Spirituality of Stewardship
Fall is my favorite time of the year! After living on the Gulf Coast for 2.5 years, where the seasons hardly changes, I missed the beauty of autumn. Now, I savor every moment of the brilliant colors of the leaves, the crisp air and even the earthy scent that signals the seasonal change.
I know someone reading this thought, of course the Stewardship Director loves this time of year, my parish is asking us to renew our Stewardship commitment for the upcoming year. For many of you, yes, that is something that happens every fall at your parish. I know that I have my own stewardship renewal form to fill out in the coming weeks.
As we review our giving for the year, it is an opportunity for us to thank God for the time, talent, and treasures that He has given us. It is great to see so many parishes hosting gratitude nights for volunteers thanking them for making ministry possible at their parish.
Wouldn’t it be great if we did not have special nights only for volunteers because everyone was volunteering? In addition, what if we did not have to ask people for their financial support, because they were already giving?
I am often asked, “What should we give if we have never given or aren’t regularly giving to our parish or the archdiocese?” I always share a few ways to think about personal giving or how to discern an increase in giving.
Biblical tithing is giving away 10% of your income. One common way to break that down is 5% to your parish, 1% to the Archdiocese (Archbishop’s Call to Share, etc), and 4% to other charitable causes like your parish school, Catholic high school, Catholic Charities, Catholic Education Foundation, etc. If you are not at a point to give away 10%, you can adjust those numbers proportionally to what works for your family.
Another way to get started is to review what you have given this past year, calculate what percent of your income this is, and then increase your giving by 1-2% for next year.
I encourage you to take advantage of online giving and recurring gifts where you can set up your gifts to be deducted from your account automatically. Now is a great time to review these opportunities.
As always, I am only a call away, if you have questions about your giving or would like to hear more about the impact of your giving. Please reach out, I would be happy to chat.