Stewardship at MSLRP

Caritas in Veritate by Pope Benedict XVI

2009-07-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

On June 13, 2009, in an address entitled "A Modern Economy Respectful of the Rights of the Weakest," the pope received members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation. He said --

"As you know...my Encyclical dedicated to the vast area of the economy and work will soon be published. It will highlight what, for us as Christians, are the objectives that need to be pursued and what values to be tirelessly promoted and defended in order to create a truly free and united form of human coexistence."

Click here to read a copy of the Pope's latest Encyclical.

Basic Stewardship 101

2009-05-01T15:55:00.001-07:00

What is Stewardship?
Why do people say "it is the underpinning of our faith?"

Take a look at this short online video about the "Joy of Stewardship" to learn more about Catholic Stewardship.

Ready for more? Bishop Boles gives a wonderful talk on Stewardship.

Next steps -- The Tenth Anniversary Edition of the pastoral letter on stewardship entitled, “Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response”, published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, covers both the key concepts of what is meant by stewardship, as well as a resource manual containing specific recommendations on how to create
and implement a successful stewardship program at the parish level.

Click here for the original pastoral letter on Stewardship from the Bishop's Conference. There is also an excellent resource manual found here.

Interested in forming a discussion group on the letter? Give a call to Karen Willson at 547-0701 in the Parish Stewardship office for more information.

Stewardship For Children

2009-04-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Check it out - "Taking Care of God's Gifts" - children's activity books in two volumes - Grade K-2 and 3-5. Go to "Our Sunday Visitor's" website to place your order. Scroll down the list of topics, click on "Stewardship." The activity books and other wonderful stewardship resources will come up. Check it out!

The children's activity books are great for:

In at-home activities for a particular season of the Church year or topic of family discussion.

In parish religious education programs and Catholic schools.

As a gift from ministers who visit children in hospitals or other places.

For use during children’s Liturgy of the Word.

As a gift at parish ministry celebrations, special liturgical celebrations, or seasonal feasts, holidays and holy days.

International Stewardship Bulletin

2009-04-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends in Christ/Queridos amigos en Cristo:

The monthly parish e-Bulletin for April is now available in English

http://www.catholicstewardship.org/en/enewspdf/090401_ICSC_Parish_Enews.pdf

and in Spanish.
http://www.catholicstewardship.org/en/enewspdf/090401_ICSC_Parish_Enews_sp.pdf

Peace!

Michael Murphy
International Catholic Stewardship Council
1275 K Street, NW, Suite 880
Washington, DC 20005-4077
T: (800) 352-3452
F: (202) 682-9018
E-mail: icsc@catholicstewardship.org
www.catholicstewardship.org

Communication, Communication, Communication!

2009-04-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

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

STRENGTHS PERFORMANCE COACH TRAINING

2009-04-24T15:32:00.001-07:00

Now accepting registrations for:

STRENGTHS PERFORMANCE COACH TRAINING

Level One and Level Three
June 17-18, 2009
Marian College, Indianapolis

Level One
May 19-20
Richmond, Virginia

register at: www.all-about-church-engagement.com/register

STRENGTHS, ENGAGEMENT, AND LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

June 6, 2009
The Parish of St. Joseph
Babylon, New York

register at: www.longislandsummit.com

For questions, contact Jean Zander
at 317-445-5954 (cell)
jzander@marian.edu

CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEB RESOURCES:

The Church Engaged
www.allaboutchurchengagement.com

Father Mahan's new blog:
www.morethansilverorgold.com

where you will find Father's most recent article:
"A Gold Mine of Talent"

And be sure to browse our full selection of publications at
www.allaboutchurchengagement.com/books

What is Prophetic Planning?

2009-04-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

“Prophetic Planning” is a process that invites organizational leaders, and indeed everyone who participates in the planning process, to be bold and to be proactive in creating a new and vital future for the organization they care so much about.

There are four essential elements to prophetic planning:

Planning for the future is based on knowledge and appreciation for the story of the organization that has evolved from the past.

The past in any organization MATTERS a great deal. While organizations can’t move into the future when living in the past, it is also true that they will experience many obstacles to future opportunities, if they try to ignore or discount the importance of the past.

As someone has wisely stated, “The past is always good for two things – to recall good memories and to learn from.” Organizations that remember and celebrate their past with pride and honor their traditions and rituals, learn much from their history and are empowered to build on a strong foundation as they work together to create a bright new future.

The realities of faith, conversion and healing are central to quality planning and effective organizational development.

All organizations believe in some things, including convictions that flow from personal and collective faith as well as from shared values and vision. At risk organizations ignore what they share in common with others or fail to capitalize on the faith and values that are shared. Similarly, the status quo can only last for so long. Therefore, insightful planners are regularly looking to tried and true ways of growing and changing.

Conversion is the faith word for change. Transformation is the change word that describes well what occurs in any values-based organization. In either case, conversion and change represent an opportunity to move forward with positive energy and dynamism from the current reality or status quo of today to a bright new future tomorrow.

While appreciating what has been, this approach to planning invites leaders to be bold. Planning times are not times to be bashful or timid. Rather, they are exciting times when boldness and a prophetic spirit is required.

Two questions that elicit boldness are:
• What would we do if we were ten times bolder? If we…would we…? Or “What if…”
• What would we look like in the future if we REALLY considered ourselves a for-prophet organization and lived deeply the PROPHETIC reality?

Prophetic planning seeks to discern the movement of the Spirit and the will of God for an organization at this moment in time. Discerning the movement of the Spirit or God’s will is both very important and very hard to measure. Yet, in faith, in prayer and in communal conversations, striving to discern the Spirit’s presence is one of the benchmarks of quality planning. One way to measure how well an organization is doing in this area is to look for the signs and realities that point to new life. The more life that is being seen, named and acted upon, the more God’s will is being lived out. New life might also be embedded in some death moments. Faith helps planners discover God’s presence in all of reality.

Maureen Gallagher, Consultant, Coach
The Reid Group

Inspirational Quotes

2009-04-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Quotes for Inspiration and Action

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.
Beverly Sills

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
Peter Drucker

Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
Mother Teresa