Why do we have to renew our stewardship commitments of time, talent and treasure? Well, we have to face the fact that we are all victims of habit. We get into a habit of doing certain things and don’t venture beyond that. And, we live in a day and age when commitments are lacking in many areas of our lives. This is one of the reasons we have divorces, because the commitment there doesn’t last for a lifetime.
Whenever we get into stewardship as a way of life, we make a commitment to do certain things for a certain period of time so we can change our mind after that time is up. So, we can volunteer for a year knowing it’s not going to last longer than that, and we’re not going to be stuck in a certain position for the rest of our life.
So, we need a renewal each year. We also must encourage those already living as faithful stewards, and remind them that they are truly appreciated. With that, we can then gain extra people during each renewal as we go along. Most parishes, in my estimation, change every year. There are new people that that move in and join the parish, and so many others move out. More importantly, these people needed to be educated along the lines of stewardship, and it really benefits all people there to give them the opportunity to volunteer. So, this is one of the key reasons for the renewal.
People often question me, “Why do we have to fill out a form?” If we look at things logically, we realize that whenever we put things in writing and put our name to a form, the chances are we are going to fulfill it. If we just “promise” to do something we can always rationalize away that promise very quickly for all kinds of different reasons. If we have that form, we know what we have committed and are expected to follow through.
Editor’s note: The passing of our friend and longtime advisor Msgr. Thomas McGread in April was a tremendous loss to all who came to know him and work with him in developing stewardship as a way of life. But Msgr. McGread’s legacy will continue to live on through our work and through this blog, as we are fortunate to have in our archives many of his writings and teachings. The Catholic Steward will continue to share these with our followers as we continue to live Msgr. McGread’s vision for stewardship and evangelization in the Church.
