Annual Stewardship Appeal

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May the peace, joy, and love of Jesus Christ on this 2nd Sunday of Advent be with all of you.

Today we celebrate Stewardship Sunday. If you’re thinking to yourself, “seems a little later this year,” you would be correct. 

We’ve had a lot going on over the past few months, as you well know, from our annual Nativity County Fair in September to our 100th Anniversary Celebration in October to the launch of our Centennial Campaign last month. 

Truth be told, there really wasn’t a particularly good time for Stewardship Sunday this year!  

But perhaps that’s all the more reason to take a moment to pause and once again reflect on the beautiful, awesome, and humbling fact that all that we have has been given to us from the Almighty God himself.

And taking this pause later this year also affords us the opportunity to meditate upon a different selection of biblical readings with stewardship in mind, namely those of the 2nd Sunday of Advent. 

In today’s Gospel, we hear again about the unique figure of St. John the Baptist.  Perhaps no other man in our Christian tradition embodies the true meaning of the word “holy” — that is, “set apart.”  This man’s way of living was so obviously different. 

But not to no purpose. Instead, all that he did, from the clothes he wore (or didn’t wear) to the food he ate (or didn’t eat) was done to “prepare the way of the Lord.”

As we reflect upon God’s most generous gifts in our lives, I invite each of us to consider how we might imitate St. John by preparing our own hearts to welcome the newborn king this Christmas, and ultimately to respond more readily to Our Lord’s invitation to follow him. 

Don’t worry, that probably won’t mean wearing camel’s hair and eating locusts.  But we are all called to heed these cousins’ shared message of repentance — this Stewardship Sunday, this Advent, this coming new year, and indeed for our entire lives.

With that in mind, I now ask you to pledge to support our ongoing mission this coming year, and in particular to support us financially. (Click here for the 2023 pledge form.)  

We are immensely grateful for your generosity, and in particular this year for those who are making an additional, sacrificial contribution to our Centennial Campaign, which addresses expenses and investments above and beyond the scope of our annual budget. We simply could not live out our shared mission without the financial support of you, our parishioners. Thank you!  

Please see the accompanying Mission Update and financial Annual Report detailing our stewardship of your previous contributions.

If don’t receive yours in the mail, if you are not yet a registered parishioner, or if you would otherwise like to receive a packet, please contact our parish office at (651) 696-5401 or info@nativitystpaul.org.

And may God bless you in your generosity. 

Fr. Patrick Hipwell, Pastor of Nativity of Our Lord