“Stewardship is about giving your life — your time, your talent and your treasure — back to God in gratitude.” Kari begins. “And we’re seeing that happen in beautiful ways.”

Kari and her family have been active in the life of St. Mary Catholic Church for many years. But when one of her sons went to college in Kansas, she became aware of the unique stewardship approach working wonders in the Diocese of Wichita. 

“Their vocations are exploding. Catholic education, through high school, is tuition-free, sponsored by the parishes as a fruit of active stewardship and they serve their communities in some amazing ways,” she says. 

With her own professional background in public relations and fund development, she was immediately interested.

“They have so much information available, and I just devoured it. And I really caught fire to the idea,” she says. “I went and proposed to Father, ‘What if we were all in for stewardship at this parish?”

Kari said while church leaders were interested, some parishioners were initially hesitant.

“Too often, stewardship is only talked about as a way to ask for more money,” Kari says. “So, we were purposeful to lean into the time and talent aspects of stewardship before talking about treasure. We stressed the importance of returning a portion of our time back to God in prayer and worship. Then we focused on recognizing our gifts and talents and how they could be used to build up the church. Finally, we talked about giving our first fruits, a portion of our treasure, as an act of gratitude and worship. We got some responses that first year, it grew in year two, and we felt we were starting to see the idea of becoming a stewardship parish take root.”

At that point, Kari was invited to attend a conference in Wichita, hosted by Catholic Stewardship Consultants. She decided to go, thinking she’d gather a bunch of strategies and replicate them back home.

But what Kari found was nothing short of extraordinary.

“I experienced stewardship at that conference,” she says. “We went to Mass together, prayed together. There was a beautiful hospitality woven into our days as we learned about the stewardship way of life and how to bring others along. I realized, truly, that this was living life to the fullest as a disciple. I understood that stewardship wasn’t just about the needs of the church — what the parish could get out of it — but an opportunity to see our lives and everything we have as a gift. It’s about our need to give back in gratitude.”

“This is what God intended, that he would bless us with all these things, but really, He was entrusting us with everything from our family to our finances. And then we are called to do something with them, act on those gifts and return them with increase to the Lord. 

After the conference, St. Mary was given a diocesan grant, funded by DSA dollars, to contract with Catholic Stewardship Consultants. The group helped the parish create a year-round plan for stewardship. The parish now has follow-up systems in place to ensure that once someone offers to get involved, they are quickly welcomed and brought on board. The parish publishes a bi-monthly stewardship newsletter that highlights its ministries and shares stories of parishioners living a life of stewardship in a variety of ways.  

“As a result, we have seen our stewardship efforts just really take off,” Kari says. “Now, we talk about the stewardship way of life because it really is that. It’s more than an initiative or a program, it’s a way of life that we’re trying to build here at our parish. It’s a grateful response to our generous God.”

The fruits of this transformation are becoming evident. In this, their fourth year of an annual stewardship renewal, parishioners made over 1,000 commitments to prayer, and close to 100 new ministry volunteer commitments. Offertory contributions have risen steadily, and pledges for the coming year signal even greater growth.

This sense of belonging and participation has ignited a wave of involvement, a development that Edwards describes as both humbling and inspiring. “You see people who maybe felt disconnected before, but now they’re part of the fabric of the parish. They’re saying, ‘This is my parish family, and I need to give of myself — not just for my own family but for the church, too.’ It’s phenomenal to see.

“When people embrace stewardship, they start to see life differently. It’s not just about meeting the needs of the church — it’s about living the life Christ intended for us, a life of abundance, gratitude, and joy.”