Not unlike “Time, Talent, and Treasure” campaigns of the past, the Catholic Stewardship Renewal seeks to provide the pastor and parish leadership with the data needed to successfully sustain and grow the ministries of the parish.

However, the Catholic Stewardship Renewal process is much more intentional than any stewardship campaigns we have done before, because each year we will be asking all parish families to participate and fill out the stewardship materials provided by the parish.

This request is something which causes many of our long-time parishioners to ask “Why do I need to fill this material out every year?  You know that I come to Mass and that I give to support the parish, so why do I need to fill out all this paperwork?”

The answer to this question is quite simple: the Catholic Stewardship Renewal is not just something which is administrative but is also deeply spiritual.  It is the yearly opportunity for each parishioner to purposefully and prayerfully review, redirect, reaffirm and recommit.

• Reviewing & Redirecting allows parishioners to ask themselves the following questions: How am I doing at striving to live as an active steward in my parish? How is my Mass attendance? How do I participate in the communal life of the parish?  How well does my level of giving support the ministries of the parish?
• Reaffirming & Recommitting allows parishioners – on a yearly basis – to concretely proclaim “Yes! I am a part of this parish, and I am supportive of its mission and ministries!”

While the CSR does provide the pastor with a lot of important data which will help him plan for the budget and the various ministries of the parish, it is also a lot like what Catholics experience every year at Easter.

At the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday the priest – standing before the gathered people of God – says the following:

“Dear brothers and sisters, through the Paschal Mystery we have been buried with Christ in Baptism, so that we may walk with him in newness of life. And so, now that our Lenten observance is concluded, let us renew the promises of Holy Baptism, by which we once renounced Satan and his works and promised to serve God in the holy Catholic Church.”

Following this exhortation, the gathered assembly engages in the three-fold renunciation of Satan and the three-fold affirmation of our Catholic Faith. Finally they are sprinkled with Holy Water as a sign and reminder of our baptism, and enter the Easter season renewed in faith.

The yearly parish Catholic Stewardship Renewal process is very similar in that it gives us an ongoing opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our parish and its ministries.  It is our way of concretely renewing our commitment to our parish and showing that – through that commitment - we belong to our parish family and are supportive of its vision, mission, and ministries.