Stewardship Articles

Father Ken VanHaverbeke, Director of Stewardship

The room was darkly light.  Assembled were four men.  A raspy voice sounding like fictional character Rebeus Hagrid of the Harry Potter movies emanates from the corner of the room said, “Did you do what I asked?”  “Yes,” was the reply.  “Good.” the raspy voice replied. “Now we can proceed.  Without it, we could not continue. We could do nothing.”  Softly in the background, music comes to a crescendo and the shadowy room becomes enveloped completely in darkness.

Sounds like a scene in movie.  It really did not happen that way, but it is fun to put familiar people into a Harry Potter movie.  The four characters in my made-up scene were:  Father John Lanzrath, Mr. Dan Loughman, the future Bishop John Brungardt, and the present Bishop Jackels.  The raspy Regeus voice was that of Bishop Jackels.

So what was going on?  When a new pastor arrives in a parish, he see things that later becomes routine, but for a short time, his vision is new.  When Bishop Jackels came to our diocese, a diocese known throughout the United States (even in Lincoln, Nebraska) as “the Stewardship diocese,” Bishop Jackels asked the question: “What is stewardship?”  The question shot forth like the catch phrase of 1984 from Clara Peller, “Where’s the beef?”

Stammering, we responded:  “Well it is…., well it’s like this, ahhhh…well ….”  We “knew” stewardship because we were living it and practicing it daily, but articulating a definition of the obvious was like trying to explain why water is wet.  It just is!

Bishop Jackels went to Mr. Loughman, director of stewardship, and the diocesan stewardship council with his question.  He asked for a succinct, memorable, and teachable definition.  (Remember Bs. Jackels is from Nebraska where a simple and succinct “N” is all that is necessary on their football helmets to remember they are playing for Nebraska)

Have you ever been on a committee to form a mission statement?  It is like gathering a farmer, a yuppie, and a priest to a barbeque all sitting down to eat.  The farmer is wondering whose farm the pork came from; the yuppie wonders how much cholesterol is in the ham; and the priest is wondering if this was the ham left over from last week’s funeral dinner.  Point being, committees gather people who look at the same thing very differently.

And so a committee came together.  With much talk, prayer, discernment (fancy word for talk), discussion, writing, and more talking (discernment), a response was delivered to Bishop Jackels and to the diocese as to how we defined stewardship.

Back to our scene.  A priest, lay man, soon to be a bishop gather before Bishop Jackels and presented him the following definition:

Stewardship is the grateful response of a Christian disciple who recognizes and receives God’s gifts and shares these gifts in love of God and neighbor.

In the past three years, the Diocese has used portions of the response to Bishop Jackels as themes for the stewardship renewal, culminating in this year’s theme: Sharing these gifts in love of God and neighbor.

Why is a definition important?  Without it we are lost.  We all would have different ideas of the same thing.  There would be no beef!  Now we proceed and together live the stewardship way of life as Christian disciples, gratefully responding, recognizing and receiving God’s gifts, and sharing these gifts in love of God and neighbor.

In the next issue, I’ll discuss this year’s theme, and by the way. ..Water is wet because viscosity, and don’t ask me the definition of that, but I guess we could form a committee to discern!

Father Ken VanHaverbeke, Director of Stewardship

In the December 8^th, 1921 issue of Printer’s Ink promoting the use of images in advertisements appearing on the side panels of street cars, Fred Barnard used the phrase, “One look is worth a thousand words.”  Each year the Office of Stewardship for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita tries to capture the year’s theme in one look.

Since the poster is supposed to be worth 1000 words, it seems self-defeating to explain this year’s stewardship poster.  1000 words is a lot, so what more should be said?  Well, here goes!

In response to Bishop Michael Jackels question of “what is stewardship?”, we responded:

Stewardship is:

a.     The grateful response of a Christian disciple

b.     who recognizes and receives God’s gifts

c.     and shares them in love of God and neighbor.

In three succinct phrases, Stewardship is explained.   For the past three years, each phrase has been highlighted as the Stewardship Renewal theme culminating in this year’s 2011 theme reminding us “what to do” and “why:” Sharing God’s gifts in love of God and neighbor.

At the Mass we give thanks to God concluding with the bishop or priest proclaiming: “The Lord be with you,” and soon we will respond, “And with your spirit.” Giving the final blessing, he concludes with the following command:  “The Mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

In doing so, he might as well say: “You have responded to God with gratitude, recognizing and receiving God and His gifts at this Mass, now GO, and share them in love of God and neighbor!”

Attending Mass is wondrous indeed, but if we never left the church building to share what we received, we would look pretty silly sitting there forever.  At Mass we recognize and receive God’s gifts, now what is our grateful response?  Sharing them, in love of God and neighbor!

From the textbook of Stewardship, the Holy Scriptures, we read James reminding the early church: “For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26)

Sharing God’s gifts in love of God and neighbor is the life-giving spirit to a steward.  Our poster this year depicts this life-giving action: the procession from the Mass to go forth and share God’s gifts, in love of God and neighbor.  A necessary and natural response to what has occurred at the Holy Eucharist.

There you have it: a poster worth 1000 words and 308 more words explaining the first 1000 words.  Lots of words for a simple word: stewardship, but no other word best defines our discipleship in Christ!

Father Ken VanHaverbeke, Director of Stewardship

Marissa was uncertain.  Many times she had seen others take the plunge, but never did she think she would be on the edge looking over.  The sea before her seemed vast and frightening.   Not wanting to be distracted, she concentrated on the horizon, the back pew of the church.

It began with a phone call.  At first she said no, but later changed her mind.  The phone call was from Father Peter whom she knew well, who asked if she would be willing to give a “lay witness” talk about stewardship.

“I don’t want you to talk about money, although that is an important part of our lives to be given over to Christ.  No, I would like for you to give a personal story on how God has given you joy in serving others, not only here at the parish, but in your family and at work.”  Father Peter said.

She had never really thought about stewardship.  Her work at the parish as a catechist for PSR and her hour of adoration in the chapel was just a part of her life.  Yes, she filled out the stewardship forms, but really it wasn’t “stewardship.” It was something she liked doing.

After a bit of prayer, she told Father Peter she would give a talk, but only at the early morning Sunday Mass where there were fewer people!  It wasn’t until Father Peter gathered all the lay witness speakers for dinner a month before they were to give their talks that she felt at ease with it all.

That night, Father Peter and the other speakers ate dinner together and got to know each other better, sharing their ideas of stewardship and what involvement they had in the parish.  After dinner Father read the Gospel readings for the particular Sundays they were to give a talk and together they discussed the readings and how it related to Stewardship.

Suddenly stewardship took on a new meaning.  Hearing the other’s stories, Marissa realized stewardship was not something you did but was who you were as a disciple of Christ.  Jotting down some great ideas shared by the other people, Marissa went home and wrote a short talk, about a page long.

The following week, all the speakers gathered at church and gave their talks, reading from their papers.  Some had funny stories, some were pretty deep, but all were good.  After sharing suggestions and further refinements, they went home to wait for their Sunday to give their talk.

As Marissa stood before the sea of parishioners, she drew a deep breath asking the Holy Spirit to give her strength.  With a nod from Father Peter who introduced her, and a smile from one of the other couples who would present next week, there to support her, Marissa suddenly felt calm.  Stepping forward she shared how stewardship once meant doing things or giving money, but now she understood:  stewardship is a grateful response to God.  It is who she is, not just what she did.

This fall your pastor might ask you to step forward and share your story.  Don’t be afraid.  It changes the lives of the parishioners and can change your life too.  You have an experience of stewardship your pastor cannot express.  If you need some help in writing it, ask him or your parish stewardship committee, or contact the Diocesan Office of Stewardship who also has resources for you.

When you see other parishioners give a lay witness talk, you might drop them a note telling them you appreciated their talk.  That note of support and kindness is “stewardship” too!

Stewardship:  the grateful response of a Christian disciple who recognizes and receives God’s gifts and shares these gifts in love of God and neighbor.  A message delivered by word of mouth.