Archive for category: Stewardship

In the middle of November, I took five young men to a live-in weekend at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minnesota. Our young discerners were able to enter into seminary life and spend time with our seminarians, as well as with those from other dioceses. They were able to get a first-hand experience of seminary life by participating in the life of prayer, study and formation; plus they were able to enjoy several games of Ultimate Frisbee and attend several college classes while they were there. It was a great weekend!

Winona is about 620 miles straight east of Rapid City on Interstate 90. It can be a long and boring drive. As a way to prepare them for the road trip, I drew their attention to this year’s theme for the Office of Vocations, “I Call You Friends” from John 15:15.

Jesus made it abundantly clear to the Apostles that they were to be his friends. Jesus showed his chosen friends that he was willing to lay down his life for them by sharing with them the life he had with the Father. The Apostles were privy to the thoughts and actions of Jesus, making them his true friends.

Because of our theme of friendship, I asked the five men to limit their use of cell phones, video games and watching movies on the long ride to the seminary. I encouraged them to use this time of grace and discernment to interact and get to know one another and the other students at the seminary.

Franciscan Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the pontifical household preacher, says that the essence of friendship is founded on a common search for the good and the true. Our drive there and back was really grounded in this common search for the good news in our lives.

We all shared with one another something about ourselves, the desires of our hearts, the things we wanted the Lord to do for us on this weekend and what the Lord wanted to do for us. The Lord does amazing things when we are able to be even the least vulnerable with him and one another, especially as men.

One of my favorite parts of the trip home was the praise and worship music to which we listened. The young men spent a lot of time creating their own beat box versions of the songs. Listening to the different rhythms and sounds they were coming up with made the hours and the miles go by quickly.

I was thankful that I encouraged them to limit their use of social media on the trip. It would have been easy for them to put their earbuds in and to get lost in their own worlds, forgetting about the person sitting next to them, who has much to offer them in friendship, and who can assist them in finding the good and the true.

By asking them to limit their time on their cell phones, I actually freed them up to enjoy each other, with time for turning out toward one another rather than the turning in on themselves.

Henry Wadsworth Long-fellow said, “Time is the life of the soul.” In the prayer after Communion on Thanksgiving Day we hear, “Help us, we pray, to reach out in love to all your people, so that we may share with them the good things of time and eternity.”

Time becomes a true gift and a blessing, especially when we use it to build our relationship with Christ, the Church and one another. The Psalmist reminds us, “So you teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (90:12). The gift of wisdom, which we receive at Confirmation, strengthens our faith, deepens our hope, and helps us focus our life on Christ — to keep Jesus at the center of our lives. This, in turn, affects the way we relate to one another and the world.

Since this trip, I have been reflecting on the way we use our time. The time we spend in prayer, time with our family and friends, time at work, and time at play. Do we make the connection to use the time we are given to prepare for eternal life or do we waste our time, using it for our own selfish desires, without even thinking about life eternal?

Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, a pastoral letter of the U.S. bishops on stewardship, states: “A true understanding of stewardship begins with taking care of and sharing the gift of time. Stewardship of time involves the realization that none of us ‘owns’ time. Each of us is given only so much of it, and planning a careful schedule in order to have the time to work, to rest, to play, and to pray is vital in the stewardship of our physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual lives. How we spend our time is perhaps the clearest indication of our progress in the life of Christian discipleship.”

In this season of Advent and as we anticipate the Christmas season, with plenty of opportunities to be connected with family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and parish communities, look for opportunities to search out the good and true in one another. Make it a priority to become friends with one another in the Lord.

Be attentive to each other. Learn to put the cell phone down and to limit your consumption of media so you can focus on the things that matter the most — time and friendship in the Lord.

There are a lot of great things happening in our diocese. I see many ways that we are moving from having simply a culture of maintenance to developing a culture of mission in our parishes. The more we embrace our diocesan priority plan together, the more we will see the abundant fruit of living as missionary disciples.

To lay it before us again, our Sacred Mission as a diocese is: “We, the Diocese of Rapid City, through the power of the Holy Spirit, are called to attract and form intentional disciples who joyfully, boldly and lovingly proclaim and live the mission of Jesus Christ leading to eternal life.” We are called to keep before us our vision statement as well: “Reconcile — Make Disciples — Live the Mission.”

As I reflect on our mission and vision statements for the diocese, I cannot help but think about Nicholas William Black Elk Sr., who was a Lakota catechist in our diocese. I was excited to read in last month’s West River Catholic that Bishop Robert Gruss will be offering a Mass as he opens the cause for sainthood of Nicholas Black Elk, on at Saturday, Oct. 21, 4 p.m., in Holy Rosary Church, Pine Ridge, on the campus of the Red Cloud Indian School.

This Mass is for everyone in our diocese and not just for the Native American community. As the cause for Black Elk’s sainthood is being formally opened, I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 12:26, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.”

This is great news for all the people of our diocese. We should be inspired by the story of Nicolas Black Elk who, after converting to Catholicism, spent his time building up the local church. As I read the story of Black Elk, I see our diocesan mission statement and vision statement come to life. I also see Black Elk as a faithful steward who lived stewardship as a way of life.

They say Black Elk watched and studied the Christian faith which grew out of his curiosity for Christianity. The life of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, who was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict the XIV, on Oct. 21, 2012, was a particular inspiration to him. In 1885, he signed the petition supporting her cause for canonization.

In 1904, he met a Jesuit priest who invited him to study Christianity at Holy Rosary Mission near Pine Ridge. I see in this the first lens of our stewardship initiative — generous hospitality: invitation, welcome and fellowship. There is nothing like a personal invitation. This personal invitation by this priest opened the door for Nicholas Black Elk to begin to understand the way of Christ, and on the Feast of St. Nicholas, Dec. 6, 1904, he was baptized.

In 1907, he was appointed as a catechist because of his love for Christ, his enthusiasm and an excellent memory for learning Scripture and Catholic teachings. Deacon Marlon Leneaugh describes Nicholas Black Elk as one might describe St. Paul: “He traveled widely to various reservations; preaching, sharing stories and teaching the Catholic faith with his ‘Two Roads Model’ of the catechism (the black road and the red road — the black road representing evil and the red road representing good).”

Black Elk’s two roads reminds me of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s teaching in the Spiritual Exercises on the meditation of the two standards (flags). As disciples, we are called to choose where we are going to stand — with Jesus or with the world. No matter what life the Spirit has drawn us to, once we are baptized and confirmed, we are called to stand in Jesus’ company under his flag, under his standard.

Deacon Marlon continues: “Black Elk’s mission was to build the faith among his people and to strengthen the relationships between native and non-native people. He did this by promoting his culture as he worked in the Black Hills and by promoting the message of Jesus Christ as love, peace and harmony that was revealed to him at an early age in the vision.”

His mission reminds me of our mission: to Reconcile — Make Disciples — Live the Mission. Today we continue his legacy when we call forth the power of the Holy Spirit to bring a new Pentecost among us as God’s people, native and non-native, working together as the Body of Christ.

Nicholas Black Elk also came to mind as I read the book “Return: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church” by Brandon Vogt. In chapter six, Vogt talks about the importance of learning to equip ourselves in the faith. That was very much part of Black Elk’s conversion as he watched and studied the Catholic faith.

This, too, is at the heart of our stewardship initiative (lively faith: prayer, study and formation). Vogt contends that it is important that we equip ourselves, learning our faith through the study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Bible, but we also need to know our testimony and be willing to give it.

Nicholas Black Elk equipped himself to know the Catholic faith and to live it in the context of being Lakota. He also inspired others to live Christ by his own story.

This opening of the cause for sainthood inspires us to continue to equip ourselves with a solid understanding of the teachings of our faith and in the giving of our testimony to what Christ is doing in our lives.

After Oct. 21 Nicholas Black Elk will be called Servant of God. His consistent faith as a catechist and his teaching in joyfully living the Catholic way of life has become a beacon for all of us in our diocese and for the church as a whole. May he model for us a way of walking on the road with Christ, leading us to reconciliation and peace among all God’s people.

Young Black Elk photo from Marquette University Archives

I wanted to share some good news with you! After many months of work, the Office of Stewardship has finalized “The Characteristics of a Stewardship Parish,” which is called for in our diocesan priority plan, Through Him, With Him and In Him: A Spiritual Guide to the Diocesan Priority Plan.

If you have not taken the time to read and pray over our diocesan priority plan, I encourage you to do so because it lays out the mission and the vision for our diocese for the next three to five years. Just think if all of us took the time to read and pray over our diocesan priority plan and worked with our pastors, finance councils, parish councils, stewardship committees and vocation committees — to name a few — what an impact it would have in the way we live our Catholic way of life. We would truly “attract and form intentional disciples who joyfully, boldly and lovingly proclaim and live the mission of Jesus Christ leading us to eternal life.”

“The Characteristics of a Stewardship Parish” was sent to every pastor in our diocese. This document outlines the characteristics that an ideal parish, one that is committed to living Stewardship as a way of life, would have. It is the first step in meeting one of the goals outlined in the diocesan pastoral plan — to increase by five to ten the number of parishes who have met the criteria to be recognized as stewardship parishes.

This document strives to paint a picture of the ideal parish, a vision of what a parish could be. As Tom Corcoran shared recently at Pastoral Ministry Days, a vision is often seen as unrealistic and hardly attainable, but one worth pursuing as it can impel us to live more fully the life to which Christ is calling us.

All parishes in our diocese will find outlined in this document characteristics they are already doing well; they will also find many that challenge them. It is our hope that parishes will look at these characteristics as providing helpful assistance in long-term planning.

When Bishop Robert Gruss approved this document, he said something I have heard him say many times. Namely, it is his greatest desire that our people fall deeply in love with our Lord. He is hopeful that this document is seen as a means to that end. If it serves to help parishes more effectively bring people into a deep encounter with Jesus, then it will prove its usefulness, whether or not in the end we have five or 50 “Stewardship Parishes.”

In my letter to pastors, I suggested the document be used in this way:

1) Meet with the leaders in your parish and ask them to read it, pray over it and then begin by using these characteristics to form an honest and realistic picture of your parish. This becomes the baseline for where your parish is today. Basically, what are the parish’s strengths and weaknesses?

2) Know that these characteristics build upon one another and that if there are weaknesses in the foundational structures, these should be addressed first. In the areas of Hospitality, Lively Faith and Dedicated Discipleship, simple and complex criteria are expressed.

3) Use the strengths and weaknesses identified by parish leaders as a baseline for setting some realistic goals for growth and development, remembering that stewardship is a way of life, not a program; it is always an ongoing process of growth.

Some questions to think about:

How do these goals align with our mission statement?

What are going to be the markers we can point to in meeting these goals?

What does success look like in particulars?

Commit to an annual assessment of these goals. Choose to pursue formal designation as a stewardship parish through the Office of Stewardship.

The Office of Stewardship is here to serve the diocese and we are happy to assist in this process in any way we can. I will be working to develop a way to assess parishes and a system for designating parishes as stewardship parishes. A tiered system best encourages us to keep working toward achieving this lofty vision as well as conveys the reality of stewardship as a way of life.

The first step in achieving the designation of stewardship parish will be to be designated as a foundational parish, indicating that your parish has in place all of the foundational structures necessary to begin fostering stewardship in your parish. After this, there will be three additional benchmarks, each more challenging than the previous one, requiring a greater number of criteria be met. Parishes meeting these benchmarks will be designated as hospitable parishes, lively parishes and then, finally, stewardship parishes.

If you would like to see this document, please ask your pastor for a copy or download one on our webpage at www.rapidcitydiocese.org/stewardship.

I also want to point out the dates for this year’s Stewardship Summit: Friday and Saturday, Sept. 29 and 30 at Terra Sancta. Our keynote speakers for this year’s conference will be Tony Brandt and Chris Stewart from Casting Nets Ministries: http://castingnetsministries.com.

This year we are providing childcare and stewardship tracks for children at the Summit. If we want stewardship to really become a Catholic Way of Life, then we need to help our families to embrace stewardship. Thus, I encourage you to bring your children to the Summit.

Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, a pastoral letter on stewardship from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, highlights that stewardship “above all requires that parents themselves be models of stewardship, especially by their selfless service to one another, to their children and to the church and community needs.” I look forward to seeing your whole family there.

For more information about the Summit or our other stewardship initiatives, please contact me at (605) 716-5214 x235 or mmccormick@diorc.org.

As I was preparing for a men’s retreat at Holy Cross in Timber Lake, I came across this phrase: “No Bible, no breakfast; no Bible, no bed” by Fr. Larry Richards. He has breathed and lived this saying for over 25 years.

He tells this story of making his priest retreat before his ordination and Msgr. Peterson (then Father

Peterson) asked him to sit before the Blessed Sacrament. He told him, “Just go before the Blessed Sacrament, ask God to reveal his word to you. Open the word of God and whatever comes is God’s word to you.”

Since this time, Father Richards has made this practice a part of his life. Every morning he opens the Bible and reads, and when a word, phrase or verse tugs at his heart, he stops and prays with it. He writes it down, puts it in his pocket and throughout the day he pulls it out and re-reads it. Pondering and reflecting in his heart and connecting the word of God to his life.

This pondering and reflecting upon God’s word in one’s heart, we learn from our Blessed Mother Mary, who models for us so beautifully and powerfully the need and the desire of meditating and contemplating on what God is doing in her life. Bringing forth the Incarnate word of God, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of the world: “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19).

Father Richards encourages others to pray this way. He suggests that before one picks up their Bible, they should pray a fervent prayer to the Holy Spirit asking the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s word to them. Then open the Bible randomly, letting your finger point to a passage. Then simply read the Scriptures until the word of God tugs at your heart.

When something grabs you, stop and pray with God’s word. Realize that you might read a few verses, or perhaps even several chapters, before the Lord tugs at your heart. The key is to read until the Lord tugs at your heart with a word, words or phrase from Scripture.

Since the men’s retreat, I have been using this prayer method outlined by Father Richards when I wake up in the morning and before I go to bed, remembering — “No Bible, no breakfast; no Bible, no bed.” Sometimes a word tugs at my heart right away and sometimes I read three or four chapters before the Lord really tugs at my heart revealing his words of mercy, love, forgiveness and truth to me.

It has been a lot of fun reading and praying the Scriptures this way. It is amazing that I find myself in parts of the Bible I’ve never read before, usually coming away with one of those “wow moments” of encountering the living God.

In March, I taught this method of “No Bible, no breakfast; no Bible no bed” to students participating in the Veritatis Splendor Institute (VSI), sponsored by the Office of Faith Formation in the diocese.

Shortly after that, Angela Weber the music teacher, at St. Thomas More High School, was diagnosed with cancer. The morning after receiving her cancer diagnosis, she was restless, troubled, and filled with anxiety. Angela thought of that simple phrase of “No Bible, no breakfast; no Bible no bed.” So Angela opened her Bible and asked the Holy Spirit to show her what the Lord wanted to say to her. Her Bible fell open to 1 Corinthians 10:13: “God is faithful and he will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide you a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.”

Since then, Angela has shared with me several times the words that the Lord is revealing to her as she journeys through her battle with cancer. Reading God’s word before breakfast and before bed has truly been her daily bread. One of my favorites — one that made me laugh — was when Angela lost her hair.

The word that Angela received was from Luke 12:6-7: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

The very next day Angela wrote to me: “Sorry to bother you again so soon. Okay. You’re not going to believe this; this morning my Bible fell open to Matthew 10:30, ‘But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.’ I am so spoiled by God!’”

I love the way Angela talks about this practice. She says, “The word is alive,” and then continues:

“The experience of Scripture as the word actually and truly alive has come to me in a strong way through the practice of asking the Holy Spirit in the morning and in the evening what the Lord has to say to me today, and then letting the Bible fall open where it may.

“As I read I am taken in immediately by whatever is going on in the Scriptures at that point in the Bible, and I read until there are words that strike me to the heart telling me this is what the Lord wants to say to me today. Sometimes, as Father Mark says, it comes right away, and sometimes I have to read for a bit before my heart hears the word the Lord wants to say to me.

“It is so striking how easy it is to sit and read in anticipation of what the Lord will say actively to me for the day! In this way the word is ‘alive’ for me in a new and exciting way.

“Just recently, I received the word from Jeremiah 29:11-14: ‘For I know well the plans I have in mind for you — plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a

future of hope. When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you.  When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, and I will change your lot…’”

“Since then, that Scripture has come to me three-fold in cards and notes of encouragement. The Lord really, really wants me to know this!

“In my sickness these days, I feel like I barely give enough to make a difference in the classes I teach, the concerts for which we are preparing, etc. Just yesterday, I was reminded of this from Luke 21:3-4: ‘I tell you truly, the poor widow put in more than all the rest, for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.’”

“I have never gone as far as to give away my whole livelihood to the church, but I have given all I have that’s in me so that my students succeed. This spring it has felt like I am giving from a great poverty. God reassures me he is multiplying my poor offering.”

This month give “No Bible, no breakfast; no Bible no bed” a try.

Persistence pays. For the last two years our diocese has tried to organize a pilgrimage for the March for Life in Washington, D.C. However, we could never quite pull it together. Instead of giving up, we decided to team up with the Diocese of Sioux Falls and march together for life. It was great to see our dioceses collaborating, bringing our youth and young adults together to speak and act on behalf of the unborn and to call forth a culture of life.

As part of our stewardship initiative, we have been sending lay witness speakers to give their testimony about how they are living a Catholic way of life through generous hospitality, lively faith and dedicated discipleship. As part of this month’s column, I want to share the testimony of six high school students and two young adults from our diocese who were part of the March for Life pilgrimage, taking the words of St. John Paul II to heart:

“Young pilgrims, Christ needs you to enlighten the world and to show it the ‘path to life’ (Ps 16:11). Do not be afraid to go out onto streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. ‘This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel’ (Cfr. Rom 1:16) … Like the great Apostle Paul, you too must feel the full urgency of the task: ‘Woe to me if I do not evangelize’ (1 Cor 9:16).  Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life’ (World Youth Day, Denver, 1993).

Mary Kinyon, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rapid City
This was the first time I had ever been on the March for Life, and my experience was amazing. I did not know exactly what to expect, but I did know that I was going to be truly touched by my experiences, and this expectation did not disappoint.
I was overwhelmed by the number of people who attended the march. Everywhere I looked I saw hundreds of thousands of people just like me who wanted to make a difference. Everybody was filled with joy.

Isaac Rangel, Immaculate Conception, Rapid City 
The March for Life pilgrimage was by far one of my most memorable experiences. The night we arrived we went to a youth rally to get us fired up and ready for the march and it was great! There was good music, some speakers and Eucharistic adoration, which was my favorite part of the rally.
The following day was the march; it was amazing! Thousands of people attended, including some nuns and priests! After the march we were able to go see the monuments on the Washington Mall and to visit the Holocaust Museum.
This was my first pilgrimage and afterward I felt as if God wants me to continue going on these sort of trips; it has helped me to grow closer to him and it encouraged me to keep on fighting for life. Altogether, the pilgrimage was a life changing experience. I made many friends, received a lot of graces and I look forward to next year’s march!

Paige and Isaac Gehlson, Our Lady of the Black Hills, Piedmont
The March for Life was a pilgrimage filled to the brim with inspirational messages and experiences; my brother Isaac and I were lucky enough to witness them firsthand. The most powerful of these experiences was seeing that we are not alone in the pro-life movement, but rather, a part of a fast-growing generation of pro-life supporters. Alongside this realization was the massive gift of patience granted to us during the trip. Specifically in the following movements: a 36-hour bus trip, standing at the rally prior to the march (stood in the D.C. chill from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., when the march finished), and especially when nine of us were crammed into a minivan and were driven to a restaurant called “China Town,” which was half an hour away from the downtown China Town we were trying to reach.
The most important message taken from this event was that we are one body, one voice (“One Voice” was this year’s theme), whether there are thousands of us joined together in a street, or one of us standing up in a classroom.
We must use our one voice for the child who has none. We all have key roles in this movement, but if we fail to be participants in those roles, the change we so dearly desire will never occur and our voices and the children on whose behalf we raise them will be forgotten.
So we ask: join a march, promote life everywhere you go, reach out to not just our future children, but to guard their future.

Emma Raposa, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rapid City
Going to the March for Life was an amazing experience. It was so empowering to see hundreds of thousands of young people just like me marching to protect life. It was definitely not what I was expecting; it was better.
It was so peaceful. At times when we were marching, it was almost silent. That is because we were marching out of love. I hope to attend this event in the years to come, and I encourage you to do the same because it truly is life changing.

Liam Yantes, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rapid City
This year I was blessed with an opportunity to attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C. This was something I could have only dreamed about, but thanks to the hard work of my fellow students attending and all the support from family and friends, I was able to go.
One of the things that I was thankful for was the chance to meet so many people fighting for the just cause of ending abortion. We were also blessed to travel with the Diocese of Sioux Falls and make new friends. Thanks again to all that made this possible.

Jordan Miller, Blessed Sacrament, Rapid City
The March for Life was such a positive experience for me. Even though we began with some delays and bad weather, it was comforting to be able to get to Sioux Falls and join the other pilgrims as we boarded our bus and headed for D.C.
The bus ride, although crowded and long, was a time for us Rapid City kids to get to know those from Sioux Falls, play games, watch movies, and spend time in prayer and reflection as we prepared to go on the march.
During our times of prayer, I began to reflect on the question, “Why did I even want to come?” I answered, “I have always wanted to go, and this year I was able to get the chance,” and that answer seemed to be sufficient.
These questions left my thoughts until I returned to Rapid. I now think that my desire for the pilgrimage was just to “be there.” I wanted the experience, and to be able to witness to the pro-life movement. What a gift it was for me to be able to “be there” in those moments of the trip where God showed me just how universal the Catholic Church really is.
I was able to “be there” when I ran into two of my friends from college. I was able to “be there” when I got to spend some time talking to my friends from the University of Mary. I was able to “be there” when our group ran into Sr. Audree Blankartz, who is a good friend of mine from our diocese, and I was able to “be there,” in Washington, D.C., as an advocate for the unborn.
I later realized that I have to be aware and attentive to God’s grace at work so that, in opportunities like the March for Life, I am able to “be there” and not miss out on what God wants me to receive.

Bridget Decker, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rapid City
Having attended the March for Life in college, my desire for this pilgrimage was to share in the joy of my students. My hopes were realized as they experienced the larger church and the rallying support of thousands united in the cause to support life.
Particularly moving for me was visiting the National Holocaust Museum. Reflecting on the cruel death of so many during that historic event, I considered the roles of those who attempted to defend the defenseless and those who stood by silently. I then considered what I am doing during the genocide of our age to stand against evil and subsequently what future generations will remember about the people of my time — did we speak for truth and dignity or were we silent?
The witness by these youth and young adults on behalf of the unborn should fill us with pride in how well they represented the Catholic Church of western South Dakota. Their words and actions should serve as a reminder and an inspiration for each of us that we are to be fearless and intentional in being witnesses of the Gospel, whether it is among thousands of people on the Washington Mall, amid our coworkers in the office, or within our parishes.
As St. Paul reminds us, and St. John Paul II reiterates: This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel.