What I have seen and heard

	Bishop Gregory

This past Sunday I was on an adventure to yesteryear as I presided at Jubilee Masses for two of our parishes. Saint Felicitas in Beaver Prairie celebrated its 120th anniversary as a parish and St. Mary’s in Carlyle boasted 150 years of faith. Both celebrations were very joyful and uplifting for me and for the many people who crowded into both churches. For myself, the nicest part of the festivities was my introduction into the long and faithful histories of both communities.

There were pictures galore that told of a long heritage of faith, commitment, and ownership. One of my altar servers at the Saint Mary’s celebration had been an altar boy for Bishop Althoff when the parish observed its 75th anniversary in 1928. At St. Felicitas, one of the parishioners identified many families that had belonged to the parish for three or four generations — including her own.

All of these events chronicled the devotion that these people have toward these parishes. Some of the guests were former parishioners who returned for the celebrations from other communities within our diocese, some from St. Louis and even a few from as far away as Chicago. They all wanted to remember the rich heritage that marks these two communities of faith.

As I heard the stories of faith that belong to St. Felicitas and St. Mary, I could not help but to recognize the great investment that people have made to our parishes. The language of stewardship is still somewhat new to Catholics, although the reality behind the ministry of Christian stewardship is quite familiar to our folks. In both of these parishes there was clear evidence that people had invested their time, talent, and treasure in these communities.

The early pioneer days for both parishes involved many long hours of hard labor that built the buildings and provided services of education, Christian formation, and religious dedication. At St. Felicitas, members of the community had to travel to St. Rose and later to Carlyle to bring to Beaver Prairie the priest who would attend to their sacramental needs on the weekend. Hard labor helped to build the structures that served those earliest parishioners. Merely giving money would never have been adequate to found and establish these parishes.

Stewardship is an investment of one’s gifts, time, and fortune for the life of the church. These parishes have thrived because of the total human investment on the parts of many generous parishioners and benefactors.

When St. Felicitas parish heard of the finances during its early history, the figures seemed almost comical in comparison to the cost of things today. But the investment of human time and talent remains pretty constant for all healthy parishes.

A number of our parishes have begun stewardship programs inviting parishioners to consider how they can use their time, talent, and treasure to enrich each community. A very good example of how our predecessors invested themselves in some of our oldest and at times smallest communities is an inspiration for all of us.

Blessed Sacrament in Belleville has recently undertaken a stewardship program that they shared with the clergy and pastoral ministers in attendance at our recent assembly day. Many other parishes are currently involved with stewardship efforts while others will soon begin such initiatives, and Barbara Maynard in our Development Office is happy to assist parishes interested in such an endeavor.

I wish that I could have captured what I saw and heard over the weekend, I think that it would inspire many folks to consider how an earlier generation of Catholics in our diocese practiced the virtue of Christian stewardship, perhaps without really knowing the term but by clearly living the reality in grand fashion.