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Twelve Wicker Baskets

Religion & Spirituality Podcas

In the Gospel, Jesus fed 5,000 with only five loaves and two fish. After the crowd was satisfied, there were 12 wicker baskets left over. God provides the abundance. In each episode of this podcast, we will explore, with pastoral leaders and development professionals, all the many ways God meets the spiritual and temporal needs of our parish communities, our Catholic schools and the diocesan church. And not only meets those needs but provides in abundance.

Location:

United States

Description:

In the Gospel, Jesus fed 5,000 with only five loaves and two fish. After the crowd was satisfied, there were 12 wicker baskets left over. God provides the abundance. In each episode of this podcast, we will explore, with pastoral leaders and development professionals, all the many ways God meets the spiritual and temporal needs of our parish communities, our Catholic schools and the diocesan church. And not only meets those needs but provides in abundance.

Language:

English

Contact:

(402) 391-3244


Episodes

The Challenges and Opportunities of Young Catholic Professionals

3/27/2024
After completing her M.B.A., Jennifer Baugh went through a soul-searching period while waiting to start a new consulting job, asking God to deepen her faith. She came to a new and profound realization of God’s love and the mission to share that love with others. Not long thereafter, Jennifer established Young Catholic Professionals (YCP), an apostolate that has grown exponentially, signaling that Catholic professionals in their 20s and 30s have a shared longing for encouragement and for a community to support excellence at work integrated into a life of discipleship. Now with chapters in over 40 cities across the U.S., YCP is a network as much a community aimed at instilling an authentic Catholic identity equipped for apologetics in the public square, providing community to breakdown isolation and build strong friendships, and inspiring members to action in response to God’s call to serve. YCP seeks to foster an awareness of stewardship and generosity among members with inspiring accounts from mentors who have experienced the joy of giving of time, talent and treasure. This is of vital importance, particularly in the face of decreasing church giving among younger generations. “Authenticity is what young people are craving,” Jennifer noted, and giving cannot be simply transactional for the young but more engaging and impactful. YCP has strategies to grow geographically but also in evangelistic efforts in the cities where chapters are already established. Looking to the future, YCP wants to offer members increasing opportunities for spiritual enrichment, professional advancement, and more intentional networking so that members can live the authentic, integrated life to which God has called them. Guest: Jennifer Baugh Title: Founder and Executive Director, Young Catholic Professionals Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:49:32

Mission and Money: Ensuring Morally Responsible Investments

2/28/2024
Responsible for faith-based and secular non-profit markets at Innovest, Sarah brings to bear her rich experience of non-profit development, marketing, and business development along with her faith and sense of stewardship in managing clients’ investment portfolios. In this episode, Sarah explores how building a morally conscious investment portfolio is more than avoiding “sin stocks,” but requires a deeper due diligence to ensure funds are not applied to causes antithetical to the Gospel and the Church’s teaching on faith and morals. Maintaining value alignment is important so that support is not given to causes that harm authentic Christian discipleship or true communion. “Our clients are always at the center of every decision we make,” Sarah explains, emphasizing that in managing clients’ investments, establishing client mission over shareholder interest is essential to maintain value alignment. Making investment decisions based on shareholder returns can be “a big problem and conflict of interest” in a fiduciary relationship. As a secular firm with Catholic values, Innovest manages $45 billion for retirement plans, for non-profit foundations, endowments, operating reserves, and retirement plans, and for high net-worth individuals. Sarah said that, in keeping with the vision of Innovest’s founders, “we believe that we are stewards of everyone we come in contact with, whether that’s clients, people in the community, even our employees…we very much have a stewardship culture.” In addition to stewarding clients’ investments, Innovest seeks to be stewards of its own resources by providing educational opportunities for the underserved, monthly volunteer opportunities for employees, and by donating 1% of revenue back to their clients to help their missions. In Catholic investing, the USCCB’s investment guidelines serve as a starting point for morally responsible investing. Dioceses have an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) which includes language on how the IPS adheres to the USCCB guidelines and in what asset parameters investments can be made. Sarah stresses the importance of having a “Catholic ecosystem of resources” to help Catholic entities manage and invest funds in a manner truly harmonious with the Church’s mission. Vendors, banks, investment companies, development professionals, asset managers, etc. must all embrace the mission of the gospel. This ecosystem helps ensure morally responsible investments. For example, companies earn ESG (environmental, social and governance) scores depending on how well they fulfill their responsibility to the community in these sectors. A high ESG score gains more investors. But a secular perspective on ESG causes does not prescind from Catholic anthropology, which in turn means that companies’ ESG initiatives often do not advance authentic human flourishing, thereby compromising value alignment. A Catholic ecosystem will help mitigate poor investment decisions and help guide Catholic entities to make the best return on investment, advance the gospel, and bring authentic human freedom, joy, peace and flourishing to the world. Guest: Sarah Newman Title: Vice President, Innovest Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:52:01

Communicating the Faith in a Compelling Way

1/31/2024
Lino Rulli, aka “The Catholic Guy” on Sirius XM Radio, came into a greater appreciation of his Catholic faith in college after experiencing a tragedy that prompted life’s big questions. A communications undergraduate major with a graduate theology degree, Rulli later discovered an opportunity to start a tv show at a local parish, which later was syndicated across the US and won Emmy awards. His broadcasting career on matters relating to the faith was born. “My goal has not necessarily been to find new ways to advance the Church’s mission,” Rulli explains. He seeks, rather, to maintain broadcasting professional standards while being himself. That’s what builds relationship, which is the premise for good communication. Whether it’s social media, broadcasting or pastoral leadership, the Church’s ability to communicate requires the trust that relationship builds. Rulli points to Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, as an example of a pastor who fosters relationships well. As the cardinal’s personal media advisor, Rulli shares his firsthand experience of how Cardinal Dolan helps build a bridge with Catholics and non-believers alike, a bridge that carries the gospel to wide audiences. “What are we afraid of? Is there someplace we’re not supposed to be proclaiming the gospel?” Rulli asks, warning, “the reason religion shrinks is religion keeps talking to itself.” Communicating is about telling your story and to tell it with honesty, vulnerability, and passion. Just as the Lord communicated with stories, and always based on relationship, so must Church tell the story to engage hearts and minds for mission. Guest: Lino Rulli Title: “The Catholic Guy” on Sirius XM Radio Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:46:58

Faithful Stewardship for the Universal Church

12/27/2023
In this episode, Ian Rangel describes the history, mission, and impact of The Papal Foundation, the only charitable organization in the United States exclusively dedicated to fulfilling the requests of the Holy Father for the needs of the Church. The foundation aims at providing the resources to address capital, humanitarian and vocational needs throughout the developing world or, as Ian puts it, to serve “the underdogs of the Church.” Begun in 1988 during the pontificate of St. John Paul II, the foundation, a separate 501(c)(3) organization, has provided over $200 million in response to requests for assistance from across the globe. A donor becomes a Steward of Saint Peter with a minimum contribution of $1 million in support of the foundation’s mission. Stewards of Saint Peter and their families are invited to make an annual pilgrimage to Rome, which includes an audience with the Holy Father, and are invited to support his Petrine ministry through prayer. Ian describes the support the foundation has given to the Center for Working Families in Quito, Ecuador to assist families in abject poverty learn skills and trades to provide them a better life. He also explains how the foundation’s aid to the Church in Poland helped them provide shelter and essentials for Ukrainian refugees. The foundation’s St. John Paul II scholarship fund provides priests, religious men and women, seminarians, and men and women in formation for religious life from the developing world to receive their education and formation at one of the fifteen pontifical universities in Rome. Ian reflects, ”To walk in partnership and journey with our Stewards of Saint Peter, who in many ways have seen their own neighborhoods of the Church grow as they are supporting the work in a very generous way at levels that are just phenomenal, is just a humbling experience.” Guest: Ian Rangel Title: Vice President of Steward Development, The Papal Foundation Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:43:53

The Eucharist: Source and Summit of Stewardship

11/28/2023
Bishop Andrew Cozzens is the Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston and currently Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, in virtue of which he is tasked by the bishops to spearhead the three-year National Eucharistic Revival. In this very theological episode, Bishop Cozzens explores how Christ’s gift of himself in the incarnation is perpetuated in his gift of self in the Eucharist. “The Eucharist is the heart of the Church, which means it is the heart of the disciple,” Bishop Cozzens explains. In the Eucharist, we receive “our greatest good,” namely Jesus himself, which inspires us to live as he lived. “How does Jesus live? Well, he gave himself away to us,” Bishop Cozzens states. “My response is, I need to give this back. I need to give myself back. And, of course, that’s what stewardship is. Stewardship is making a gift of my life.” “Fewer people understand that the heart of the Eucharist is about receiving a gift and giving a gift,” the bishop noted, and it’s why the bishops are eager to lead the faithful into a deeper appreciation of this truth. All the sacrifices we make in our daily lives “become truly valuable as we unite them to Christ’s” in the Eucharist. The US bishops have noted a Eucharistic crisis in that many in our secular culture do not know they’ve been invited to the Banquet of the Lamb. Bishop Cozzens retraces the steps by which the US bishops came up with the plan for a Eucharistic National Revival, describes its structure and presents the aim of each of the revival’s three years. The National Eucharistic Congress scheduled for July 2024 in Indianapolis, is the first such congress in 83 years. By the revival, the bishops seek first to enflame Catholics’ Eucharistic faith so that, in turn, there starts a missionary fire – not a program – to burn away indifference, false idols, and selfishness in the heart. This will open the way to stewardship, generous giving and joy. Guest: Bishop Andrew Cozzens Title: Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:46:50

Faithful Entrepreneurship: Co-Creating with God

10/25/2023
In this episode, Twelve Wicker Baskets shifts from the philanthropic focus of supporting the Church’s mission to the perspective of those who generate the resources for that support through entrepreneurial business ventures. David Niccolini, a husband, father, and innovating founder of four successful companies, shares his career journey from the perspective of faith, noting that entrepreneurial work is very creative and, when done in cooperation with grace, is a co-creative act with how God creates. Each of us has a God-given purpose and God delights in us when we live and work fulfilling that purpose. We are most alive and are most creative when our work flows from our overall purpose, avoiding a false separation between our life of faith and our daily work lives. Faithful entrepreneurship prioritizes relationship over transaction and operates from a mindset of abundance over scarcity. Innovation in business requires a step into the unknown in a way that parallels how the prophets were invited by God to step out of the familiar and venture into a mission that required them to rely on his grace and call moment to moment. All of us can relate to this experience when we encounter the Lord, whose invitation to discipleship requires a trusting act of faith. What God, the Original Entrepreneur, wants to do with each of us is innovative. Each of us is needed; each of us has a unique purpose, but all of us must rely on God’s promise, mercy and love to fulfill it. Guest: David Niccolini Title: Entrepreneur Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:36:03

Trends in the Church: Bad News or Opportunities?

9/27/2023
Matt Vuorela became Chief Executive Officer of the Steier Group in August 2023. In this episode, Matt shares his perspective that many of the discouraging trends we see in the Catholic Church in the United States today are actually opportunities to be bold and creative. From his seat at the head of the firm, he also speaks to other trends in the fundraising/development sector that point to some very positive news. The bishops of the United States have recognized that the Church is in a crisis. Less than half of Catholics in the United States understand or believe in the Eucharist, Mass attendance is at an all-time low, and many young people are disaffiliating from the Church. This crisis of faith is at the heart of what could be called a crisis of stewardship in the Church. Giving to religious charities decreases with each passing generation. This means that the Church’s strongest supporters tend to be an older demographic. From a development point of view, this is a great challenge. “My call to everyone is not to accept these trends,” Matt said. “Be bold in your thinking. If you think you’re going to fail, you’re probably right. There is nothing that says we have to accept these trends. There is nothing that says we only have to survive, rather than thrive." There are other, more regionalized, trends, however, that give great hope. Steier Group campaigns for the Church in southern states are in support of rapid growth, new parishes, and strong ministries. Matt notes as well that our campaigns for many religious communities with younger vocations have garnered support. School and Newman Center campaigns have done exceptionally well. In fact, major donors want to get behind campaigns to support the faith for high school and college students. “I would contend there is no investment a major donor—or any donor—can make in the future of the Catholic Church, the future of our faith, than at the Newman Center or Catholic high school level. Why? Because this is where you either keep young Catholics invested in the faith or you lose them.” Another key opportunity in the face of these trends is to incorporate planned giving to help people make a lasting impact in support of the Church’s mission. Matt advises that an emphasis on planned giving “needs to be a more central part of every development office’s efforts now and into the future. It is absolutely critical that the office must stay on the radar of those who will give the wealth away, but also to develop relationships with the younger generations who will be inheriting it.” Guest: Matt Vuorela Title: Chief Executive Officer, The Steier Group Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:42:19

The Impact of a Stewardship Heart

8/30/2023
In this episode, Jamie Crane describes the impact someone can have when stewardship is understood, embraced and lived as part of one’s Christian discipleship. Looking to Bishop James Golka, Bishop of Colorado Springs, as a prime example of someone endowed with a stewardship heart, Jamie recounts the ways his pastoral leadership has impacted the life of the diocese and each parish community therein. Emphasizing a Eucharist-focused prayer life, exercising hospitality in a spirit of gratitude, and highlighting the stewardship aspects of time and talent—and not just treasure—are all ways the bishop has encouraged pastors and laity to come to appreciate their Christian life as stewards of God’s abundant gifts. Jamie also serves on the board for the International Catholic Stewardship Council (ICSC); a leadership role that has provided her a way to give back to professional colleagues, who are also fellow disciples of the Lord, for all the support and encouragement she has received from the association. The annual conference, coming up this year in Orlando, is an opportunity to pray, reflect, think, engage, and meet others who are committed to advancing a deep understanding of stewardship as constitutive of discipleship. This year’s gathering will reflect the USCCB’s Eucharistic Revival and will feature a plenary presentation by Bishop Golka on the Eucharist as a School of Stewardship. Guest: Jamie Crane Title: Director of Stewardship & Development, Diocese of Colorado Springs Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:52:52

The Pilgrimage of Philanthropy

7/26/2023
With both of his grandfathers as Nazarene ministers, Mark Petersen grew up knowing the gospel and the work of ministry. He also grew up inspired by the example of his parents who determined to freeze the assets from their business upon reaching a certain point of success, dedicating any future growth from the business to a philanthropic foundation they established to support noble causes and make a difference in the world. After seminary, Mark and his wife brought their young family to Colombia as evangelical missionaries, but even at that early stage of his faith journey, Mark was drawn to “the mysteries of Catholicism and the beauty of the faith.” Later, after an Ignatian retreat in Bogota, he experienced a profound sense of being at home. Embracing the Catholic faith, Mark later turned to the spiritual exercise of going on pilgrimage to find the “time set apart” from his work of philanthropy and working with donors, charities, families, etc. Walking the camino of Santiago de Compostela, a walk he calls “a whole month retreat,” afforded him the insight to draw parallels between the journey of philanthropy and the journey of pilgrimage, insights he explores in his book, Love Giving Well: The Pilgrimage of Philanthropy. In this episode, Mark explores these parallels, emphasizing that to give philanthropically cannot be transactional but should be transformational; it allows the giver an opportunity to enter into true and deep relationship and to risk heartbreak. Giving is a way to enter into the life of others and to receive as much as one gives, much like one does with fellow pilgrims on a spiritual journey. Philanthropy, Mark notes, is about bringing change into culture; a venture that takes time. It isn’t about fixing problems but changing hearts. This requires the same kind of patience that’s required on pilgrimage. Philanthropy from this perspective is more akin to stewardship. All stewards care for resources that ultimately are not their own; they are in touch with their own neediness. “Being generous is a state of mind, and not an amount of money,” Mark wrote in his book. Everyone is called to be generous with what he or she has first received from the generosity of others, and ultimately the generosity of God, the giver of all good things. Guest: Mark Petersen Title: CEO, Stronger Philanthropy Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:56:41

Pursuing Ventures and Virtue

6/28/2023
John Cannon’s unique background in business, finance, political science, monasticism, philosophy, theology and spirituality has equipped him well for launching SENT Ventures. In this episode, John speaks to how God has redirected the course of his life more than once, moving from a business and political career to several years as a Carmelite monk, to establishing SENT as an entrepreneur. From an early age, John sought to make a difference in the world, which led him first to an interest in political service, then to business. Chasing a career and success in investment banking and consulting, however, John gradually left the practice of his Catholic faith. That is, until he visited his father in the hospital who, after a significant automobile accident, was in immense pain. “Despite this incredible suffering, he was very other-focused,” John recounts, experiencing within his own heart a newfound clarity of God’s existence, of his love and mercy, and of a path to transformation. Wanting to surrender more and motivated by the contemplative spirituality of St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, John entered religious life in a Carmelite monastic community. Religious life provided him the opportunity to live an integrated and wholistic human life, with time dedicated to prayer, the Mass, work, communal meals, recreation, exercise, hobbies and rest. “These are core building blocks of how God wants us to flourish,” he said, noting that the horarium allowed him to do everything with intentionality, something that we can easily lose with the frenzy of our activity-packed life. The communal aspect also taught him how important it is that we not be isolated one from another. These are lessons he carried into establishing SENT after hearing the call to leave religious life. “Prayer is the highest ROI activity you can do,” John emphasized, adding that it’s the key to perseverance; an indispensable virtue for business success. SENT is designed to provide founders and business leaders a community of business peers to support their drive, vision and leadership while, at the same time, providing the fellowship of peers to encourage their walk of faithful discipleship and spiritual formation. SENT opens its members to the ongoing conversion to which God calls them so that they, in turn, can witness to God in and through their daily work and encounters. Guest: John Cannon Title: Founder, SENT Ventures Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:55:15

The Mission and Challenge of Catholic High School Education

5/31/2023
The mission to teach is at the very heart of the Church; a mission she received from the Lord himself: “Go, therefore, and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). At Hayden Catholic High School, where Shelly Buhler serves as President, fulfilling that divine mission is something integrated intentionally into everything they do. Flowing from the school’s strategic planning process and an evaluation of its Catholic identity, the school’s administration and faith formation team meets weekly to strategize and to accept the challenge to go deeper and raise expectations. In their desire to articulate what the value of a Hayden Catholic education is and what culture is required to foster it, they began drafting an aspirational document called a “Portrait of a Hayden Graduate” to establish the characteristics that are the hallmark of the well-educated and well-formed individual. And because teachers must first possess what they hope to instill in the Hayden graduate, the school is working toward a similar “Portrait of a Hayden Teacher.” In this episode, Shelly discusses these portraits and how working toward them is both a challenge but also a profound blessing. Students are taught to seek wisdom and are led to pursue the virtuous life, i.e., to develop the habits of choosing the good in order to achieve excellence in human behavior; virtues like magnanimity, self-motivation, integrity, time management, perseverance, and humility. Both students and teachers are encouraged to maintain a sense of curiosity and wonder about the world in which we live; an ordered and intelligible world that speaks to us of God revealed in the nature of things as they really are, and of the human person as he or she really is. The four hallmarks of the Hayden teacher is someone who seeks wisdom, pursues the virtuous life, is driven to love neighbor as self, and who lives with an eternal mindset. Practical virtues are also encouraged, such as to maintain a sense of humor, to steward resources well, and to operate from a mindset of abundance. Hayden’s objective is to impart an education of the heart just as much as an education of the mind. The encounter with Christ alters one’s whole outlook and worldview, but it is also the most difficult to measure of all Hayden’s objectives. It is an aspirational hope that every student encounters and establishes a life-defining relationship with Jesus and Hayden does all it can to create the environment and culture designed to facilitate and nourish that encounter. God ultimately is the author of conversion but prayer, adoration, quiet, contemplation and discernment all help balance the technological, hectic, busy pace of life, enabling students and faculty alike to hear God in the heart, to hear vocation, to contemplate what is learned and to order it all to eternity. Graduates of Hayden ever since 1911 have contributed to their communities, lived lives of service, and have witnessed to the beauty of the Catholic faith. Hayden has every intention of carrying on that tradition in teaching the Catholic faith unabashedly, witnessing to the love of God in Jesus, pursuing virtue and excellence in all aspects of life, and in establishing the intellectual life. Guest: Shelly Buhler Title: President, Hayden Catholic High School Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:57:09

Imagining Abundance

4/26/2023
As the great-granddaughter of John and Helena Raskob, and a lifelong member of the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, Kerry grew up involved in philanthropic support of the ministries and good works of the Catholic Church throughout the world. It wasn’t until Father Bob Beloin, Catholic chaplain at Yale University, invited her to lead a capital campaign in support of the St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale, however, that she grew in her appreciation of fundraising. She recounts her experience of leading the campaign and all the lessons she learned thereby in her 2014 book, Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service, published by Liturgical Press. She began to experience a greater understanding of how fundraising can ennoble people to become a part of an important mission, thereby revealing that “philanthropy and fundraising are two sides of the same coin” and are “inter-related, necessary corollaries.” Kerry’s involvement with fundraising also exposed her to “theological ambivalence about wealth,” causing some to regard money and financial administration to be a distraction from mission, if not an obstacle. Leadership Roundtable seeks to equip Catholic leaders, clergy and lay, with the resources to be trustworthy and competent in collaboration with and reliance upon the financial acumen and lived experience of lay leaders. Kerry notes that ordained and religious leaders at the head of important apostolates and ministries, can often carry out their work with a disposition mired in fear, thinking of fundraising as nothing more than asking friends for a personal favor. They can worry that they’re asking too much. But when grounded in mission, then inviting becomes a joy and excellence becomes the standard for the mission itself. Generosity is humankind’s birthright; we are all called to be generous and to serve as catalysts to inspire generosity in others, Kerry noted, helping them to give according to their philanthropic passion. The starting point of generosity is gratitude because, as Kerry learned from Henri Nouwen, once we realize that we are loved by God, we are moved by an immense gratitude to live a fruitful life of giving in return. Kerry reminds us that great leaders think in generations and decide today what matters, not allowing the vagaries of life to deter them from working toward that vision. Hearkening to St. Oscar Romero’s comment, “We are prophets of a future not our own,” Kerry understands both fundraisers and philanthropists to be such prophets when inspired, not by their own ends, but by the mission they serve. Guest: Kerry Robinson Title: Executive Director for Global & National Initiatives, Leadership Roundtable Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:01:06:31

Generous Disciples: What the Saints Teach Us About Stewardship

3/29/2023
In this episode, Meg Hunter-Kilmer, author of Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered and Struggled On Their Way to Holiness, shares how she left her position as a high school theology teacher and set off to be an itinerant speaker, witnessing to the love of God, inspiring deeper faith, and sharing the universal attainability of sanctity by demonstrating how the saints in every age cooperated with grace. Meg heard the baptismal call of the Lord in Matthew 16:24 in a very personal and direct way: “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Calling herself a “hobo for Christ,” Meg has spent over a decade on the go to over 25 countries and all 50 states speaking from her heart about God. Charging nothing for her speaking events, she has relied upon God’s abundant providence in a radical way. One of her central messages is that the saints were not born saints. They are not “dull outlines of immaculate lives, saccharin, plaster images gazing vapidly heavenward,” as she had once imagined them to be. Thinking of saints like that makes becoming one impossible. No, saints “were real people, broken people made whole by grace, and that far from being [an] impossible standard…they offer nothing but hope.” "Everybody’s got some element of their life that makes them think they’re ineligible for the love of God, or certainly ineligible for great holiness” Meg observed. But the diversity of saints, from varying backgrounds, cultures, ways of life, gifts and talents, shortcomings and sins, dismantles the notion that we are not the “stuff” of saints. “God is delighted with you exactly as you are,” she points out, “and he is working to make you a saint right now, not in spite of your circumstances, but in and through them.” Wanting to tell stories and not just restate facts, Meg tells her audiences about the lives of saints from the human perspective. In this episode, she discusses four whose lives exemplified the heroic virtue of generosity and who understood their time, talent and treasure as gifts to be offered in stewardship: Ven. Pierre Toussaint, Ven. Satoko Kitahara, Bl. José Gregorio Hernández, St. Katharine Drexel. Guest: Meg Hunter-Kilmer Title: Author/Speaker Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:52:11

One Year of Twelve Wicker Baskets

2/22/2023
In this first anniversary episode, a clip from each guest of the past year is woven together to provide a montage of collective wisdom, reflecting on the themes of God’s abundant and astounding generosity, personal relationship as the foundation for fundraising, the connection of discipleship and stewardship, to name a few. Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:29:55

God's Generosity is Astounding

1/25/2023
In this episode, Mother Mary Clare, Mother Superior and foundress of the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, along with Sister Annunciata, share how God has proven to be astoundingly generous to each of them in their own vocational journey, but also in the life of their community. Relying upon divine providence for all their material needs (the sisters have no income beyond free-will offerings), the Handmaids have experienced first-hand how God not only provides, but does so in abundance. The name of the community derives from the mystery of the Annunciation. Upon hearing the Lord’s invitation from the Archangel Gabriel, Mary embraced her unique vocation with the words, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me as you say” (Luke 1:38). Seeking to live in imitation of Mary’s own fiat, the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus is a community of Catholic religious sisters who serve as spiritual mothers in the diocesan life of the Church, being a stable presence in parishes in a manner complementary to diocesan priesthood. Established in 2010, this relatively new religious community has grown to 36 sisters living in convents in the Diocese of New Ulm (the community’s mother house), the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the Diocese of Duluth, and the Diocese of Bismarck. The sisters make it clear that their own vocation to be generous of heart stems from their relationship with the Lord, who has given us everything-including himself in reparation for sin. The stories shared in this episode are a good reminder of the Lord’s command, a command the Handmaids keep before them by relying upon God for everything: “Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give” (Matthew 10:8). Guest: Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus Titles: Mother Mary Clare - Mother Superior Sister Annunciata – Administrative Assistant Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:52:23

Being a Stewardship Pastor

12/28/2022
Father Jarrod was introduced to the stewardship as a way of life from childhood, calling it “the context for my Catholic formation.” Stewardship “became the lens through which we understood how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ,” recognizing that everything we have is a gift we have received. And once we recognize the giftedness we each possess, then we start recognizing the response. The stewardship way of life, which began at St. Francis of Assisi parish, gradually spread and eventually characterized the entire Diocese of Wichita. Pastors are by necessity stewards, and stewards first and foremost of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1) such that there is no such thing as a non-stewardship pastor. At the same time, the stewardship way of life has specific actions, attitudes, and articulations that produce an identity. Adopting this identifiable spirituality is what makes a pastor a “stewardship pastor.” Father Jarrod sums up the steward’s regula vitae as: “I participate, by gifts of time, talent and treasure in a grateful response, such that other people are able to benefit from my gift.” A stewardship parish and diocese will have this same rule of life. And the grateful response of gratitude is what leads us into the spirituality of stewardship since gratitude requires an Other to whom gratitude is due. In the Old Testament, creation itself is a revelation that God’s very nature is Gift. Creation, therefore, calls us into relationship, into a life of exchange. The human person is created in God’s image and likeness, which means that he is created in the image and likeness of relation. Stewardship, then, is an exercise of our human dignity since it is all about a relationship of gratitude. In the New Testament, God’s nature of Gift is preeminently seen in the gift of his own Son, through whom our relationship to God, each other and creation is recapitulated and healed. The stewardship of life is opened further in the New Testament by the parables of the widow’s mite and of the talents. In 1 Peter 4:7-11, Fr. Jarrod notes, Saint Peter presents all four pillars of stewardship (hospitality, prayer, formation and service) all in the context of love. Living all four pillars of stewardship is to experience the joy of being fully human. Every pastor knows that his parishioners are already stewards, Father Jarrod observes. Every parish has people who are naturally giving of their gifts, their time and their treasure. Father Jarrod recommends that if a pastor wants to move his parish towards a stewardship way of life, start where it’s already happening and then begin giving it structure. Guest: Fr. Jarrod Lies Title: Pastor, Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Diocese of Wichita Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:51:39

The Journey to Deep Stewardship

11/30/2022
Quentin Schesnuik grew up in the rural prairies of Saskatchewan and, after graduating from university, began his career in banking. After moving to Toronto for work, he helped an inner-city charity establish a planned giving program to assist the poor. Listening to their stories, he discovered their great wisdom about what matters most in life. Encountering the Lord powerfully in the sacrament of penance and in a return to the faith, Quentin carried his financial skills to work for the Church and eventually came to his present position in the Department of Spiritual Affairs at the archdiocese to guide their 226 parishes into the spirituality of “deep stewardship.” In 2018, Thomas Cardinal Collins, the Archbishop of Toronto, issued a pastoral letter on stewardship in which he describes what the spirituality of deep stewardship means. In contrast to a shallow stewardship that focuses only on financial giving, deep stewardship is – to quote the pastoral letter – “a profound inner conversion as individuals and as a community in which we become committed to living generously in every way as the gospel calls us to do.” Quentin noted that stewardship is “a way of being” rather than a program or event. It’s about knowing where God has touched people in their lives and then inviting them to give that gift back to someone. Even the archdiocese has structured stewardship under the Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs, emphasizing that stewardship is not just or only about financial matters, but ultimately about the soul. The archdiocesan Stewardship Commission and Stewardship Sunday serve as ways to instill a conscious awareness of stewardship in every parish community. The widow praised by the Lord for her generosity was ultimately a steward, living stewardship day in and day out. We can assist each other to live the same way. Guest: Quentin Schesnuik Title: Associate Director of Parish Vitality and Stewardship, Office of Formation for Discipleship, Archdiocese of Toronto Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:48:48

Remembering the Church in your planned giving

10/26/2022
Renée Underwood has often asked, “After you’re gone, who will replace your giving to the church?” She’s quick to provide the answer: “You will!” In this episode, Renée shares her perspective of faith in engaging donors about remembering the Church in their estate plans. She understands these encounters with donors to be a graced and spiritual moment in which the fundraiser must listen to donors’ stories and appreciate the movement of God in the donor’s life. The human person is made for eternity; a planned gift is a way to serve the Church temporally as we praise God forever in the Church triumphant. Renée’s background as a spiritual director has helped her listen attentively to donors and to help them discern how best to apply their planned giving. The great thing about leaving a planned gift to a diocese, she noted, is that there are so many ministries and areas of the Church that will speak to a variety of donors’ interests. She notes that planned giving in the Church is very fertile ground. So many Catholics are bombarded by universities and other good causes for planned gifts but the Church rarely asks. That’s changed in the Diocese of Fort Worth where the bishop has begun a diocesan day of stewardship, has implemented stewardship education and formation for seminarians and the presbyterate, and has inaugurated a Light of Christ award for laity in every parish who demonstrate in their daily lives a stewardship walk of faith. Inviting the faithful to remember the Church in their estate planning isn’t something done once; it requires repetition through multiple channels of communication. Ultimately, Renée noted, people love being a part of the decision-making in how their gifts will be used for generations to come. Planned giving can also be a part of capital campaigns to encourage a gift for immediate needs and an endowed gift to support the projects for the long term. Regardless, every instrument used by a diocese for the faithful to give ought to have an option for planned giving. Nine times out of ten, people who make a planned gift considered it because of something they saw at the parish level. It’s important to keep the invitation going. She stressed that everyone in the Church needs to understand the importance of planned giving in the work of the Church today, from the individual Catholic faithful, to parish staff, to pastors. While annuities or donor advised funds are ways people can give, the diocese or parishes don’t need to be experts. Donors will have their advisors and the diocese may even have Catholic tax lawyers or financial planner to recommend. In the end, each person’s situation is unique and that’s why these gifts take a long time to put together. “You’re in the presence of God when you’re doing it. You’re doing it for the right reasons and everything will be just fine.” Guest: Renée Underwood Title: Chief Development Officer, Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth Advancement Foundation Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:56:07

Mission Advancement for a Burgeoning Diocese

9/28/2022
Ashley Linville looks at his life in gratitude for how God has opened doors and led him on new pathways. His strong Baptist faith has helped him prayerfully discern “the still, small voice” of God, and to respond with trust to opportunities that sometimes came as a surprise. Though stressful, stepping forward in faith leads to the tell-tale sign of God’s presence: peace. Ashley presides over fundraising ministry in a young but burgeoning diocese. The 185-year-old Diocese of Nashville (established in 1837) in Middle Tennessee is not home to a large Catholic population. Ashley considers his own Baptist faith journey to be an advantage to understanding the many people in the diocese who are converts, and the many more in the community who are not Catholic in their Christian discipleship. Though small comparatively speaking, the Catholic population is nonetheless vibrant and growing. Transplants from northern and more traditionally Catholic areas, Christians who’ve entered the full communion of the Church, and a growing Hispanic community have led to an ever-increasing number of the Catholic faithful. The diocesan mission statement, “Living and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, welcoming all,” is fitting. There is so much promise for tomorrow in the diocese. What some may seem as challenges that accompany such rapid growth, Ashley and the diocese embrace as opportunities. “Some people get comfortable with the status quo,” Ashley notes. Large fundraising goals can be scary to those who are accustomed to how things have been. But that hasn’t stopped the diocese from advancing. In the four years Ashley’s been with the diocese, the annual appeal goal has grown from $2.4 million to $3 million. Last year the diocese opened two new parishes, the first Catholic Mass was celebrated in one of the counties comprising the diocese, a new parish south of Nashville is blossoming and will serve as the site for a new diocesan school to open in just under two years. “People are excited about the growth,” Ashley said, and have demonstrated amazing support for the diocesan-wide A Legacy of Faith, Hope and Love capital campaign. The $50 million effort is aimed at funding priorities that Bishop Spalding heard on his “look, listen, & learn” tour upon arriving as bishop. He heard over and over… “we need strong vocations, good priests, strong Catholic education and opportunities for poor families, and help for others in the community who are struggling to thrive and survive.” Development work at first caused Ashley a lot of anxiety as he didn’t like asking for money. He’s learned, however, that it’s about relationships and taking the time to share with others what the need is. “That’s what we’ve done in this campaign.” And the effects of people’s generosity bears fruit for generations to come. “It’s like a shade tree. We have a lot of maple trees in Tennessee but a maple sapling is only 4 to 6 inches high; we can’t sit under its shade. But in 50 years, the maple saplings we’re planting today will provide shade for our children and grandchildren. They can sit in the shade and bask in the faith.” Ashley doesn’t think of donors as donors but as friends, fellow disciples. Ashley thinks of his work as a way to live by a scriptural text he says is his guiding principle: “yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me, insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). Guest: Ashley Linville Title: Director of Stewardship Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:45:51

Development as Personal Relationship

8/31/2022
During his early career in banking, Bill Maloney decided to step out of accounting and take the Dale Carnegie Class on Human Relations, which led him to push through his introversion and make strategic recommendations to bank management and colleagues. This opened the door to development, which Bill emphasizes is premised on strong personal relationships. Bill has learned that while approaching major donors can be intimidating and risky, it’s important to remember that we all share a common human nature and need for God. When we can tap into that reality and get past trappings and exteriors, confidence grows. We’re all on the same path. Personal relationship at the heart of development work is the key to avoiding popular misconceptions that fundraising is simply a sales job or commercial exchange. Development, Bill says, is an invitation to participate in something great. You feel good about that. And for the invitation to have a favorable response, there needs to be trust. For those who work in diocesan fundraising, parochialism can be a challenge; to earn the trust of the faithful, it’s important to be involved in one’s own parish and identify with those invited to support the diocese. Also important is to educate parishioners across the diocese that giving to diocesan needs is, in fact, supporting one’s own parish as well. And, of course, building trust as a foundation to personal relationship is not something done quickly but only patiently with the passage of time. In his archdiocese, Bill and his team have implemented several strategies to keep communications with donors frequent to build relationship. Each week they place a huge number of phone calls to parishioners across the diocese for no other reason than to say “thank you.” While seemingly a small thing, it’s rarely done and its impact is significant. Bill also began monthly emails to the entire archdiocesan database in which he shares personal stories and invites others to share their personal stories as well. He crafts and tailors a minimum of three emails every day to send to donors. Each September the archdiocese sends a request to have people provide prayer requests to the archbishop who then prays over them in his home. Bill continues to be amazed at how these efforts have generated a very great response. Unless you open yourself up to others and let others know you, Bill notes, others will be hesitant to do the same. Guest: Bill Maloney Title: Executive Director of the Office of Stewardship & Development, Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, Executive Director of the Catholic Foundation of Northeast Kansas Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com. Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram To contact the podcast, email twb@steiergroup.com.

Duration:00:44:49