What is Stewardship?
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."

Stewardship - A Way of Life...
Stewardship is a way of living out our faith as individuals, as a faith community, indeed in the actions of our daily lives. Stewardship is making a choice to live a Christ-centered life. It means realizing that all we have and all that we are able to do are gifts from God, and that everything that we choose to do with those gifts is in a sense our gift back to God in gratitude. This is the way we fulfill our baptismal promise to love and serve the Lord. Stewardship is our way of responding to God’s call with a life of gratitude.

St. Mary is a stewardship parish and as a stewardship parish our belief is that we give back to God a portion of what He has given to us - in our time, talent, treasure and assets. We ask our members to prayerfully consider giving sacrificially by striving to tithe (giving 10%) to charitable organizations. A guideline for giving of one's treasure in the Diocese of Rockford is to strive to give 5% to your parish, 1% to the Diocese, and 4% to other worthy causes.

Modern Interpretation of the Biblical Tithe
As committed disciples of our triune God, we constantly seek to ask ourselves the same question that the psalmist struggled to answer, “How do I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?” (Psalm 116:12). Our response progressively takes on a radical conversion and turning over all of our life as an offering to God in gratitude and love. In the Old Testament one manifestation of this response to God was the tithe – the unconditional sharing of 10% from the first fruits of their labor. In current Catholic thinking, stewardship gift giving principles are offered to the committed disciple to prayerfully consider adopting.

For our stewardship of time and talent gifts, commit a time each day for prayer. When our parish conducts a time and talent appeal, prayerfully consider making a commitment to one ministry. There are also many ways to volunteer your time and talent with community, state and national organizations that seek the common good.

Five Principles for Giving
As a symbol of my total commitment to Christ, I give back to God

• In thanksgiving and gratitude for all that God has given to me
• As a sacrifice – both meanings of the word
  • to make something holy
  • to do without something – to reorder my priorities
• In a planned way – my gift comes from my first fruits – off the top
• In proportion to what I have received – a tithe of my time, talent, treasure and assets
  • 5% to my parish
  • 1% to my diocese
  • 4% to other worthy charities, i.e., Universal Church ministries, United Way, college, community and/or international charities.
• Wrapped in my Sunday envelope
  • I unconditionally give my gift – no strings attached
  • For my Sunday offering, I use the envelope provided to wrap my gift as an example to others of my commitment.
  • For other charities, as I send it, I dedicate my gift to God for His use through these groups.

Using the links at the left you will learn about ways you can give back to God through St. Mary Catholic Church in DeKalb.