His next thought was that it’s a great opportunity to build up the Catholic Church.

“Catholic schools are really important for the future of the diocese,” said Father Weber, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Westphalia. “It went from ‘it’s gonna be a heavy lift’ to ‘it’s a worthwhile lift.’”

Father Weber knew that a capital campaign could mean long hours and the weight of asking families to give generously. But what followed in his parish was a remarkable outpouring of faith, generosity, and commitment to Catholic education.

St. Mary’s shattered all predictions and expectations. With a diocesan-high 45 percent of parishioners participating, the parish raised 123 percent of its base target, becoming the first in the diocese to meet its stretch goal. St. Mary’s fully funded its local initiatives while investing in the long-term future of Catholic education.

How did St. Mary’s succeed? According to Father Weber, it comes down to two defining characteristics of the parish: a deep-rooted generosity toward the Church and an exceptional commitment to Catholic education.

“This community is unusually generous toward the Church. If there’s a need, there is a real generosity, a real willingness to support the Church. That’s just unusually strong here,” Father Weber said, adding that “the commitment to Catholic education in this parish is something that’s always been there. The parish was founded in 1836, and they’ve always been committed to Catholic education.”

That commitment is visible today in the parish’s thriving Catholic school, which serves roughly 300 students in grades K through 6. “You’re getting parishioners at a very impressionable age for 40 hours a week for most of the year,” Father Weber said. “There’s really no other opportunity quite like that to form parishioners in the Catholic outlook on life.”

The Stewardship for Saints and Scholars campaign was launched by Bishop Earl Boyea to strengthen Catholic schools across the diocese — making them more on-mission, affordable, and accessible.

At St. Mary’s, Father Weber took that mission to heart and approached the campaign in three phases. First, he personally met with major donors and recruited a leadership team. “It was a lot of one-on-one outreach. A lot of times, I just showed up at their house, invited myself over and made the pitch.”

That leadership team — Lisa Nurenberg, Mary Nurenberg, Dan Pohl, Austin Pline, Kevin Schneider, TeAnn Smith, Joel Snitgen, April Thelen, Perry Thelen and Tricia Thelen — represented different families, friend groups, and generations. “The hope was that no matter who you were in the parish, you’d have someone on that team that you could connect with,” Father Weber said.

The next phase was open houses. St. Mary’s hosted eight events to introduce the campaign and answer questions.

By the time the parish entered the third phase — general distribution of campaign materials and opening up the campaign to everyone, including those who didn’t attend an open house — the foundation had been laid, and a quarter of the total stretch goal had already been raised.

The results speak for themselves. Through the campaign, St. Mary’s will fund its local initiatives: installing new air conditioning in the church, replacing the school’s aging (and asbestos-adhered) flooring, resurfacing the parking lots and growing the parish’s Miller Trust Fund, which already contributes over $100,000 annually to school operations.

Andy Ryba, vice president with the Steier Group, the diocese’s campaign champion, said Father Weber’s success was no accident. “He really nailed the donor event model and knocked St. Mary’s parish goal out of the park. His attention to detail and his desire to fund his parish’s local initiatives made all the difference. Father Eric is a humble and holy priest. But deep down, he’s really competitive and wants to do well!”

To fellow pastors preparing for their turn in the campaign, Father Weber offers both encouragement and perspective: “It can feel like one more thing that we don’t have time for. But try to look at it as an opportunity. Catholic schools are so important for the health of our diocese, and this is really a tool to build up the long-term health of our schools.”

In Westphalia, the future looks bright. Thanks to the generous and unwavering support of its parishioners, St. Mary’s has funded key improvements and modeled what’s possible when a parish leans into stewardship and says yes to the future of Catholic education.