CTK Stewardship Leaders Attend Asian Pacific Stewardship Conference
A total of 197 delegates, consisting of 68 priests, 117 lay persons and 12 bishops from 26 dioceses, 60 parishes and 10 religious congregations from the Philippines, USA and South Korea gathered for the First Asian Pacific Stewardship Conference in Alfonso, Cavite, Philippines from February 4 to 7.
The conference was sponsored by the International Catholic Stewardship Council and its local partner, Socio- Pastoral Institute (SPI) with the objective of deepening participants’ understanding, appreciation and resolve to be good stewards of their churches, communities, and of the earth. During those four days, they generously shared with each other their individual uplifting, as well as difficult, pastoral experiences. CTK was represented by Stewardship Committee heads Benjie and Wins Mirasol while Ben and Linda Famador led an eight-person delegation from the Cubao Diocese. The Famadors and the Mirasols shared the 14 years of experience in running the stewardship program and fostering the ‘stewardship as a way of life’ mindset in the parish. During the breakout sessions, participants traded and exchanged insights and know-how. The participants were also grouped into dioceses and asked to plan their stewardship activities moving forward.
In the plenary event, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, gave the talk entitled ‘Stewardship: A Call to Conversion’. Bp. Pabillo said that we take care of the gifts given to us by not allowing these to be wasted but by maximizing their use. He said, ‘We are gifted that we may gift others, which gives rise to the theme of the 2021 celebration: Gifted to Gift.’
He summarized the 1992 US Bishops Conference pastoral letter which said, ‘As Christian stewards, we receive God’s gift gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them in loving justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord.’ However, in his experience with SPI in promoting the spirituality of stewardship in the last 15 years, he had not found it smooth sailing selling stewardship even to lay leaders, priests and bishops. Bishop Pabillo argues that the solution is spirituality of stewardship. Spirituality promotes transparency and responsibility in our use of resources. So, priests and bishops will no longer see the money in the church as their money and therefore will be more transparent to the responsible members of their communities about the lack of resources of the parish.
He continued, ‘Stewardship will also promote greater collaborative action in the Church. Since each of us is steward of the Church, we need to take care of it and provide for its needs so that that it can do its work. A parish priest in Manila who promoted the spirituality of stewardship a year ago and did away with the arancel system of charging for services got an unexpected boost when he noticed a old lady who is a vendor in the market regularly giving 500 pesos a month to the stewardship program. He approached her to thank her and to inquire on the reason of her generosity. She matter-of-factly replied. ‘Father I try to give my share so that the Church can do its work of baptizing people, catechizing them and doing services to people who are in need.’
‘Filipinos are very generous, said Bishop Pabillo. ‘It is within our genes. We are especially generous when we see that what we give are properly used. The church will never lack resources and people who will help when they see that the church does its work well – good liturgies, clean churches and clean church surroundings, good music, good homilies – and has programs for the poor and the formation of people.’
‘Being conscious that we are all stewards, everybody will feel responsible for each other and use their resources to support one another and not just for their own selfish and individualistic consumption. They will give more of their time to pray and to serve their neighbors. They will be more open to use their talents for the community. They will give regular support to their community so that it can do its work of reaching out to those who are in need. So stewardship will build up and sustain the Church of the Poor. With more people involved and with more contributions in terms of talent and treasure, more services can be programmed to reach out to the poor and those in the peripheries.’
The attendees concluded that:
‣ Stewardship is the key to the renewal of persons, communities, churches and the natural world;
‣ Stewardship is inextricably linked to evangelization and making disciples;
‣ Stewardship deepens in dialogue with peoples of other cultures and with the poor;
‣ Stewardship is more than about money but an incontrovertible part of it is sharing – out of love and justice – our material blessings with others;
‣ Stewardship is Discipleship.
They encouraged all Catholics to: be good stewards; teach stewardship to all who will listen; affirm aloud all observed instances of good stewardship conduct; denounce evil and sin, especially when committed by power; and actively participate in their local communities and churches as advocates of the common good.
In their official declaration, the delegates of the First Asian Pacific Stewardship Conference solemnly declared:
Let us build a Catholic Church that is imbued with the spirituality of stewardship. Let us build a Church that makes disciples who dare go to the margins of society to proclaim the Good News. Let us build a Church that lifts the poor from poverty and is marked by preferential love for the least and the lost. Let us participate in the breaking in of the Lord’s Kingdom by sharing our blessings with one another, one gift at a time!
