Catholic schools raise funds and learn stewardship

Intermountain Catholic

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Student representatives present the DDD with a collective contribution.IC photo by Chris Young

SALT LAKE CITY — The Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Salt Lake City collectively raised $12,293.90 during Catholic Schools Week for the Diocesan Development Drive (DDD) while learning the valuable lesson of stewardship. The stewardship program was the Catholic schools’ way of helping the DDD celebrate 40 years of supporting more than 20 diocesan ministries.

Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, diocesan administrator of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, thanked the students for their enthusiasm and support in raising funds for the DDD.

Each school chose one or more of the diocese’s ministries to focus on, learn about, and raise funds for in creative ways. The ministries the schools focused on were vocations and seminarian training, diaconate formation, rural mission outreach, prison and detention ministry, community peace and justice, hospital ministry, and the youth and young adult ministry.

Austin Kafentzis from St. John the Baptist Elementary School, Draper, said they raised money for rural mission outreach by bringing pennies for Panguitch, nickels for Nephi, dimes for Delta, and bucks for Beryl. Andy Moyle said St. John the Baptist Middle School raised money for the prison and detention ministry by holding a one-day general collection.

Eric Humphrey from St. Vincent de Paul School, Salt Lake City, said his school held five different fund raisers. The students donated 50 cents and were able to wear jeans for Jesus and a shirt with a collar collecting coins for collars. Students sold pencils during lunch and after school and raised $50 for a dancing bulldog to come to their school and sing "Who Let the Dogs Out."

Mikelle Mancini said J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School, Salt Lake City, raised money for the hospital ministry by holding bake sales. Nick Marron said St. Vincent students also raised money by having a Friday free dress day in which each student brought in at least $1 for the DDD.

Ian Briggs said Blessed Sacrament School in Sandy held a one-day tin cup collection. Melissa Ingraham said the school also had a prayer service and the students provided offertory envelopes.

Student Body President Lexie Allen from St. Francis Xavier Regional School, Kearns, said her school raised money for rural missions and prison outreach by designing offertory envelopes which were turned in during a school Mass. Each student was asked to give at least $1.

Christian Cecena said during Catholic Schools Week Our Lady of Lourdes School, Salt Lake City held a fund raiser for Principal for the Day, Teacher for the Day, and Secretary for the Day. She said it was fun to be able to wear the bracelet with Bishop George Niederauer’s motto from his Coat of Arms.

"As an incentive, students received a bracelet with Bishop Niederauer’s Coat of Arms motto ‘To Serve and to Give,’" said Shannon Lee, DDD director. "They were encouraged to wear them during the fund raising week, and as often as they wish the remainder of the year. Bishop Niederauer’s motto is a perfect example of what stewardship is about. Stewardship is a long-term commitment and we need to teach children about serving and giving early in their lives.

"The DDD is about raising funds for the bishop’s ministries throughout Utah, and it is based on volunteer help throughout the diocese," said Lee. "But it is not just raising funds, it is also about time and talent from our generous Catholic community."

According to the Curriculum Guide given to each Catholic school, the adult stewardship process and the stewardship process for young people must reinforce one another. Young people cannot learn the stewardship message at home if they do not find it reinforced in the classroom. Similarly, students cannot learn the stewardship message at school if their parents only view stewardship as another fund-raising gimmick.

Stewardship education according to the Curriculum Guide is important for young people because it gives them a message that runs counter-cultural to the self-absorption of a materialistic, individualistic society. It teaches that stewardship is not an activity, but an attitude that can lead to personal fulfillment, happiness, and salvation.

The stewardship ethic starts from a totally different point of view. Stewardship creates a society of "go-givers." Through stewardship, students learn they have what they have because of the grace of God. Even those who do not have much or are physically and mentally impaired by this world’s standards are God’s gifts to us because they remind us of our need to be attentive to others, and aware of what is valuable in the eyes of God.