Stewardship of Sacrificial Giving

To Sign up for Online Giving, please visit https://www.osvhub.com/stjoemish/funds (select create new account and follow the prompts) It’s safe, easy, and consistent!

2022 Sacrificial Giving Report and Renewal

2021 Sacrificial Giving Report and Renewal

2020 Sacrificial Giving Report and Renewal

2019 Sacrificial Giving Report and Renewal

2019 Renewal of Sacrificial Giving Audio

2018 Sacrificial Giving Report

2017 Sacrificial Giving Report

As disciples of Jesus, we know and experience that all is gift; God has lavished us with everything that we have: our time to be returned as prayer, our talents to be returned as service, and our treasure to be returned as sacrificial giving. With regard to sacrificial giving, the key word is intentionality: we plan our giving ahead of time, and from our first fruits (not what may, or may not, be left after other expenses). Imagine for a moment receiving a gift from someone who tells you, ‘I got you this ____ which was just sort of laying around. I don’t need it anymore and it’s not that great and I knew I had to give you something…so here it is!’ Since God has truly given us everything, our sacrificial giving to Him should be planned before anything else in our budget. The Biblical tithe of 10% remains the model for this and is intended as a minimum not a maximum since the invitation to be generous may prompt our hearts to give additionally. It’s typical to split up the 10% and give 5% to the parish and ‘play’ with the other 5% with other charities (and truly, being able to use 5% of our income to help other charities is a lot of fun!). If we are far from this ideal now then we can simply work toward 10% in steps; and this is an expression of our trust in God to provide for us (He will)!

Our mission to continue to allow St. Joseph to cultivate a home for us here in Mishawaka so that the Gospel is preached and the salvation of souls continues is simply not possible without more income. Whether our sacrificial giving ends up being large or small in proportion to our income matters very little when considering the privilege it is simply to be generous and make a return of what God has given to us.

Here are some bullet points regarding some details for sacrificial giving here at St. Joe:

Sacrificial giving is an act of gratitude to the Lord and also brings us joy and peace!
The Sunday Collection envelopes are the focus of our regular sacrificial giving and is an essential aspect
of our participation in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, which is what the Mass makes pre sent.
The parish is also called to give sacrificially. To get us started, beginning in the new year, 2% of
our collection will be set aside for charity (and this number will increase as time goes on).
Sacrificial giving is consistent, whether that is weekly or monthly.
Online Giving is an excellent model of sacrificial giving since we specify the amount at the
outset, which ensures our gift is intentional (see above for how to set up!).
Holy Day sacrificial giving provides an opportunity to be even more sacrificial above and beyond
our normal intentional amount.
Additional opportunities for sacrificial giving include planned giving in our wills (specify:
St. Joseph Parish Mishawaka), stock gifts, in kind gifts (of services you or your business
may be able to provide), and specified gifts (for a particular need).
We no longer have superfluous parish collection envelopes; we simply have the Sunday and
Holy Day ones; again, this is so that we can be truly intentional about what we are giving
rather than feel like the parish is nickel and diming us!
The diocese stipulates that other collection envelopes be included in your monthly packet; your
use of these is entirely at your discretion.
We no longer have any second collections. Occasionally the Bishop may ask us to support a specific issue; in this case, please use the pew envelopes and note this accordingly.
Only community building fundraising will be permitted (the bazaar, for example).
Parish events will no longer have a donation jar since our regular sacrificial giving will support
our programs.
God cannot be outdone in generosity!