Deacon John’s Stewardship Blog

Stewardship in my life means taking care of the people closest to me and reaching out to others to care for them as well. Caring for the people close to me is a big part of my life. My family is my rock and caring for them means stopping over my grandparent’s house to say hello, making that extra phone call to catch up with my sister or even asking my parents about their day.

Stewardship within my community entails volunteering at the Community Kitchen, school events, and promoting kindness. My goal has been to impact children’s lives in a positive way. The difference I have made in the community started with visiting Hubbard Elementary School classrooms and reading anti-bullying books. I would have the kids participate in a discussion about anti-bullying and do a related hands-on project with them.

Stewardship in my parish has been assistant teaching kids on Sundays, volunteering at the church festival, fish fries, and even altar serving when I was younger. Being a steward doesn’t always have to be a big act, it can be as small as smiling at a stranger passing by, living life with love, care and respect for others in this world.

Lillian Kish

We have been members of St. Pat’s parish for 48 years.  When we started our own family, we enrolled our daughters in St. Patrick’s school, and became involved in school activities and functions that supported the parish.  We enjoyed a family-like bond with the teachers, students and other families as we shared the same values in our Catholic faith.  As our family life evolved, more of our time and energy was needed by our own aging parents and our young grandchildren in central Pennsylvania and New Jersey. While we were not as actively engaged in the day to day happenings in our church during that time, we attended weekly Mass and maintained our family connection at St. Pat’s.

Recently, a simple request to be a greeter at weekly Mass helped spark a reconnection to our church community. We were quickly reminded of the wonderful gift of fellowship and kindness that is our parish!  Our involvement has  grown to helping at activities such as our parish festival, cemetery grounds beautification work, Lenten fish fry, and ministry.  Our common bond has helped us to create friendships that we treasure.  We know that our faith is strengthened by those around us and that together we can have hope in building our community and our church.  May God continue to bless St. Patrick’s Parish.
John and Mary Ann Augustyn

This week I would like to discuss the concept of stewardship of family.  As I researched this article, I came across St. Patrick Church in Largo, Florida. It outlines the seven signs of family stewardship:

1. Time Together
2. Family Prayer
3. Respect
4. Worship Together
5. Supporting One Another
6. Share Responsibilities
7. Service To Others

This week I would like to write about two of these signs: Time together and Supporting One Another. The first sign, Time Together, means just that—spending time together with no distractions, no cell phones, no TV, and no internet. This is a great way to have a great family discussion without any distractions. Time together can also be accomplished by volunteering at church or in the community.  Families helping other families. What a wonderful way to share your family’s kindness. The second sign – Supporting One Another – can easily be accomplished by sharing household responsibilities. Shared responsibilities mean that no job is restricted to parents or children. In order for a family to operate it needs teamwork. This means everyone pitches in, using their unique talents to help better the family.

Please take some time thinking and discussing this with your family, for we only have one life to share with each other.

God bless,
Deacon John

How do we teach young people to be good stewards of God’s gifts?  I’m often asked, “How can we teach stewardship? What curriculum should we use? What projects can we do with children that will teach them stewardship?” To be honest, I don’t believe that’s how it works. Our young people do not learn to be good stewards just from a program or a curriculum, a one-day event, or a one-time mission trip.  They learn to be good stewards when they see generosity modeled for them.

Generosity is one of the most important values parents and church communities can model for children and teenagers. In a culture where we are saturated with messages of consumption, violence and individuality at the expense of others’ well-being, all of us bear a particular responsibility to teach and model generosity to the children and teenagers of our parish.

May the giving of our time, talent and treasures serve as an example of generosity for the young people in our parish to model throughout their lives.
God bless you,
Deacon John