Stewardship in our parish - Benny ChangA retrospect of the installation of Stewardship in our parish – a personal account |
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It was my personal conviction that the Holy Spirit has started to guide our parish to committing to a life of stewardship 4 years ago when I read an Email message posted by Tim to our church Email list regarding a stewardship meeting to be held in St. Thomas More church. I remember that Paul and I went to the meeting conducted by the director of stewardship committee of our diocese that night in April 1997. It was overwhelming. It turned me around from not knowing what stewardship is to consider living a life that is called for by God to all Christians. At that time I just finished my PhD study, and started my research career. I do not know why, but I was in the habit of expressing what I thought about the church and Christian life in the Email list. (Now I no longer have time to do so.).
I started to consolidate what I have heard and write a bunch of messages to the Email list trying to provoke our parishioners’ attention on this important issue in Christian life. Paul was as impressed as I was, and probably more impressed. He was the Council chair at that year. With his encouragement, I wrote a proposal to the Council in the hope that we will be adopting the Stewardship life style in our parish. Fr. Chang and the council were all very supportive, and a committee was soon formed with 10 core members. We started to study the meaning of Stewardship by reading a booklet that summarized the Bishop’s Conference on Stewardship with scriptures and discussion materials to provoke discernment and sharing. Fr. Chang was there with us in every meeting. He was very active in participating, and guiding the study sessions. I remember vividly that he mentioned a key to adopting stewardship as a life style is to totally change our mind set from a taker to a giver.
I started to consolidate what I have heard and write a bunch of messages to the Email list trying to provoke our parishioners’ attention on this important issue in Christian life. Paul was as impressed as I was, and probably more impressed. He was the Council chair at that year. With his encouragement, I wrote a proposal to the Council in the hope that we will be adopting the Stewardship life style in our parish. Fr. Chang and the council were all very supportive, and a committee was soon formed with 10 core members. We started to study the meaning of Stewardship by reading a booklet that summarized the Bishop’s Conference on Stewardship with scriptures and discussion materials to provoke discernment and sharing. Fr. Chang was there with us in every meeting. He was very active in participating, and guiding the study sessions. I remember vividly that he mentioned a key to adopting stewardship as a life style is to totally change our mind set from a taker to a giver.
