Making Stewardship A Way of Life

As humans, we are blessed by God. But we also experience suffering. Can anything virtuous come from our suffering? In this episode, Father Andrew explores how offering the suffering that we experience as a gift to God can be a more valuable form of stewardship that offering tangible gifts to God's community. Christians see challenges and difficulties as an opportunity to bring good out of evil. When we are dealing with adversity, we have a heightened opportunity to expand our stewardship by committing our suffering to our own redemption as well as the redemption of others. And it keeps us more deeply connected to the suffering that Christ endured for us. We can be victims of suffering and let it conquer us, or we can accept it and present that acceptance back to God as a gift for what God has done for us.
Father Andrew Kemberling is a parochial vicar of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Northglenn, Colorado. For 14 years he was pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial, CO. With Mila Glodava, Director of Communications and Stewardship, he wrote the book "Making Stewardship a Way of Life: A Complete Guide for Catholic Parishes" (published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2009). The parish received many awards for its pioneering embrace of stewardship as a touchstone of parish life. Fr. Andrew was born in Tucson, Arizona and joined the Benedictine order in 1985. He was ordained a priest in 1988.

Are we "possessed" by our possessions? If so, we may be driven to own and acquire even more, which can separate us from God. In this episode, Father Andrew explains how practicing "evangelical poverty" can help us let go of being "owned" by our material things and trust God to provide the essentials we need. Evangelical poverty helps us adopt a mindset of being "poor in spirit," which, as Jesus said, leads to inheriting the "kingdom of heaven." Furthermore, even the poor and the poor in spirit have a need to give and should find a way to contribute to their faith community based on the sacrifice, not the amount. Evangelical poverty provides a detachment of "self" that allows us to become closer to God.
Father Andrew Kemberling is a parochial vicar of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Northglenn, Colorado. For 14 years he was pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial, CO. With Mila Glodava, Director of Communications and Stewardship, he wrote the book "Making Stewardship a Way of Life: A Complete Guide for Catholic Parishes" (published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2009). The parish received many awards for its pioneering embrace of stewardship as a touchstone of parish life. Fr. Andrew was born in Tucson, Arizona and joined the Benedictine order in 1985. He was ordained a priest in 1988.

In this episode, Father Andrew introduces three more areas that are important elements of stewardship: faith, vocations, and the earth. Faith is a treasure that has been handed down to us; we need to grow our own faith and transmit it to the next generation. Clergy members are essential to the ability of the church to serve its faithful; one element of stewardship is encouraging those who live the virtues we would expect from God's servants to consider a commitment to religious service. As well, we should show gratitude for those in service to the faith with "spiritual bouquets" of prayer. And we have been gifted with an earthly home rich in resources; we should respect and protect our environment for ourselves and future generations.
Father Andrew Kemberling is a parochial vicar of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Northglenn, Colorado. For 14 years he was pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial, CO. With Mila Glodava, Director of Communications and Stewardship, he wrote the book "Making Stewardship a Way of Life: A Complete Guide for Catholic Parishes" (published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2009). The parish received many awards for its pioneering embrace of stewardship as a touchstone of parish life. Fr. Andrew was born in Tucson, Arizona and joined the Benedictine order in 1985. He was ordained a priest in 1988.

Time, Talent and Treasure: the basic components of stewardship. But what do they mean? In this episode, Father Andrew Kemberling explores the deeper meaning of these stewardship themes. From the gift of time that God has given to us, Father Andrew shows how to calculate a "tithe," or portion of that time, that can be returned to God in service and prayer. The "talents" that we have are also gifts of God. Thus it is appropriate to show gratitude for our talents by using them in service of faith. We have also been blessed with treasure, and stewardship requires us to return a share of that to God - but not the remainder or leftovers. God deserves "the first and the best" of our treasure.
Father Andrew Kemberling is a parochial vicar of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Northglenn, Colorado. For 14 years he was pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial, CO. With Mila Glodava, Director of Communications and Stewardship, he wrote the book "Making Stewardship a Way of Life: A Complete Guide for Catholic Parishes" (published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2009). The parish received many awards for its pioneering embrace of stewardship as a touchstone of parish life. Fr. Andrew was born in Tucson, Arizona and joined the Benedictine order in 1985. He war ordained a priest in 1988.

In this episode, Father Andrew Kemberling reminds us that "stewardship" is a spirituality, not just a theology. The spirituality is based on four core values: identity, trust, gratitude, and love. Identity is anchored in the fact that we were created by God to love Him and serve Him. We belong to Him. Trust is believing that God will provide for our needs, not just our wants. Gratitude tells us to focus on everything we've been blessed with as gifts, and especially the spiritual gifts. When we recognize the gifts and blessings we have received, we should want to give back to God in thanksgiving. Love is at the core of stewardship's spirituality. It is the basic requirement of someone leading a Christian life. If we have a need to love, we will have a need to give.
Father Andrew Kemberling is a parochial vicar of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Northglenn, Colorado. For 14 years he was pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial, CO. With Mila Glodava, Director of Communications and Stewardship, he wrote the book "Making Stewardship a Way of Life: A Complete Guide for Catholic Parishes" (published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2009). The parish received many awards for its pioneering embrace of stewardship as a touchstone of parish life. Fr. Andrew was born in Tucson, Arizona and joined the Benedictine order in 1985. He war ordained a priest in 1988.