Cardinal Tobin reflects on stewardship in latest newsletter
My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Earlier this year, I published Returning to Grace: A Pastoral Letter on the Eucharist. In this letter, I offered some thoughts on the meaning of the Eucharist and its central place in our lives. I also tried to address in positive, hope-filled ways the challenges we face as we emerge from the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic and the many spiritual, social, physical and financial hardships it imposed on our people, our society and our Church.
All of us—clergy, religious and lay faithful—have a responsibility to invite and encourage our fellow Catholics to return to the grace of the Eucharist. I see this as a stewardship responsibility, an opportunity “to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pt 4:10).
To help raise awareness about the importance of Christian stewardship in our daily lives and in our pastoral ministry, I have written a “pastoral reflection” entitled Stewards of God’s Grace that contains ideas first proposed by the American bishops in the 1992 pastoral letter Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response. My reflections on stewardship are intended to reinforce the ideas contained in Returning to Grace, my pastoral letter on the Eucharist. I urge you to read my stewardship reflections, Stewards of God’s Grace, in full, but here is a selection of some of the main points:
How can we do a better job of inviting Catholics to be more actively engaged in the life of their Church? How can we most effectively teach stewardship as a way of life? How can we who are called to be servant leaders model “best practices” of Christian stewardship in our parishes, schools and archdiocesan ministries?
[CONTINUE READING IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH]
This is an excerpt from the latest edition (Sept. 24, 2021) of Cardinal Joseph Tobin’s Rejoice in the Lord newsletter. Read the full edition and past editions of the newsletter in English or Spanish here.
