“Father of Stewardship” is one of Bishop-elect’s role models

“How can I repay the Lord for all the great good done for me?” — Psalm 116:12

“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” — 1 Peter 4:10

By Jay Nies

God bestows blessings in order for people to cultivate and share them with one another, not out of fear or obligation but out of unbridled gratitude and a desire to lead other people to Him.

The concept is as old as Israel’s prophets and kings and as new as the currently reigning Bishop of Rome.

But Monsignor Thomas McGread (1928-2013), founder of the Catholic Stewardship movement in the United States, gave it especially clear and compelling expression during his 31 years as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish in Wichita.

That was Bishop-elect W. Shawn McKnight’s home parish.

Msgr. McGread ministered compassionately to Bishop-elect McKnight’s family following the sudden death of his father. That made a strong impression on the future bishop.

So did Msgr. McGread’s simple message that God is the source of all time, talent and treasure, and that these precious gifts are to be managed thoughtfully in order for a sacrificial gift to be made in His name for the good of others.

Msgr. McGread’s parish came to thrive on that message as the priest continued to articulate it with increasing clarity.

When people are truly grateful, they naturally want to express it in the profoundest way possible. Catholic stewardship finds its deepest expression as the hallmark of a committed lifestyle centered on Christ.

Once the people of St. Francis Assisi parish came to understand that God’s work is also theirs and that their blessings are also His, the parish and its families became more unified, the overall mission broadened beyond the parish boundaries, and begging for money and volunteers became a thing of the past.

Msgr. McGread’s message of stewardship as a lifestyle eventually spread to other parishes in the Wichita diocese and to parishes throughout the United States.

“I always stress we are given many gifts by God, but the most important gift is the Lord Jesus Christ,” Msgr. McGread wrote in a 2013 post on the Catholic Steward blog.

“When we are at the reception of Holy Communion, we can never thank God enough for sending Christ to us,” he wrote. “This is the basis for the stewardship way of life. A thanksgiving.”

He preached that a committed relationship with Christ, fueled by lifelong conversion and a never-ending sense of awe and thanksgiving, is the only road to genuine, lasting happiness.

Out of that relationship grows a desire not only to give sacrificially from one’s own temporal and material blessings but to actually present oneself completely as a gift to God.

Profoundly influenced by the teaching of Msgr. McGread and Pope Francis, Bishop-elect McKnight sees his role as a priest and bishop as helping people get to that point in their relationship with God, through prayer, gratitude and ongoing personal encounters with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, in each other and in people in need.