Stewardship: Requires a leap of faith

		Stewardship  Corner  Jay Conzemius

I have been very fortunate in my life. I've been blessed with a good education and great life experiences.

Some of my fondest experiences were from my time at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. While at St. John's, I played on the football team and had the privilege of playing for John Gagliardi.

Leap of faith

This year John is entering his 50th year of college coaching and he is second on the all-time winningest college coach list, and with two or three more seasons he will most likely move to the top spot. John's knack for winning is fantastic, but his method for winning is more impressive.

For most of the last 50 years John has always coached with no play books, whistles, or hitting in practice. There is also no mandatory running or weightlifting. As John puts it, I don't care how fast or how strong a player is, I just care about how well he plays football.

John has subscribed to a philosophy that puts his players first and relies on each player to be ready for the next week's opponents. Each player is responsible to know his assignment and to execute it.

Many say John has taken a "leap of faith" to run his football program this way. But after 50 years of success, can it really be considered a leap of faith?

Quality of life

Christian stewardship requires a similar leap of faith by each Christian that also works phenomenally well. The leap of faith is made in the way we are going to live out our Christian beliefs.

Have you ever paused to ask why so many people who are living in the most prosperous nation of the world are turning out in record numbers to be treated for depression and anxiety? Why do so many feel so empty?

Most Christians understand that God is the owner of all things, but how that affects a Christian's everyday life varies. The more we understand stewardship, the more we realize our spirituality is not practiced merely at Mass, while sitting in a pastoral council meeting, or while writing a check for the offertory collection.

Stewardship encompasses all of our life. The results of stewardship lived is found in the quality of life of the people who live out stewardship. I think John would sum up the quality of a Christian steward's life like this - the bottom line is: Christian stewards are happy.

Jay Conzemius is director of stewardship and development for the Diocese of Madison. For further information contact him at 608-821-3040.

Despite challenges of old age:
Let your light shine

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

A story making the rounds on the Internet tells of a group of senior citizens gathered at a church breakfast.

"My arms have gotten so weak that I can hardly lift this cup of coffee," said one.

"Yes, I know," said another. "My cataracts are so bad that I can hardly see my coffee cup."

"I couldn't even punch out the chad at election time because my hands are so crippled with arthritis," volunteered a third.

"What? Speak up! I can't hear you!" said the fourth.

"I can't turn my head because of the arthritis in my neck," said a fifth, to which several nodded in agreement.

"My blood pressure pills make me so dizzy I can hardly walk!" exclaimed another.

"I forget where I am and where I'm going," said another.

"I guess that's the price we pay for getting old," winced an old man as he slowly shook his head. The others nodded in agreement.

"Well, count your blessings," said one woman cheerfully. "Thank God we can all still drive."

The punch line, of course, uses irony for its humor. What is apparent to the reader seems to escape the senior citizens. They should not be driving.

Parting with physical gifts

We all, as we age, are required to part with more and more of our physical gifts: eyesight, hearing, strength, flexibility, and stamina.

As early as our 40s and 50s we find the print getting smaller, people mumbling more, and by the 60s and 70s we find the simplest words escaping us. We know that we are walking storerooms of facts, but we seem to have lost the key to the storeroom.

So all along the way we make adjustments, more or less cheerfully. We adapt. We get glasses, then bifocals, then hearing aids, and maybe even canes.

We undergo surgery for cataracts, knee and hip replacements, and we take care to watch our weight with diet and exercise. Even so we bulge in all the wrong places because, doggone it! We are shrinking. We submit ourselves to the indignities of dentures, bladder repairs, and colonoscopys.

And through it all we try to remain philosophical. "Well, growing old is not for sissies," we laugh.

Growing old gracefully

Finally we are expected to give up things: we give up the job and the fellowship of our workforce, our beloved siblings die, our best friends develop cancer and we watch them fade before our eyes. Our bridge partner goes to a nursing home. We must give up the sport we enjoyed for so many years. We give up walking and so we must also give up rich desserts. Okay.

But give up driving? Now, that is asking too much, isn't it? With our driver's license goes our passport to independence. No more driving to church and grocery stores and doctor's appointments, much less to social gatherings. It's un-American. It's inhuman! We feel downright angry, and rightly so . . . at first. Until we think how we would feel if we killed a child, or an entire family.

We don't give up things easily. I recently went to another doctor for a second opinion. I wouldn't accept the harsh reality that my painful foot was not broken, but was full of arthritis. I wanted something that could be fixed! Only when a second doctor and a clear x-ray proved it, could I accept the fact that I must give up my aerobics class.

Growing old gracefully gets harder and harder. We are constantly grieving one loss or another, going through the stages of shock, denial, anger, and finally acceptance.

We need to continually work on finding humor in all things. We need to ask God daily for the courage to change the things we can change, the humility to accept what we must, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Positive attitude helps

Developing positive attitudes can truly pull us out of the doldrums. Try this one when you see those many pumpkins in the next few weeks:

A woman was asked by a co-worker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"

The co-worker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from a big patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

So be a pumpkin for God and let your light shine!

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.

Praying, planning for vocations

By Msgr. Daniel T. Ganshert
FOR THE CATHOLIC HERALD

Praying for more vocations to the ordained ministry and religious life has been ongoing in our diocese.

Our priests have been invited to come together with Bishop William H. Bullock each month at the Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center to pray for vocations. The emphasis is also clear from Sacred Scripture when Jesus tells his disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest" (Lk 10: 2).

Abundant prayer on our part for vocations makes us laborers in the Lord's harvest. Saying prayers of petition, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of praise, prayers of all kinds to the Lord of the harvest is how we grow in the grace of fostering vocations.

Prayers of petition remind us that it is good to ask God for what we need. He is the giver of all that is good. Generally, we excel at praying from our needs. Needs are what drive us, in many ways, as human beings.

Prayers of thanksgiving open us to the great reality of God's generous love and how in our desire to thank Him, we please Him. Prayers of praise lead us to recognize that all we are and all we have comes from God who made us, to whom we belong and to whom we are destined to return.

Prayers like these and others will keep us focused on our work for the harvest. In other words, when you and I express our needs, our thanks and praise to God in prayer, we allow Him to work through us for His people. Our prayer opens us to doing the work of the Lord.

Part of our work is to become His instrument in the lives of people around us. Some of the people around us are being called to a vocation in the church. We can be instrumental in their calling. Abundant prayer on our part can bring laborers for the harvest to do their part.

Prayer makes it possible for God to change our hearts so that we see and love Him in others.

Sometimes, this is all we need to say to those who may be open to a vocational call in their lives. We can tell them we see their love for the Lord and that we will pray that their harvest in life may be abundant as they consider his invitation to follow him.

Msgr. Daniel Ganshert is coordinator of the Diocese of Madison's Office of Vocations.

Baptism calls us to vocations

By Jacky Miller
FOR THE CATHOLIC HERALD

As I write this article, I must reflect on why I felt called to say, "yes" when I was asked to share some of my time with the office of vocations.

It wasn't because I felt extremely qualified or I didn't have enough to do. I am still wondering and learning what I have to offer besides my faith and love for the church and respect for vocations of priesthood and religious life. I do know that I hope to bring positive light to the vocation ministry.

Meaning of Baptism

There are so many aspects of vocation ministry that are important. But I would like this article to focus on one aspect of vocation ministry that I think could use special attention - the Sacrament of Baptism. If we could teach with more emphasis on Baptism, maybe our people could better understand the meaning of this sacrament and its calling to each of us.

In working with Baptismal preparation in my own parish, I realize the limited understanding many parents have of what Baptism means to the church. They seem to understand Baptism in a more personal way rather than recognize the communal importance of the sacrament.

Calls us to ministries

Baptism is a welcoming into the church community. I believe it is this community that calls each of us to our various ministries through Christ, including priesthood and religious life. If we could help others understand that everyone has been given gifts to help bring forth the Kingdom of God, and we are all needed for its fulfillment, I think people may begin to look at vocations in a less sacrificial way.

I hear a lot of parents hesitate to support vocations for their sons/daughters because they will have so much work and sacrifice in their lives. I believe this is an idea that our society imposes upon us.

Using your gifts

I have a wonderful and wise husband who helped me to understand this a few years ago. I was doing a lot of retreat work at the time and was often gone overnight and during the weekends. I remember returning from one retreat only to leave the following day to participate in another.

I remember telling my husband how guilty I felt for being away from him and our family. He said to me, "Don't feel the least bit guilty. I don't have the gifts to do what you do. I am proud that you use the gifts you have been given and it makes me feel in some small way that I am giving of myself in supporting the work you do."

There is so much truth in this statement. I do feel that my work reflects his spirit because of how his different viewpoints help me to have a more balanced and broader perspective on life.

Encouraging children

In our culture, we primarily baptize infants. Therefore, it is the parents' decision to raise their child in the church community. Parents should be honored that their rearing is part of the reason their child decides to enter a vocation.

Let's try to help parents remember their own Baptism and understand the fulfillment that could be brought to their lives if their son/daughter felt called to become a priest or religious.

Jacky Miller, who is assisting Msgr. Daniel Ganshert, coordinator of vocations, is also director of religious education and pastoral ministry at Holy Rosary Parish in Darlington.