Monsignor Thomas McGread is considered the Father of Stewardship, developing “Stewardship as a Way of Life” during his time as pastor of St Francis of Assisi parish on the west side of Wichita.

In 1985 Bishop Gerber proclaimed the Wichita diocese a stewardship diocese and made changes to how they operate in accord with the vision of Stewardship as a Way of Life as it was already being lived in two parishes.

About 20 years later, Bishop Jackels realized there was not a common definition or understanding of stewardship in the diocese. As a result, a 25 word definition of stewardship was agreed to and a group developed a teaching on “The Four Pillars of Stewardship” which was taught at every parish.

In the Diocese of Wichita in general and at St Francis of Assisi Parish in particular, the Church had the experience of lived stewardship rather than pointing to a dream or vision of how things ought to be. This reality can be viewed through one of two lenses.

The first lens is through the Four Pillars of Stewardship. It is important to note this lens was developed by people who had been experiencing aspects of Stewardship as a Way of Life for at least 20 years. From their perspective, it can be difficult to articulate how they are different from other parishes or dioceses. If you’ve in a diocese where 70% of registered members attend Mass each weekend, how do you explain why that number isn’t less that 50%? The Wichita Director of Stewardship once told me a young priest suggested an innovative, new idea for fund-raising. This young priest had never heard of it before, but it was working well for one of his buddies from seminary. It was called a “Second Collection.” A second collection was outside his experience.

The Four Pillars of Stewardship accomplished what was intended for a diocese where there were no second collections for 20 years and no annual appeal for 20 years and the schools didn’t charge tuition for 20 years and they had done stewardship renewals for at least 20 consecutive years. It doesn’t hurt a parish wanting to embrace stewardship. But it is not a blueprint for transformation.

The second lens is through the research of Gallup. If you listened to Monsignor McGread speak to pastors about what to do, early in his talks two of the points he would make were, “Before people will listen to anything, their spiritual needs must be met.” And, “I realized people were looking for standards in their life” so he realized his people needed standards for their faith and church life. The first engagement question on the ME25 is, “As a member of my parish, I know what is expected of me.” The second question is, “In my parish, my spiritual needs are met.” It’s like someone was given the spiritual insight that the earth revolves around the sun instead of vice-versa at the same time scientists proved it.

In Fides et Ratio, St John Paul II told how God can be found through faith or reason. I firmly believe Monsignor McGread was a prophet of God who found the right answers by faith. I believe Gallup got to the same place by reason. Monsignor Hanson and I were once discussing the similarities between Vatican II documents and the research based conclusions of Gallup when he said, “That’s what I love about Gallup, they keep proving we [Catholics] are right.”