The team at the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development are serving as a source for parishes interested in starting up stewardship programs. They are, from left to right, Marisa Wong, director Mark Clark, and Gloria Romuar. (HCH Photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
The diocese will be hosting a day of seminars and discussion Feb. 2 at the Airport Honolulu Hotel to share with Island Catholics the “spirituality of stewardship.”
Hosted by the Office of Stewardship and Development, the event will feature Father Andrew Kemberling of St. Thomas More Church in Colorado. Father Kemberling is known worldwide for promoting stewardship as a way of life. He has led more than 4,000 families in his parish to embrace tithing and involvement in ministry.
Stewardship, or continual parish giving, is being re-introduced in the Diocese of Honolulu as a way to support Catholic programs and church needs. While one-time fundraisers and capital campaigns like With Grateful Hearts have been effective, the diocese hopes parishioners will also be open to another mode of financial and voluntary contributions.
What is stewardship?
“Stewardship in its complete sense is ‘time, talent and treasure,’” said Father Alan Nagai, a retired diocesan priest who has been an advocate of stewardship for decades.
It is a “spirituality,” he said, that is rooted in the idea of sharing with the church what God has given to you.
Catholics have shown tremendous commitment in giving of their time and talent, said Father Nagai. Ever since the Second Vatican Council 50 years ago empowered the laity to participate in various ministries, parishioners have provided the church with countless hours of service, from outreach to music and sacramental preparation. This voluntary support eases the burden on pastors, as well as on church finances.
“It’s wonderful how everything has opened up — the laity is coming into its own,” said Father Nagai.
The other facet of stewardship — “treasure” — goes beyond the weekly drop-ins during the offertory at Mass. It refers to the concept of tithing, or donating a percentage of your income to the church.
The practice of tithing has been around for centuries. The Bible tells of the faithful setting aside one-tenth of the production in their fields or profits to go toward the will of God. (See Leviticus 27:30-32 and Numbers 18:20-32, for example.)
In today’s lagging economy, some may feel uncomfortable with the idea of portioning out for the church such a sizeable amount from their finances. However, Father Nagai said tithing is also a spiritual practice of trusting God to provide in return whatever he has asked you to steward.
“It’s based on ‘faith hope and love,’” he said. “Faith comes in because I believe that it is God’s own plan for the church. Hope is trust — that I trust that if I tithe, God will take care of me. He will give me a sufficiency.”
“And love, because the tithe is very sacramental,” Father Nagai added. “It’s the outward sign of the internal love that I have for God and my fellow men. When I give my money, that’s proof positive of my love for God and neighbor.”
Many Catholic parishes have not instituted tithing, although it is a steady practice in other Christian denominations. Father Nagai acknowledges that it may take a lot of education on tithing to help Catholic parishioners grasp its benefits and spiritual implications.
Father Nagai is one of several people who are scheduled to be on a discussion panel at the Feb. 2 stewardship event. He will share ways to engage parishioners in this form of stewarding “treasure,” which brings full circle all the other forms of service to the church.
“It is a really religious act,” he said.
Kauai parish moves forward
Because each Catholic parish is different, “there’s no perfect, one-shoe-fits-all” method for instituting stewardship in the diocese, said Mark Clark, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development.
Clark said several parishes have already begun trying to implement a stewardship plan. One example is St. Catherine Church in Kapaa, Kauai.
Sam Knepper, a member of the Diocesan Stewardship and Development Commission for the Kauai vicariate, said parishioners at St. Catherine recently enacted a three-phase program that is intended to be ongoing and repeated annually.
The first phase of the program is “stewardship education.” Knepper said that over several weeks, congregants were presented with bulletin inserts, homilies and mailings explaining the concepts of stewardship. Through a “ministry fair,” clergy encouraged parishioners to give of their time and talent in new ways to the church.
The second phase of the program, “Commitment Sunday,” aimed to put their stewardship on paper. Each confirmed parishioner was asked to fill out a “commitment form,” which allowed them to select areas they would like to serve in.
The final phase of the program is “institutional stewardship.” During this period, the information provided on each parishioner’s commitment form is entered into a database. Their information and service interests are then sent to the appropriate church staffer.
“We received 325 completed forms which we are working with,” Knepper said. “Some respondents are currently included in ministries which are new to them.”
Knepper credits the backing of St. Catherine’s administrator, Father Ramelo Somera, as being key to the stewardship program’s success.
“We had buy-in and support from our parish leadership,” Knepper said.
Office of Stewardship and Development director Clark is inspired by the example of stewardship at St. Catherine and at other parishes in the diocese. It is his hope that the Feb. 2 event will draw in more parish teams to become interested in what stewardship has to offer.
“I see good things happening,” Clark said.
For more information on stewardship and the Feb. 2 stewardship event, contact the Office of Stewardship and Development at 203-6723.
