A new and somewhat different approach to Stewardship is unfolding at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Ventura that incorporates five "pillars" or threads that connect all parish activity: hospitality, prayer, education, service and evangelization.

The big difference, however, is a process that helps parishioners connect their life at church with their life outside of church.

Finding a connection
Catholics know that stewardship in the church means sharing their God given gifts of time, talent and treasure to build God's kingdom. But what does that mean to the average parishioner who spends only an hour or two at church on Sunday and the remainder of the week tending to the rest of "life"?

"It is difficult to know where to start," agrees Veronica Marchese, director of Stewardship at Our Lady of the Assumption. "People want to find time each day to be with God and share their talents with the community, but it can be overwhelming when those things need to be squeezed into an already busy schedule."

Parish leaders began looking at what has worked in other churches and decided to try a slow and deliberate process to help people connect their faith life to all areas of their life.

"We are partnering with people of the parish in their homes," explains Marchese. "During the first year of this stewardship process, they will take home packets with tools for simple things to do at home. They will get simple resources to live out their faith, step-by-step. 'Recipe' cards or study guides with Scriptural perspectives will help them continue their work."

The process is being adapted from the Faith at Home plan developed by Mark Holmen, former pastor at the Ventura Missionary Church and a friend of Our Lady of the Assumption's pastor, Father Steve Davoren.

"We are taking the things that worked well in other places and fitting them into our community," Marchese says. Holmen, who helped Assumption get started in its process, recently resigned from Ventura Missionary to teach church leaders nationwide.

To assist parishioners in having access to the wide range of materials available for the process, a Resource Center was recently opened inside the church, near the church front entrance. The room contains all of the current materials and a suggestion box for parishioners to request resources. The resources will be updated monthly and also seasonally. Eventually the center will house books and supplies along with the recipe cards to make it easy for people to put the activities into practice.

Adapting 'recipes'
Another aspect of the Faith at Home component on stewardship centers on the events in people's lives. Parishioners can take whatever activities or events they are already doing or involved with and incorporate the "recipes" into them.

For example, both the parish school and religious education department hold "class Masses." Fifteen minutes of the time allotted for these events will address prayer and service --- two of the aforementioned pillars --- and provide an activity to be learned and taken home.

"Our intention is for families to share with one another what works," Marchese explains. "A family will give a witness talk and model what they are doing at home. Then the group will have time to practice what is modeled, and we will provide them with what they need to take home and continue the practice. One example of this would be making a family prayer cube."

While many of the "recipes" are not new ideas, making it easy for people to actually do the activities at home is what is most attractive to busy adults and families. Some segments of the parish population, notes Marchese, have had little or no resources with which to build their faith life outside of the church.

"The young adult and senior members of the community have very little in the way of resources and support, and we hope to change that," she smiles.

Parish leaders, she adds, are sensitive to the needs of the community and take seriously the suggestions they are already receiving in the Resource Center suggestion box. Initial response has been positive to the recipe cards and other resources provided, which Marchese attributes to the fact that they are keeping it all simple. And while the ministry leaders continue to devise resources, they are hoping that parishioners eventually will contribute resources from their own experiences and newly-gained expertise.