Members of the new Stewardship Task Force held a meeting at the diocesan chancery Oct. 26. In front from left to right are diocesan finance systems manager Diane Lamosao, task force co-chair Brandon Elefante, Sam Knepper, Office of Stewardship and Development coordinator Gloria Romuar, Father Stephen Macedo and Dale Webster. In the back row are Office of Stewardship and Development director Mark Clark, diocesan vicar general Father Gary Secor and Ray Lamb. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
The diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development has recently been making strides in planning for stewardship education and implementation in local parishes.
Stewardship — the spiritual practice of contributing to the church time, talent and “treasure” in the form of a tithe on one’s income — is being encouraged by Bishop Larry Silva as a means of financing programs and parishes in the future.
Since 2008, the diocese has been collecting and using funds from the “With Grateful Hearts” capital campaign. More than $29 million has been netted in parishioner contributions to the campaign as of this June. As the five-year fundraising initiative draws to a close, the diocese hopes parishioners will move toward stewardship as a way to continue the generous support it has garnered for ministry needs.
In February, the Office of Stewardship and Development hosted its first-ever “Stewardship Day.” More than 100 local parish staff and clergy gathered at the Airport Honolulu Hotel to learn about the biblical roots of parish volunteerism and tithing. Since then, the Office of Stewardship and Development and a nine-member Stewardship and Development Commission have been meeting with vicariate leaders and parishioners on stewardship implementation strategies.
Mark Clark, director of the Office of Stewardship and Development, has been spearheading these initiatives. The first step in creating a diocese-wide movement toward stewardship, he said, has been re-introducing the practice as a sharing of gifts and trust in God’s provision.
“We want the spirituality of stewardship to be front and center,” Clark said. “There has been some enthusiasm. Overall it’s been very positive.”
Clark traveled in September with a group of 22 clergy, lay leaders and diocesan staff to the International Catholic Stewardship Council, or ICSC, conference in Dallas. The annual event, which draws about 1,000 attendees from all over the world, featured more than 100 presentations and workshops. Among the conference speakers were the bishops of the Dallas and El Paso, Texas, dioceses, two advocates of stewardship.
Clark said the Island delegation came away from the conference with many resources and contacts. New ideas they learned include integrating stewardship in Catholic faith formation and incorporating online giving in parish offertory collections.
“Not only did the speakers have great tips,” Clark said, “there was also a lot of networking going on.”
After the Hawaii group returned from the conference, the diocese took another step forward in its stewardship planning. On Oct. 10, Bishop Silva established a special Stewardship Task Force. The task force has five members from different vicariates who will draft a stewardship implementation plan aimed for completion in mid-January 2014.
Clark and diocesan Stewardship and Development coordinator Gloria Romuar, along with finance systems manager Diane Lamosao, will be involved in the task force work.
Diocesan vicar general Father Gary Secor will co-chair the group with Brandon Elefante, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea.
Elefante has been involved in various parish ministries and works full-time for the Honolulu City Council as a research analyst. He said that while the timeline for the task force to craft a stewardship implementation plan is “ambitious,” getting parishioners to fully embrace service and tithing actually “can be a long process.”
“The most challenging task is striking a balance and crafting a plan that is easy to understand,” he said. “Other dioceses and parishes across the nation have taken years to formulate successful stewardship programs and initiatives.”
“It will take a cultural shift and the leadership of all of us working together,” Elefante added. “I have full faith and confidence that we can accomplish our goals.”
Other lay members of the task force include Sam Knepper of St. Catherine Church on Kauai, Ray Lamb of St. John the Baptist Church in Kalihi and Dale Webster of St. Theresa Church on Maui. All have been heavily involved in finance, development and stewardship work at their parishes.
Father Stephen Macedo of Annunciation Parish on the Big Island is the group’s clergy representative. When he had been the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Naalehu and Holy Rosary Church in Kau, he oversaw tithing from his parishioners for 10 years. They were continually successful, he said, in generating enough finances to give 10 percent of their collections to the diocese, and to local and national charities.
“That doesn’t mean just give 10 percent to the church, but return 10 (percent) to the Lord’s work of your time, talent and treasure,” Father Macedo said. “It took a lot of trusting God, but it worked and we were able to pay our bills.”
Father Macedo and the other task force members will be meeting with the Presbyteral Council, Deacons Council, Diocesan Pastoral Council and diocesan department heads in the coming months to provide progress updates and receive feedback on the stewardship implementation plan.
The task force is also available to answer parishioners’ questions about stewardship. For more information on the task force and other stewardship news, visit the diocesan website at www.catholichawaii.org/stewardship.
