CATHOLIC CHURCH
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi
What does being a good steward of your time, talent, treasure and faith mean to you? How do you share your God-given gifts with your parish community? Why is it important to you? Find out the answers to these questions directly from our parishioners in their Stories of Stewardship. It's time to Get Involved!
How fortunate I feel to have been a founding member of this awesome parish of St. Francis of Assisi. A more loving and compassionate group of people could not be found, reaching out to the needs of others in our parish, our diocese, and our surrounding communities.
Being a stewardship parish, we are encouraged to use our God-given time, talent and treasure to accomplish the many tasks we undertake in God's name. We believe that each of us has been given gifts to share and it is important that we recognize what those gifts are.
We are blessed with age diversity at St. Francis and we make it work for us. The old add the wisdom of their experience to the energy of the young families and together we form a cohesive work team whether we are working in the kitchen or on our knees in prayer. Babies are born and we not only join in celebrating their baptisms but also take a vested interest in supporting these children throughout their future spiritual life.
We constantly pray for the sick among us and I can't help think of what those prayers meant in my own life. The ten times cancer required that I have surgery, I went into the operating room feeling literally surrounded by a cocoon of love and prayer from my fellow parishioners. That love and prayer took away all my fear and helped me to heal physically and emotionally far beyond what the doctors had predicted.
On the sad occasions when Jesus takes a member of our parish home, we all feel the hollow spot the loss leaves in our parish because we are truly a parish family. Every quilt that is made by our Loving Stitches group is prayed over before we deliver them into the community where they are given in the name of the whole parish. As a member of our Welcome Committee, I enjoy watching our church family grow. A family thankful to be led by Monsignor Reidy, Father Colby and Father Mike.
God has been so very good to us. I believe that He smiles when He sees us using our time, talent and treasure for the purpose which He intended. That, in itself, is enough to convince me that stewardship is a great way to show our love to God and to others.
- Karen Wegand