Stewardship

The goal of the St. Theresa's Parish Stewardship Team is to educate, encourage, acknowledge, and thank others for sharing their God-given time, talents, and treasures with others. The Stewardship Team meets once a month in the evening and welcomes YOU to join them. Please contact Don Kasianchuk for more information.

The most recent event organized by the Stewardship Team profiled the almost 40 different Ministries at St. Theresa's

  • Community Building Ministries
  • Faith Formation Ministries
  • Liturgical Ministries
  • Outreach Ministries
  • Service Organization Ministries

Stewardship Vision

The vision for Stewardship at St. Theresa’s is that all parishioners embrace stewardship as a way of life, acknowledging God as the creator and giver of all that we have, and who we are, and ever will be. In gratitude for our many gifts and in response to our baptismal call, we are eager to share our gifts of time, talent, and treasure out of love for God and one another. We all know that, for Disciples of Christ, stewardship is not ‘optional’. The fruits of a greater commitment to stewardship at St. Theresa's is that we will continue to be a thriving, growing community whose members are passionate about their baptismal call: where all are seen as gifted and chosen by God to be a light to the world.

As our understanding of stewardship deepens, we see it not as a single or particular action, but as a lifestyle that is rooted in our faith. We are faced with many choices every day, and stewardship must be a way of life that is freely chosen. It is one way we express what it means to be a disciple. It means living a Christ-centred life as opposed to a self-centred life. In doing so, the daily choices we make at home, at work, in the community, and in our parish are a reflection of how we live our faith. There are many different ways in which each of us lives out our faith, our discipleship, and our stewardship, as the work of our lifetime. The Archdiocesan Stewardship Advisory Council has identified 10 virtues of the Christian steward, including generosity, gratitude, humility, mercy, patience, perseverance, prayer, responsibility, simplicity, and trust. We are each responsible for cultivating and living out these virtues in our lives and in our faith community of St. Theresa's.

Reflections on the Virtues of Stewardship

Humility: We are warned by Jesus not to be excessively pious or self-righteous. One of the hallmarks of the authentic Christian and steward is humility. Humility does not mean that we think less of ourselves, but rather that we think of ourselves less. Jesus told us that if we are to be one of His followers we must deny ourselves. To deny ourselves – to reach a point where our self is no longer the most important thing in the world – this is living a Christ-centered life. Good stewardship naturally flows from a life centered in Christ.

Perseverance: Persistence is a wonderful virtue that we should all cultivate as disciples and stewards. Through our baptism and confirmation we have all been given a responsibility to share the gift of our faith… to evangelize. This is not easy in our society today, but with God’s grace we can all do it in our own way. Evangelization requires patience, persistence and above all prayer. Be a good steward and share the gift of faith!

Faith on Fire, Hearts & Minds Transformed – Given that 48% of the worlds’ people live on less than $60 a month – an amount which many easily spend in a month at Tim Horton’s – we can rightly consider ourselves to be wealthy. We can experience a great tension in our hearts whenever we acknowledge the ever widening gap between those who have and those who have not. This tension is good because it creates in us an awareness of our own abundance, which in turn gives us the confidence, and the desire to share. Possessing material goods in a sensible manner is a worthy strategy for sharing generously!

Archdiocese of Winnipeg Stewardship Prayer

Almighty God, we give thanks for all that we have and all that we are.

Most of all, we give thanks for the great gift of your Son, Jesus.

We pray that through a personal relationship with the Risen Christ, our hearts will be open to continued conversion in our lives.

We pray that we may be good stewards: that we will follow faithfully, serve joyfully, give generously, live responsibly and possess sensibly.

In gratitude for the abundant gifts You have so graciously given to us, we return to You the first fruits of these gifts, through acts of service and by generously sharing all that You have entrusted to us.

Heavenly Father, by Your Holy Spirit, help us to be a gift to others, in Your name.

Amen