From Msgr. Chester Borski
Pastor of St. Martha Catholic Church in Fort Worth, TX

Dear Eric,

I am very appreciative of the work your company has done, and I willingly take this opportunity to recommend your services to other parishes.

The principal reason we hired Catholic Stewardship Consultants is because of your emphasis on long-term stewardship education. Unlike a typical offertory increase program, your approach truly seeks to engage parishioners in the work of the parish, as well as helping them to grow in their relationship with Christ. This is what I hoped your involvement would bring to St. Martha’s, and it has already begun to work.

Even though stewardship is a long-term effort, I was pleased by significant short-term gains in Time, Talent, and Treasure immediately after our Stewardship Renewal. As you know, I normally do not place heavy emphasis on stewardship of treasure; nonetheless, contributions to our regular Sunday offertory and to Martha’s Kitchen have risen nearly $10,000 per week. With consistent education, I hope to sustain and grow this $500,000 annual increase. We also gained enormous support for each of the seven ministries listed on our Commitment Card, especially for Perpetual Adoration, which had 165 people register.

Not only have we increased the actual activity level in the parish, but just as importantly, we have increased the awareness of those activities, especially through our parish newsletter. The articles are well-written and informative, and I believe they have greatly increased the average parishioner’s understanding of stewardship, and their knowledge of parish life. Even long-time parish leaders have remarked to me that after reading our newsletter, they are amazed at how much we do here at St. Martha.

Our leaders were rejuvenated by our Leadership Retreat, at which they sat down together and discussed parish issues in a spiritual setting. This was a wonderfully effective forum, especially because many leaders did not know each other very well. I definitely intend to build on this leadership training in the future.

Again, your great strength as a company is your emphasis on communication and education—an approach that has worked extremely well at St. Martha. While parishioners were already somewhat familiar with stewardship, with your help we have greatly increased their understanding, and more importantly, increased their practice of it. I am deeply grateful for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Msgr. Chester Borski
Pastor