A Steward Reflects
Communication, Communication, Communication!
How does your parish communicate the stewardship message to parishioners? What various methods are used? The U.S. Catholic Bishops tell us, in "Stewardship and Development in Catholic Dioceses and Parishes: A Resource Manual," that we are to pay close attention to how we communicate and to measure the effectiveness of our messages and methods. This is particularly true when parishes work with limited funding as in the current economic situation.
Parishes relying on the traditional bulletin and announcements during Mass reach only those at Mass on that particular weekend. In a survey of Catholic parishes, Dr. Charles Zech reports significant increases in all areas of parish life - volunteerism, prayer time, outreach and donations - when parishes use five or more methods to reach all parishioners!
What can your parish do differently to ensure stewardship messages reach everyone in the parish? Does your parish have a website? Do you collect and record parishioner e-mail addresses?
For a list of other successful communication media and the most effective messages for teaching stewardship, see Chapter 10 in "Best Practices in Parish Stewardship," by Dr. Charles Zech (2008).
Taken from Parish Life! from Our Sunday Visitor
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