Diocese offers Sharing Our Blessings 2018

By Raymond L. Delisle
Special to The Catholic Free Press
In mid-March, Father William Schipper, administrator of Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer, along with his Finance Committee chairman, spoke at weekend Masses and shared information about the parish finances and budget. The chart they handed out was not rosy.
“I had to explain that for years the parish had been spending down its savings and, even with dramatic cuts to the budget, we would struggle to make ends meet,” Father Schipper said. “All we could do is ask that people try harder.” Since then, continued efforts have been focused on various fundraisers combined as much as possible with social activities, “but (the budget) is still very tight.”
In June at a diocesan Finance Council meeting, one member asked: “Shouldn’t we be reminding pastors about the need to focus on the offertory?” Attorney Patricia Gates, a new member to the committee, said she was concerned that pastors may be focusing on the recently announced capital campaign that would take place over the next two years, and pastors may be hesitant to talk about the day-to-day operational budget.
“It doesn’t make sense to focus only on long term issues if you cannot meet the day-to-day needs in a parish,” Ms. Gates added.
This summer Bishop McManus communicated to pastors the need to keep the various fund-raising initiatives in a proper perspective. In July he wrote: “You and I both recognize that we are about to engage parishioners on three levels of giving: the regular weekly offertory collection, the annual Partners in Charity appeal to support diocesan agencies and ongoing programs, and the capital campaign.”
His letter continued, “It is important to keep in mind that each of these three areas of giving is different and that giving must start with the parish offertory collection as a foundation, then Partners in Charity, and then the capital campaign. If a parish is not bringing in sufficient, weekly ordinary income to cover basic operational needs, then the other two fundraising efforts will not resolve ordinary parish operational expenses.”
Starting in 2009, the diocese held an offertory initiative called Sharing Our Blessings, working at the time with Boston-based Community Counseling Services. The  program was designed to reflect on the principles of Catholic stewardship, based on Scriptural reflections and volunteer testimonials to put gifts of time, talent and treasure into perspective. Although that effort was very successful, only a few parishes recognized the need to have annual stewardship weekends to keep that concept fresh in the minds of their parishioners.
In July, Bishop McManus recommended that parishes revisit the Sharing Our Blessings resources, which were still available.
“It was time, however, to revise the mechanics of the initiative to reflect new ways of communicating,” said Michael P. Gillespie, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development. “Since the recently launched Communications Ministry was providing a uniform platform to parishes for websites and email, we could share the materials automatically with parishes.”
“Stewardship is about more than offertory,” noted Father Robert A. Grattaroti, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Charlton, whose parish holds annual stewardship weekends in the fall. “It is about reflecting on our relationship to God and our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ through our parishes. Are we giving thanks to God for the blessings in our lives by offering back our time as volunteers, our talents along with our treasure through regular offertory to support the mission of our parish?”
While stewardship concepts were the foundation for Sharing Our Blessings, the diocese wanted to make sure the updated materials continued to have that focus.
Around the time that Bishop McManus called for a renewed focus on offertory giving, diocesan officials met Nic Prenger, CEO of the Prenger Solutions Group. Prenger Solutions uses technology to increase stewardship at Catholic dioceses, churches and schools. He was familiar with the Diocese of Worcester through Mr. Gillespie and they found it was a perfect match to get this initiative going.
With the help of Flocknote, the diocesan email platform and eCatholic, the diocesan website platform, Prenger Solutions, the Communications Ministry and the Office of Stewardship and Development  collaborated over the summer to construct Sharing Our Blessings 2018.     The initiative is defined as follows on the diocesan website: “Sharing Our Blessings is a five-week, parish-based opportunity for parishioners to reflect on their role as stewards of the parish. The essence of Christian Stewardship is offering thanks to God for the blessings he has bestowed on us and sharing those blessings with others in Christian charity through our parish.”
The mechanics of the initiative are straightforward and can be adapted by parishes that use a different platform for their website or email. The diocese is recommending that parishes begin in mid-October so that the weekly reflections conclude by late November.
“Thanksgiving is a natural opportunity in the lives of families to reflect on giving thanks to God,” said Father William C. Konicki, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Hopedale. Sacred Heart has worked at stewardship and, Father Konicki added, “we will be in the midst of our annual stewardship renewal at that time and now have on-line sign-up forms for time, talent and treasure.”
What can pastors expect from this initiative?
“In the end, I hope this can be a chance for parishioners to simply take the time to think about how important their parish is in their lives,” said Father Schipper. “We cannot take for granted that someone else will be there, whether as a volunteer or a donor, to keep our parish ministries alive and vibrant. Each of us is entrusted by virtue of our baptism to participate in the mission of the Church. I pray we can all be excited by this great commission and that we will reflect on how each of us makes a difference.”

– Mr. Delisle is chancellor and director of communications for the Diocese of Worcester.