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Stewardship for seasoned leadership

FEAST OF JOHN NEUMANN, BISHOP

“You will see greater things than this.”

There’s a time to build and a time to tear down, the Book of Ecclesiastes says.  Today as we recall the gift that John Neumann shared in his life and ministry provides an opportunity to pause and examine how we are stewarding our gifts for the good of others.  I am sure you, like me, have been trying to stick to some new year’s resolutions.  Stewardship is a worthy resolve. Bishop John Neumann led the diocese of Philadelphia in the 1850s, a time of explosive growth in the immigrant Catholic population in the U.S. Under his leadership the number of Catholic schools increased from 1 to 200 and on average a new parish opened every month! We live in another era, one in which Catholic schools and parishes are being consolidated, closed, or otherwise changed in many parts of the nation. Each age calls for different gifts but good stewardship is never out of season. Pray that church leaders will be good and faithful stewards of the great legacy entrusted to their care.