On Financial Stewardship

Dear Lord God,
You alone are the source of every good gift
and the mystery of each human life.
We thank you for creation and for your tender, faithful love.
Fill our minds with the Gospel of your son Jesus
and fill our hearts with his compassion.
Send your Spirit to grant us wisdom, that our gratitude may bind us together
into a community of faith and a caring people.
Give us the courage to express our gratitude first
as we discern how to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted to us,
that we may do the work for your Kingdom.
In your Son’s name we pray,          Amen!

Happy 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time!
This Sunday is the beginning of the financial part of our Stewardship Campaign.  Eric and Sharon Wilcox will give witness at both Masses this Sunday about their own stewardship of our parish.

Stewardship is basically about caring for God’s creation and the becoming of God’s Kingdom, so being good stewards means directing our lives by the Gospel.  It encompasses our care for our families, our careers, our companies, our church and our greater community.

Financial stewardship grows out of our gratitude to God for the blessings bestowed upon us.  Those blessings include our families, our society and especially our church community here at St. Therese.  We have financial stewardship for the poor, for the sick, for our environment but also for our St. Therese.  

The parish budget assumes an increase in collections of about 3% over last year. So far this year, collections have been running about even with last year. We would also like to get collections to the point where we could hire an administrative assistant so we can have a consistent voice answering the phones and greeting parishioners.  We would like to get collections to the point that we can grow our operating cash. We should have cash to cover six months of expenditures but we’re nowhere near that.  

So please reflect on your gratitude for this parish and let your financial support reflect that gratitude.