Family Stewardship Guidelines & Requirements
Stewardship is an attitude of responsive and responsible gratitude. It is a commitment to participate in a Christ-centered lifestyle through the sacrificial offerings of time, talent, and treasure. St. Mary Cathedral holds this as a fundamental component in the life of Catholic families. By embracing stewardship, we are able to imitate the love and generosity of our Lord and share His love with those around us. As parents, it is our calling to be role models of active stewardship in our school and parish. When we are generous with our time and talents, we are teaching our children what it means to be a good steward. By engendering a lifestyle of giving and sacrifice, we ensure that our parish and school family will continue to thrive.
What does Family Stewardship mean for you? This program has been developed as a means for recognizing and encouraging the God-given gifts and talents with which each of our families has been blessed. This program is meant to encourage parental involvement in activities at both the parish and school. The following is offered as a minimum requirement for family stewardship. There are many families who go above and beyond what is being asked, and their level of giving and sacrifice is to be commended and imitated wherever possible.
Apart from the sense of pride you have for your school and knowing that all that you give helps to make our school all that it is, your stewardship has many rewards. Through your participation, you provide your children a living example of stewardship, you become more aware of school-wide activities, a true sense of community is built among parents; stewardship helps keep the cost of tuition low and provides a place to use your gifts and talents that God has given to you.
As part of your commitment to the school, families are required to provide a MINIMUM of 30 hours of time annually in direct support of St. Mary Cathedral Parish and/or School. This equates to approximately one hour per week for the school year. Each family will track their hours (on the honor system) and can turn them in to the school office at any time throughout the school year. Feel free to use the tracking form provided on reverse.
HERE ARE JUST A FEW EXAMPLES OF HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:
St. Mary Cathedral School
- Selling the required 8 Cash Raffle Tickets (Snowbird Gala), equivalent to 10 hours of stewardship
- Recess Duty
- Sports Events
- Snowbird Gala Event
- Field Trip Transportation
- Catholic Schools Week
- Campbell Soup Labels, Box Tops for Education
- Family Fare Spartan Receipts
- School Advisory Committee
- School Publicity
- Maintenance – cleaning, grounds keeping, maintenance
- Recycling Program
- Fish Fry
- Cathedral Players
- Bingo
St. Mary Cathedral
- Liturgical Ministries for parish & school: Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors, Sacristans, Ushers, Music Ministers, Altar Servers
- Social Justice & Outreach Ministries: Angel Tree, Bereavement, Circle of Life, CROP Walk, Fair Trade Coffee & Chocolates, Care for Retired Religious, The Refuge, Homebound Ministry, Prayer Shawl Ministry
- Faith Ministries: Assist with Family Faith Formation, Children’s Liturgy, PCCW, leadership of any Faith Ministry within our parish
- Parish Councils & Committees
Go to www.stmarycathedral.org and click on the Stewardship tab for additional information
CONTACT the SCHOOL or PARISH OFFICE for information as to how you can get involved in any of the above areas.
WeShare: St. Mary Cathedral School is a ministry of St. Mary Cathedral Parish. St. Mary Cathedral Parish contributes between $1,700-3,500 per student depending on family size and parishioner status. In order to obtain the Parishioner Tuition Rate, families must be registered parishioners who attend Mass regularly and contribute at least $750 to the Sunday Offertory per calendar year. Contributions must be received by December 31st to be eligible for the following school year. WeShare is an easy and secure online tool to assist St. Mary Cathedral families in meeting their annual stewardship criteria. Go to www.stmarycathedral.org/online-giving