Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria
received the Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy Award Oct. 2 at the International
Catholic Stewardship Council (ICSC) 2016 Annual Conference in New Orleans, for
its outstanding work in Christian stewardship formation. The award is given to
parishes in honor of the late Archbishop of Seattle, who died in June 1997. The
award commemorates his promotion of Christian stewardship.
Father Thomas P. Ferguson, moderator
of the curia and pastor of Good Shepherd Church, accepted the award on behalf
of the parish.
He said the spirit of stewardship has
been part of the parish’s tradition for the past 50 years.
“It’s almost like a lifetime
achievement award for Good Shepherd Parish,” he said.
“We were grateful and we were humbled to be
recognized by the ICSC with the award,” said Father Ferguson. “We also were
very grateful to receive the award on behalf of all our parishioners who are
here at Good Shepherd today, and … the whole tradition of stewardship that has
been built up in the parish since the beginning.”
Claudia Fiebig, pastoral associate at
Good Shepherd, said the award was a great honor but it focuses the attention
elsewhere.
“It was humbling to stand there and
receive the award knowing there are very worthy people to receive this award,”
she said.
Jeanne Combos, diocesan director of the
annual appeal programs, former ICSC board member, and a Good Shepherd
parishioner, had encouraged the parish to apply for the award. Fiebig said the
parish considered applying for two years.
“We spent time looking at the
requirements and talking to our ministry leaders to make sure we had enough to
qualify,” said Fiebig.
Some requirements include detailing the
effectiveness of the stewardship committee, commitment and growth over five
years, stewardship education, annual stewardship renewal and communication.
“We look at it as gratitude for the
gifts we’ve been given,” said Fiebig of the award. “We have been blessed as
individuals and as a parish and understand all we have been given comes from
God.”
Gratitude for those gifts is how Good
Shepherd promotes stewardship at their parish, said Fiebig. “We ask people to
share their gifts in the ways they can to the best of their ability.”
The award plaque will be displayed in
a prominent place, according to Fiebig.
Good Shepherd was invited to give a
presentation as part of the stewardship conference. Fiebig said the
presentation was multi-faceted and the purpose was to share ideas with other
parishes.
Fiebig said Father Ferguson spoke
about the spirituality of the parish and how the award is “not just a snapshot
of the last year. It represents 51 years of the life of the parish.”
The presentation also included
information about the Small Acts of Mercy (SAM) Weekend Oct. 29-30. Fiebig said
there will be a healing Mass, campout for homelessness, a speaker on homelessness,
super service Saturday and a stewardship ministry fair after all the Masses.
Janice Spollen, business manager at Good
Shepherd, spoke on how to inform parishioners about the financial health of the
parish.
“Lorraine Monaco and Adriana Fernandez,
members of the communication team at Good Shepherd, spoke on our use of
traditional and new media to reach people where they are, and how they get the
word out and provide parishioners with the information they might need to have,”
Fiebig said.
Good Shepherd Church takes a different
approach to the stewardship concepts of time, talent and treasure, according to
Fiebig.
“We try to encourage people to pray,
learn, serve and participate,” she said. “Prayer always comes first.”
Elliott can be reached at [email protected].
