Approximately 65 members of St. Irenaeus Parish in Cypress responded to the invitation offered by the Stewardship Council of St. Irenaeus and attended their “Focus on Leadership” Stewardship Retreat on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a Continental Breakfast and Mexican lunch provided for participants. Leaders of various ministries in the church were invited to come and learn how to improve “Hospitality, Volunteer Management, Sacrificial Giving and Stewardship at St. Irenaeus” from three speakers.
After a welcome by Fr. Patrick Moses, Pastor of St. Irenaeus Church, and opening prayers, Karen Nerrie, Director of the Stewardship Council at St. Irenaeus, there was an introduction of the first speaker, Stacey Settlemayer. Settlemayer is a convert to Catholicism, who currently serves as the Coordinator of Parish Stewardship and Liturgy at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Aliso Viejo. Settlemayer spoke about “The Art of Hospitality.” Her past experiences working at Disneyland formed her belief that, just as hospitality is the cornerstone of Disney’s Magic Kingdom, hospitality should be the cornerstone of each of us as we spread the good news of God’s Kingdom.
Settlemayer said that “Be Our Guest” is the mantra at Disney, and the church’s mantra could be the same, or perhaps, “Welcome Home” and “What Can We Do for You?” She said that each person in the churches should be treated as an honored guest. At Disneyland, employees known as “cast members” are told to create “Magic Moments” to make people happy. Settlemayer challenged everyone to make it each person’s mission at St. Irenaeus to create “magic moments” with someone each day. She had many other suggestions to create an atmosphere of welcome and acceptance that invites all parishioners to fully participate in the life of the parish. She said that we should remember that “People will forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
The second speaker of the day was Robin Margraf, who currently is a Pastoral Associate at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in San Clemente. She works with Stewardship Development and Social Justice Ministry as a member of the Parish Staff. Magraf spoke on the topic of “Volunteer Management and Ministry Design.”
Margraf quoted from Charles E. Zech’s “Practices in Parish Stewardship,” that a Stewardship Parish’s focus and goal is “to bring people into a closer relationship with God through the experiences of giving, time, talent and treasure” that they create, and their giving becomes a “spiritual practice” and “celebration of a growth in faith.” In Stewardship Parishes, parishioners give not because they have to or want to give to needs, but because they “need to give” and receive “Grace Moments” as a result.
Regarding the use of volunteers in the church, Margraf said that each church has “the obligation to discern and affirm the gifts of each of its members and to match those gifts with a meaningful form of ministry even if it means creating new ministries.” She said that it is the church’s responsibility to “DEVELOP people, not USE them.” Those responsible for working with volunteers should talk to people, find out what their gifts or passions are, and ask them what they would like to do. Roles for people can then be designed to fit the needs of the community.
Margraf said that ministry roles should be assessed periodically and re-designed as needed to enrich, expand or simplify the work of the ministry. She said that those in charge should take care of the people involved and also define the work to be done and provide training, education and support. Understanding that people volunteer with different motivations, abilities and time commitments helps those in leadership roles to accept volunteers as they are, and design different roles for different people.
The third speaker was Karen Nerrie on the topic of “Sacrificial Giving at St. Irenaeus.” Nerrie is in her second year as Director of the Stewardship Council at St. Irenaeus. She has been a parishioner of St. Irenaeus since 1976 with over 35 years of experience in various ministries. She also has a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Theology from Loyola Marymount University.
According to Nerrie, Sacrificial Giving is “a Spiritual Discipline that yields Spiritual Growth and Personal Transformation.” The starting point of Sacrificial Giving is the basic principle of Christian Stewardship that “everything we have is a gift from God.” In gratitude for God’s generosity, we dedicate a portion of our gifts of time, talent and treasure to further God’s Kingdom. The five elements of Sacrificial Giving are that it is something that is 1) Planned, 2) Proportionate (the Biblical 10% tithe), 3) Sacrificial (from our substance, not our abundance), 4) a Prayer of Thanksgiving, and 5) a Gift given freely. Sacrificial Giving is placing God First in all things. Nerrie also suggested spending five hours each week in private prayer or spiritual reading as part of Sacrificial Giving of Time to God.
There were group discussions at each table after each of the speakers and a reporting back from each of the groups regarding how they could apply what they learned to their different ministries. Fr. Patrick said that it is difficult, but he has decided to tithe 10% of his small income as an example for parishioners for Sacrificial Giving. Nerrie said that people could start at a lower percentage and increase the amount when possible. Included in the percentage would be donations of time, talent and treasure given to other charities and community activities.
Nerrie introduced the 12 members of the Stewardship Council who were appointed to serve for a term of three years by Fr. Patrick a year ago. She said that the council meets monthly and is responsible for communicating the Stewardship message, “that a grateful disciple develops God’s gifts to their full potential, shares them generously with others, and lovingly uses them to serve God and others.” Stewardship Council members include Jennifer Dagarag, Kerwin Dagarag, Carol Koppenheffer, Donna Kriesel, Emilie Kua, Josie Ninofranco, Grace Nsor, Francisca Owoaje, Lori Pilatos, Ken Peterson, James Zagorski, and Karyn Zagorski.
The day ended with a closing prayer and singing of the “Servant Song” followed by a blessing by Fr. Patrick to “Go forth in love and service to God and to one another!”
Many people commented that they enjoyed the opportunity to enjoy fellowship with parishioners while getting ideas of how to improve their ministries at St. Irenaeus as disciples of Christ and stewards of God’s Kingdom.
For more information about the Stewardship Council at St. Irenaeus, contact Director of Stewardship Karen Nerrie at the parish office at 714-826-0760.
