-
StewardshipU.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter
-
Introduction
According to the 1992 U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response, a steward is defined as a disciple of Jesus who "receives God's gifts gratefully, cultivates them responsibly, shares them lovingly in justice with others and returns them with increase to the Lord."
The pastoral letter’s challenge that we embrace stewardship as an expression of discipleship with the “power to change how we understand and live out our lives” continues to engage lay people, religious men and women, priests, deacons, and bishops. This challenge is just as powerful today as in 1992, as a new generation of Catholics is introduced to the biblical concept of stewardship and embraces “the call to follow Jesus and imitate his way of life.”
This pastoral letter has served as an indispensable way to communicate a vision and extend an invitation to Christian people to “grasp the fact that they are no less than ‘God’s co-workers’ (1 Corinthians 3:9), with their own particular share in his creative, redemptive, and sanctifying work.”
We encourage you to read in its entirety the U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
The above introduction and the following summary and excerpts are taken from the texts of the 10th Anniversary of this pastoral letter.
-
-
-
What identifies a Steward?
What identifies a steward? Safeguarding material and human resources and using them responsibly are one answer; so is generous giving of Time, Talent, and Treasure. But being a Catholic steward means more.
As Catholic stewards, we receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord.
-
Good stewards live with joy and gratitude for the blessings they have received—including those that have multiplied through diligence and hard work.
Indeed, good stewards live in communion with Christ, and through Christ and the Spirit, strive to return all gifts to the Father “with an increase.”
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
-
-
-
Disciples as Stewards
Let us begin with being a disciple—a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. As members of the Church, Jesus calls us to be disciples. This has astonishing implications:
- Mature disciples make a conscious decision to follow Jesus, no matter what the cost.
- Catholic disciples experience conversion—life- shaping changes of mind and heart—and commit their very selves to the Lord.
- Catholic stewards respond in a particular way to the call to be a disciple. Stewardship has the power to shape and mold our understanding of our lives and the way in which we live.
- Jesus’ disciples and Catholic stewards recognize God as the origin of life, giver of freedom, and source of all things. We are grateful for the gifts we have received and are eager to use them to show our love for God and for one another. We look to the life and teaching of Jesus for guidance in living as Catholic stewards.
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
-
Jesus’ call is urgent. He does not tell people to follow him at some time in the future but here and now—at this moment, in these circumstances. There can be no delay.
“Go and proclaim the kingdom of God...No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:60, 62).
-
-
-
Stewards of Creation
The Bible contains a profound message about the stewardship of material creation: God created the world, but entrusts it to human beings. Caring for and cultivating the world involves the following:
- Joyful appreciation for the God-given beauty and wonder of nature;
- Protection and preservation of the environment, which would be the stewardship of ecological concern;
- Respect for human life—shielding life from threat and assault, doing everything that can be done to enhance this gift and make life flourish; and
- Development of this world through noble human effort—physical labor, the trades and professions, the arts and sciences. We call such effort “work.” Work is a fulfilling human vocation. The Second Vatican Council points out that, through work, we build up not only our world but the Kingdom of God, already present among us. Work is a partnership with God—our share in a divine human collaboration in creation. It occupies a central place in our lives as Catholic stewards.
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
-
God not only creates human beings, however, but also bestows on them the divine image and likeness (cf. Genesis 1:26). As part of this resemblance to God, people are called to cooperate with the Creator in continuing the divine work (cf. Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, no. 25).
Stewardship of creation is one expression of this. The divine mandate to our first parents makes that clear. “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Subduing and exercising dominion do not mean abusing the earth. Rather, as the second creation story explains, God settled humankind upon earth to be its steward—“to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15).
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
-
-
-
Stewards of Vocation
Jesus calls us, as his disciples, to a new way of life—the Christian way of life—of which stewardship is part. But Jesus does not call us as nameless people in a faceless crowd. He calls us individually, by name. Each one of us—clergy, religious, lay person; married, single; adult, child—has a personal vocation. God intends each one of us to play a unique role in carrying out the divine plan.
The challenge, then, is to understand our role—our vocation—and to respond generously to this call from God. Catholic vocation entails the practice of stewardship.
In addition, Christ calls each of us to be stewards of our personal vocations, which we receive from God.
-
A Parable on Stewardship
A parable near the end of Matthew’s Gospel (cf. Matthew 25:14-30) gives insight into Jesus’ thinking about stewards and stewardship. It is the story of “a man who was going on a journey,” and who left his wealth in silver pieces to be tended by three servants.
Two of them respond wisely by investing the money and making a handsome profit. Upon returning, the master commends them warmly and rewards them richly. But the third behaves foolishly, with anxious pettiness, squirreling away the master’s wealth and earning nothing; he is rebuked and punished.
The silver pieces of this story stand for a great deal besides money. All temporal and spiritual goods are created by and come from God. That is true of everything human beings have: spiritual gifts like faith, hope, and love; talents of body and brain; cherished relationships with family and friends; material goods; the achievements of human genius and skill; the world itself. One day God will require an accounting of the use each person has made of the particular portion of these goods entrusted to him or her.
Each will be measured by the standard of his or her individual vocation. Each has received a different “sum”—a unique mix of talents, opportunities, challenges, weaknesses and strengths, potential modes of service and response—on which the Master expects a return. He will judge individuals according to what they have done with what they were given.
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
-
-
-
Stewards of the Church
Stewards of God’s gifts are not passive beneficiaries. We cooperate with God in our own redemption and in the redemption of others.
We are also obliged to be stewards of the Church—collaborators and cooperators in continuing the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, which is the Church’s essential mission. This mission—proclaiming and teaching, serving and sanctifying—is our task. It is the personal responsibility of each one of us as stewards of the Church.
All members of the Church have their own roles to play in carrying out its mission:
• Parents, who nurture their children in the light of faith;
• Parishioners, who work in concrete ways to make their parishes true communities of faith and vibrant sources of service to the larger community;
• All Catholics, who give generous support—time, money, prayers, and personal service according to their circumstances—to parish and diocesan programs and to the universal Church.
-
The New Covenant in and through Christ—the reconciliation He effects between humankind and God— forms a community: the new People of God, the Body of Christ, the Church. The unity of this people is itself a precious good, to be cherished, preserved, and built up by lives of love.
The epistle to the Ephesians exhorts Christians to “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all...” (Ephesians 4:1-6).
Because its individual members do collectively make up the Body of Christ, that body’s health and well-being are the responsibility of the members—the personal responsibility of each one of us.
We are all stewards of the Church. As “to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (1 Corinthians 12:7), so stewardship in an ecclesial setting means cherishing and fostering the gifts of all, while using one’s own gifts to serve the community of faith. The rich tradition of tithing set forth in the Old Testament is an expression of this. (See, for example, Deuteronomy 14:22; Leviticus 27:30.) Those who set their hearts upon spiritual gifts must “seek to have an abundance for building up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12).
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response. -
-
-
-
Obstacles to Stewardship
People who want to live as Christian disciples and Catholic stewards face serious obstacles.
In the United States and other nations, a dominant secular culture often contradicts religious convictions about the meaning of life. This culture frequently encourages us to focus on ourselves and our pleasures. At times, we can find it far too easy to ignore spiritual realities and to deny religion a role in shaping human and social values.
As Catholics who have entered into the mainstream of American society and experienced its advantages, many of us also have been adversely influenced by this secular culture. We know what it is to struggle against selfishness and greed, and we realize that it is harder for many today to accept the challenge of being a Catholic steward.
It is essential, therefore, that we make a special effort to understand the true meaning of stewardship and live accordingly.
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
-
-
-
A Steward's Way
The life of a Catholic steward models the life of Jesus. It is challenging and even difficult, in many respects, yet intense joy comes to those who take the risk to live as Catholic stewards. Women and men who seek to live as stewards learn that "all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
After Jesus, we look to Mary as an ideal steward. As the Mother of Christ, she lived her ministry in a spirit of fidelity and service; she responded generously to the call.
We must ask ourselves: Do we also wish to be disciples of Jesus Christ and Catholic stewards of our world and our Church?
Central to our human and Catholic vocations, as well as to the unique vocation each one of us receives from God, is that we be good stewards of the gifts we possess. God gives us this divine-human workshop, this world and Church of ours.
The Spirit shows us the way. Stewardship is a part of that journey.
-U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response.
-
-
-
"What are you looking for?", Christ asked of his disciples.
If you are new or have been away from the Church, Are you Catholic and have not received the Sacraments?
We welcome and invite you to LEARN MORE about the faith that Jesus Christ founded.
-
