Mike DiCosola of Diocesan and Trinity Publications gives a workshop on parish communications. (HCH photos | Darlene Dela Cruz)
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
About 175 parishioners from 40 parishes on four islands converged on the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa Feb. 17 to immerse themselves in the culture of stewardship, the biblical mindset of generosity and service updated and invigorating today’s parish leaders.
Bishop Larry Silva began the day at 8 a.m. with Mass and the message that proper stewardship breaks past parish boundaries to the broader world beyond.
Diocesan Stewardship and Development Commission chairwoman Melissa Pavlicek welcomes attendees of Stewardship Day, Feb. 17, at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. (HCH photos | Darlene Dela Cruz)
“We can have ‘welcome home’ programs in our parishes for returning Catholics,” he said. “But do we simply wait for them to come to us because they have stumbled upon a parish bulletin announcement? Or do we actively seek them out, and gradually and lovingly reel them in?”
“We are not paying full attention to the Lord’s will if our stewardship is confined to the parish,” he said. “It is the Lord who has sent us out to the whole world.”
Many of the 12 workshops that filled in the day’s busy schedule followed through on the bishop’s evangelical theme. They addressed homelessness, end-of-life care, religious vocations, marriage and evangelization.
Other sessions discussed the stock stewardship fundamentals of time, talent and treasure. Still other workshops laid out parish stewardship success stories, or explained resources parishes can use to enliven stewardship efforts.
Diocesan Stewardship and Development Commission chairwoman Melissa Pavlicek, in her welcoming remarks, summed up the purpose for the day for participants — “serving as mentor to each other.”
Four of the presenters were from the Mainland. The rest were local.
Mike DiCosola, the Michigan resident who works at Diocesan and Trinity Publications as the director of mobile services for myParish App, a social media application that keeps parishes and parishioners connected, spoke on parish communications.
“Parish communications is a ministry, a gift entrusted to you,” he said, not a job you own.
Good communications, DiCosola said, requires good advanced planning, including planning for a disruption in plans.
He encouraged creativity, such as “tithing” time spent on social media, for example, “giving back to God” a Facebook post for every nine about oneself.
The speaker said “mission, not maintenance” should be the purpose of parish communications. It is “easy to fall into the trap of simply sending out information,” he said.
“Mix inspiration with information,” he said. “Do something beautiful” for your readers and viewers. “Inspire them.”
Following what seemed to be a trend against the use of parish stewardship’s three-T mantra, “time, talent and treasure” — mainly because the word that lingers the longest is “treasure” — DiCosola suggested the words “prayer, participation and generosity.”
A panel discussion on successful parish stewardship efforts brought together clergy and laity from St. Joseph Parish, Hilo, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Ewa Beach and the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu.
All agreed that a pastor’s involvement was crucial to establishing a stewardship culture at a parish.
“Stewardship starts with the pastor,” said Deacon Raffy Mendoza of the co-cathedral.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help pastor Father Ed Barut agreed.
“It really takes the commitment of the priest,” he said. The lack of it will create “a bottleneck,” stifling the best of intentions of the parishioners.
Gwen DeCoito and Chrislyn Villena, two lay ministers from St. Joseph, Hilo, gave an impressive rundown of parish activities, the result of an energetic stewardship environment.
The east Big Island parish supports its stewardship accomplishments on the four “pillars” of prayer, faith formation, hospitality and service.
It reported an enhancement of parish prayer and devotional offering, youth events, evening faith formation sessions, training for hospitality ministers, hot meals for the homeless and homebound, and the blessing of gravesites, among other things.
Another panel discussion on “treasure,” examined three ways a parish receives material donations from parishioners: the collection, special projects giving, and planned giving.
On the topic of collections, presenter Mark Clark, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development, spoke of the importance of telling donors how the money is spent, and to thank them for it.
A thank you letter is an “opportunity to say more than thank you,” he said, suggesting that it can encourage additional and ongoing generosity.
Clark also said that attention paid to regular contributors could lead ultimately to the planned gift, where the church is remembered in a donor’s will.
Clara Barnes, assistant vice president of CCS fundraising, which is directing the campaign to pay for the renovation of the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, presented a number of elements needed for the success of a large capital campaign. They include making a case for the project, recruiting leaders to advocate for the campaign, identifying expected donors and having the right plan with the emphasis on big gifts.
As director of the Stewardship and Development Office that organized Stewardship Day, Clark said he was “very pleased it all came together.”
He expressed gratitude to the Stewardship and Development Commission who helped staff the event and the co-cathedral’s staff and volunteers for their hospitality.
Pavlicek added that the “a long day seems to fly by when the workshops are engaging.”
The conference day wrapped up at 2 p.m. with a closing prayer.
The day before, more than 25 priests attended a stewardship “Workshop for Priests” at St. Stephen Diocesan Center with two of the Mainland presenters.
