 

What is Stewardship-   The call to be a Disciple of Christ and respond gratefully.  As Christian stewards, we receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord.  US Bishops Pastoral Letter on Stewardship 

“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of Gods varied Grace.”    1 Peter 4:10  

                      
 How Stewardship is Lived:  Prayer - Participation - Generosity 

 

Time/Prayer: Our Diocese and your Parish are here to help you develop a personal relationship with our Lord.  This is done in prayer through a personal encounter with Jesus.  How do you spend time with our Lord outside of the Mass?   

 
Talent/Participation: Jesus calls us, as his disciples, to a new way of life—the Christian way of life—which is stewardship. But Jesus does not call us as nameless people in a faceless crowd. He calls us individually, by name. Each one of us—clergy, religious, lay person, married, single, adult, child—has a personal vocation. God intends each one of us to play a unique role in carrying out the divine plan. The challenge, then, is to understand our role—our vocation—and to respond generously to this call from God.  This is the practice of Stewardship.  

 
Treasure/Generosity: Jesus' disciples, as Christian stewards, recognize God as the origin of life, giver of freedom, and source of every blessing.  Generosity flows from a grateful heart, in gratitude for all we have received. Generosity is the measure of our gratitude, offered in love for God and for one another.  The life and teaching of Jesus guides us as generous Christian stewards. 

 

Formation in Christian stewardship is the mission of the Office of Stewardship and Development.  We recognize that time, talent, and treasure are an important part of stewardship, and can be understood and lived only through a relationship with Christ and by His love for us.  Through Prayer, Participation and Generosity we offer a grateful response as Christian Disciples who recognize and receive God’s gifts and share them joyfully.   

 

“Once one chooses to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, stewardship is not an option.”   
US Catholic Bishops