When the Diocese of Jefferson City first organized parish pastoral leadership through the setting up of Parish Pastoral Councils, the pastoral activities of the parishes were grouped into four areas. Each parish was to set up four commissions to provide leadership in these areas. The four commissions were Administration, Christian Education, Prayer and Worship, and Social Concerns. Depending on the size of a parish, the commissions might be robust enough to have a large complement of members and monthly meetings. In many smaller parishes, the commissions might just be one or two persons on the Parish Council who were tasked with organizing the respective ministries in each pastoral area. Mary Immaculate has at various times had fairly robust commissions that met regularly and managed many of the ministries that parishioners were involved in.
In my years as a pastor, I have found the four parish commissions to be invaluable and indispensable collaborators in my own role as an administrator. The commissions give me sound advice. They are able to provide for continuity in instances of pastoral change. They provide leadership for the many ministries of the parish. And most significantly, the commissions are able to engage others in ministry, especially in being the group that ensures everyone in the parish has the maximum opportunity to put their talents to use for others. The commissions are the foundational structures of parish ministry. Becoming a stewardship parish does not change that. What does enter into the discussion is how to integrate the vision of stewardship into all aspects of parish ministry and life. This is my vision of how we can proceed to integrate the values of stewardship into the life of the parish.
Stewardship as a way of life is grounded in four key values. They are called the Four Pillars of Stewardship: Hospitality, Prayer, Formation, and Service. A stewardship parish is recognized by how it puts hospitality into practice in all it does. As stewards we commit to daily communal, public and private prayer so that we may draw closer to Jesus Christ. A steward commits to the process of study and discipline required to be formed ever more into a true disciple, especially in the ongoing conversion of heart necessary in the universal call to holiness. Finally, stewardship asks us to number our loaves and fishes and share them in service of our neighbor. Stewardship is more than accounting for what we have. It calls each person to become a personal resource to further the parish’s mission of evangelization, worship, and charity.
Over the past few years as I have studied and reflected on the role of stewardship in Catholic parish—especially in this past year at Mary Immaculate as we prepare to become a stewardship parish—I have become convinced that formation in stewardship for the committed disciple and involved parishioner is largely going to be a process of affirming the good work the Lord has already begun. Stewardship may offer us some new terminology. It may require realigning and re-prioritizing our budgets. It most certainly will invite us to examine our way of discipleship and adjust our focus from time to time. For a parish like ours which has such a wonderful history of committed discipleship, not much will need to change.
hat will change is that we will see the Lord of the Harvest inviting more and more people to greater fellowship in this parish, a more dependable presence at worship, a flourishing of service, and a greater sharing of God’s blessings. The four parish commissions that are in the process of being reformed will lead and coordinate this engagement, implementing the four pillars of stewardship. While each commission may appropriately focus on one pillar, all the commissions are entrusted to promoting these values.
The Commission on Administration and Facilities provides the primary leadership among parishioners in assisting the pastor in managing the personnel resources, maintaining the buildings and grounds, directing long range planning, assuring security and safety, and ensuring that the parish’s resources are put to good use in furthering our common mission of evangelization, celebrating the sacraments, and building up the Body of Christ. The Administration Commission will be especially attentive to the pillar of hospitality, in that ensuring our facility is safe, well-maintained, and inviting to all, we are able to extend a welcome to anyone who comes among us in the peace of Christ. The Administration Commission will lead us in providing facilities that enable us to host our mission objectives.
The Commission on Christian Education and Faith Formation provides the primary leadership among parishioners in fulfilling the parish’s responsibility for handing on the authentic tradition of the Catholic faith to parishioners of every age; facilitating the ongoing conversion of Christian disciples; and preaching the Gospel in the local community by word, sacrament and service. Since ongoing formation in discipleship has been so integrated in our parish activities, the Education Commission will be able to build on the good work begun and adapt our faith formation to ensure that all parishioners understand and exemplify what it means to be a Catholic steward. The commission will be able to bring the resources of the Diocesan Stewardship Office to the community and integrate them into our faith formation curricula.
The purpose of the Commission on Divine Worship and the Sacraments is to assist the pastor in ensuring that the sacramental and liturgical life of the parish is celebrated in such a manner to invite all to encounter Jesus Christ alive in their midst. The Worship Commission is entrusted to keep the disciples’ request to the Lord ever in mind: “Lord, teach us how to pray.” While the public and communal liturgies are of primary concern, nevertheless, the Worship Commission by its work provides all parishioners with a “school of prayer.” The private, personal devotional life of the parishioner will be nourished and strengthened by the efforts of the Commission. In prayer, each disciple comes to the Lord to ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Worship Commission looks upon all those who ask this question with the same loving gaze of Christ. With the wisdom of experience, the Commission helps the disciple continue on the journey of holiness, not sad and burdened by the things of this world, but filled with joy and hope in sharing God’s many blessings.
The purpose of the Social Concerns Commission is to identify the significant social issues that either enhance or compromise the well-being and sanctity of individuals and the community, and assist the pastor in leading the parish’s response to those issues in the light of the Gospel and the Tradition of the Catholic Church. The Commission provides leadership to all parishioners in helping them live out their baptismal calling to preach the Good News by word and works on a local, regional and global level. While all the commissions and councils of the parish offer opportunities to fulfill the stewardship value of service, it is the Social Concerns Commission which ensures that each and every parishioner has an opportunity to be of direct charitable service in proportion to one’s abilities.
In the coming weeks, I will continue to write about the specific practices of stewardship as is being promoted by the Diocese of Jefferson City. And in the coming months, we all will be working toward integrating the values of stewardship into the leadership structure of the parish and in our daily lives.