Queen of Peace

The livelihood of a parish is dependant on the engagement of its community.  When parishioners give of themselves, their time, talent and treasure, the Parish flourishes.  Stewardship is a way of living the gospel that recognizes that all of our gifts come from the Lord.  In gratitude for these gifts, we return them back to Him through our Parish community.

Stewardship is not about money.  Stewardship is not a program.  Stewardship is not a campaign.

Stewardship is how we live our relationship with God. Our participation in Stewardship communicates our faith and trust in Him.

Let’s build up the body of Christ at Queen of Peace.  Let us live our lives as stewards of God’s immeasurable gifts by disposing them in service of the Body of Christ.

Got Time ?

Who has time to spare?  Is our spare time what God wants in service of the Body of Christ?  As we consider apportioning to God from the gifts we have received, a more productive approach is making the time we offer a priority.  There is no formula.  There is however a position of the heart that communicates that the time we offer to God is a priority.  The rest of our time follows this first priority.  

The first action in our Stewardship of Time is our Time of Prayer.  Prayer comes first.  Prayer establishes relationship with God.  Prayer as anything but a first priority can compromise our disposition to gravitate toward God through a life of grace.

Through prayer we will know how to concretely spend the rest of our time.  Some of us will be called to spend many hours in service of our parish community.  Others will be called to much less.  Some may be called to simply keep praying for the parish community and its needs.  Whatever it is, the service will build of the Body of Christ.

Got Talent?

Can you dance?  Can you sing?  Are you an artist?  Perhaps these are the questions we think of when we consider the notion of talent.  Certainly the music ministry would like another great singer.  However, there are many, many other ways to give of your talents to the Parish community.  Please take a minute and note all of the different ministries that abound at Queen of Peace.  If one or more of them appeal to you, make a decision and take a step toward that ministry by getting involved.  

Every child of God possesses a talent.  Every talent is useful is building up the Body of Christ.  What do you do?  What do you well?  What unique talents do you possess?  Offer up these talents by making an appointment with a ministry leader to put your talents to good use.  If your talent has no particular place for development, take a risk and ask staff, ministry leaders or one of our priests if you can start a new ministry, group or service to the community.

Got Treasure?

Jesus says, “Wherever your treasure is, so also your heart shall be.”  Who possesses our heart?  What possesses our heart?  Jesus wants our heart.  Why?  When we give our heart to Jesus we give Him the part of us that is the base of our passions, our every desires and needs.  When He possesses all of our heart we are like Him in every respect – the goal of the Christian life.

Jesus doesn’t need our money.  He wants our hearts.  As we live in the temporal order our money (treasure) is a tool that we use to define ourselves.  The use of our money communicates how we manage our passions and needs.

So, how much do I share of my treasure?  The Catholic approach to sharing of our treasure, or tithing, as it’s also commonly referred is as follows:

We share 10 percent of our gross income – 5 percent is shared with the Parish community and the other 5 percent is shared among other organizations and/or individuals in need.

What happens if I do not share 10 percent of my gross income?  Does that mean I receive less grace in return?

Our Lord doesn’t keep tally of our contributions and make decisions about our blessings based on what we give.  The guidelines are meant to encourage us to live a life of faith with respect to our personal journey with God.  What matters most is that we engage in the journey.  The exact amounts have to be weighed by your personal circumstances, including the faith journey God has called you to live.




Stewardship Committee

Dick and Nadine Miller
Alejandra and Alfonso Iniguez
Erlinda  and Jose Carrera
Michael and Tracy Clark
Hunt Winston
Raul Espericueta