Stewardship and the St. Joseph Catholic Community

Volunteer Opportunities

Faith Direct:  Your generosity to St. Joseph Catholic Community truly helps our parish extend God's loving presence to those among us who are most in need.  I pray you will enroll with Faith Direct.  This commitment to recurring electronic giving will not only provide our parish with the consistent resources that help with the operating needs of St. Joseph Catholic Community, but in turn provide you with the convenience of automatic deduction from your specified checking account or credit card.  There is no cost to you to enroll.  Our parish code is MD80.
 

New users and existing users are urged to visit.

Stewardship Letter

For those families who were not able to get the reflection booklet on stewardship, the PDF is available online.

Reflections on the discussion topics in the booklet: "Stewardship: Changing our Hearts, Changing Our World".  These reflections by fellow parishioners are meant to “prime the pump” for you as you read the book and discuss the same topics with your family members and discuss your answers with them.

Introduction
In recent times the Catholic communities across the United States have been more and more challenged to incorporate a biblically based theology of stewardship into their everyday way of thinking, sharing and acting.   Our U.S. Catholic Bishops back in 1992 wrote a pastoral letter entitled: Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response.  In it they challenge modern day American Catholics like ourselves to be good stewards by generously sharing our time, talent and treasure with others—especially with the needy and the Church, the body of Christ.  It was Bishop John J. McRaith, who was an original member of the writing team for that letter that said: “once one chooses to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, stewardship is not an option.”

Stewardship is definitely part of our vocations as a Christian.  We’ve all been given special gifts from God and we need to discover them, develop them and use these gifts justly and responsibly.  Biblically, stewardship means returning the first portion of all God has given to us.  It is a way to thank God for blessing us with special gifts—which includes not only ones material goods but all the talents of our bodies and brains, cherished relationships with family and friends as well as all the achievements of our human genius and skills. 

The theology of stewardship is based more on our need to give something back to God—not on the church’s need for money.  We at St. Joseph parish are beginning to understand each day a little more profoundly the implication of the biblical call to be a good and responsible steward.

Our parish patron, St. Joseph, is an excellent example of a holy person who was willing to sacrifice his personal plans when an angel appeared to him in a dream and asked him to support and foster both Jesus and Mary.   Our outside statue of St. Joseph with the child Jesus playfully perched upon his shoulders has been chosen as our parish stewardship logo to encourage us in our ongoing efforts to become better disciples and stewards of God’s many blessings.  As St. Joseph supported the infant Jesus so too he invites us to now carry and shoulder our parish, the body of Christ today in its needs and mission.

Years ago there was a somewhat similar image on a Christmas stamp for Boys Town, Nebraska run by Fr. Flanagan.  One boy is carrying a younger one on his shoulder and I can well imagine him saying something like: “he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother!”  The quotation in Matthew 11: 29 also comes to mind: “shoulder my yoke and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart”.

May we shoulder and support our parish in its spiritual and physical needs as St. Joseph does in his ongoing paternal concerns for the Church.

 Types of Gifts  

There are many ways to make a gift and you can decide what your gift will benefit. Unrestricted gifts will be used where there is the greatest need, while restricted gifts may be contributed to a specific program or fund.

• Outright Gift - A one-time gift (cash, check or credit card) without conditions or terms of trust.
• Pledge -A signed and dated commitment to make a gift over a specified period of time.
• Stock Gift - A donation of stock.
• Deferred Gift - A charitable gift arrangement where the Archdiocese's or St. Joseph’s use of the asset is delayed to some future time.
• Endowments - Funds to be kept permanently and invested to provide income for ongoing support.
• Bequest - A contribution made by an individual after their death through a provision in their will.
• Legacy Giving - Also referred to as planned giving, a term used to describe a variety of charitable gifts that can be given during an individual's lifetime and whose residual funds indefinitely support the Archdiocese or St. Joseph or a specific program or fund.
• Charitable Gift Annuity - Typically an agreement in which cash or other assets are transferred to a charitable organization in exchange for its promise to pay the donor an annuity for life.
• Retirement Plan Assets - Naming the Archdiocese or St. Joseph or a specific program or fund as beneficiary or partial beneficiary of a retirement plan.
• Trusts - Money, securities or properties that are held under a trust agreement to provide income for the beneficiary.
• Corporate Matching - A donation from an employer matching the employee's charitable contribution, thereby doubling the contribution of the employee's gift.
• In-Kind Gift - A contribution of equipment, supplies, labor or other property.