Intentional Disciples

Katherine Coolidge from the Catherine of Siena Institute enjoys a conversation on Twelve Wicker Baskets on the importance of intentional discipleship and stewardship in parish communities. Katherine shares her experience in parish ministry and her work with the Institute, highlighting programs like Ananias Training and the Called and Gifted Discernment Process. These initiatives help parishioners identify and share their spiritual gifts, fostering a culture where generosity and mission are rooted in a personal relationship with God. She emphasizes that stewardship should move beyond transactional giving, encouraging parish leaders to inspire deeper engagement through prayerful discernment, storytelling, and communal responsibility. As Katherine explains, “For us to be able to take care of that, we have to cast a broader and deeper vision for our people and call them into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Because it’s when they’re walking with Jesus that they can begin to grasp John Paul II’s vision…ultimately we are called to bear fruit and it’s not just taking care of those things that are closest to us, but it’s also being there for the sake of the world.” 

Katherine also addresses practical challenges in fundraising and parish leadership, advocating for transparency and a clear sense of mission to build trust and support. Sharing examples of parishes that have successfully cultivated stewardship, she includes stories of sacrificial giving and community impact.  Storytelling is highlighted as a powerful tool for connecting parishioners to the transformative work of the church.

Guest: Katherine Coolidge
Title: Director, Parish and Diocesan Services, Catherine of Siena Institute

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Transcript

Christopher Beaudet

I'm Christopher Beaudet with the Steier Group. 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. It seems that whenever you and I set to work and do our part, God provides the abundance. In each episode of this podcast, I'll explore with pastoral leaders and development professionals from across the United States and Canada 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. You're listening to Twelve Wicker Baskets. 

Thank you so very much for joining us on Twelve Wicker Baskets. This month I'm delighted to have as my guest Katherine Coolidge, who joined the Institute staff of Catherine of Siena Institute in 2014 after two decades of parish ministry in various capacities. She is a contributor to the book Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples and co-authored a book with Bobby Vidal, Ananias Training: Traveling with Others the Discipleship Path. She is a regular contributor to Faith Catholics Daily Homilies, Universal Prayers and Commentaries. Her responsibilities include working with institute presenters and collaborators to help parish and diocesan leaders develop and implement strategies and pathways for evangelization and disciple making. She presents workshops, continuing education for clergy and pastoral leaders, retreats and parish missions. She possesses a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies from Saint Joseph College of Maine and on her off time she enjoys quilting, gardening and hanging out with her husband, Michael, on their 2.5 acres of heaven in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Katherine, thank you so much for joining us on Twelve Wicker Baskets. It's a delight to have you.

Katherine Coolidge

Well, thank you so much, Christopher, for inviting me. This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart, so I look forward to our conversation.

Christopher Beaudet

That's what we like our conversations near and dear to hearts. Yeah, well, I appreciate, you know, your extensive background and I want to tap into that as we talk about some themes of discipleship and being very intentional about that appropriate formation for that intentionality of discipleship. Which I know is a theme and focus of the Catherine of Siena Institute. You've spent over 20 years in parish ministry before joining the Institute. If that's correct, and what drew you, what drew you to this work of of forming intentional disciples? Did you run into a lot of unintentional disciples?

Katherine Coolidge

That's correct. Well, I was very blessed to have met Sherry several years before I joined the Institute staff and I was one of these parish leaders who was tearing my hair out. And I was we were at at at this particular parish, we were in the we were launching a $18 million capital campaign to build a new church. And I had been hired. I was a wet behind the ears, director of evangelization. And it was. How do you encourage people you know, to be blunt, to give more? But then I encountered the work of the Institute even prior to the writing of Forming Intentional Disciples. And Sherry made the point disciples give, they pray. They study. They live as Jesus lived not out of the sense of duty or obligation, but out of that lived relationship with God and that resonated with me because those that I saw that were imitating the the joyful, cheerful heart of a steward or disciples.

Christopher Beaudet

Hmm.

Katherine Coolidge

And So, what I realized was, you know, for all the things that we look for particularly I'm I'm very, very much aware having been on parish staff, we have to mind what I call the Ls, the lights, the locks, the leaks and the loos. You know, there's just a lot of brick and mortar things. There's there's and it takes money and I understand that. But for but for us to be able to take care of that, we have to cast a broader and deeper vision for our people and call them into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Because it's when.

Christopher Beaudet

Right.

Katherine Coolidge

They're walking with Jesus that they can begin to grasp John Paul II’s vision of us. He echoed Jesus's words from John, the 15th chapter of John's Gospel, when he talked about Jesus is the vine, and we're the branches. And ultimately we are called to bear fruit and it's not just taking care of those things that are closest to us, the parish campus and our our logistical needs within the parish, but it's also taking being there for the sake of the world.

Christopher Beaudet

Right. Right. I I'm thinking of Pope Francis. How he uh, you know, at times said. That. Very often, instead of going after the one lost sheep, you know we we kind of take care of the 99 and there is that certain outward focus of the church. That's inherent constitutive of the churches being is to be outward focused.

Katherine Coolidge

Right. Yes, exactly, exactly.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah. And I'm I'm curious about the the book, Ananias Training. Talk a little bit about the figure of Ananias and and what training. We're talking about.

Katherine Coolidge

OK. So Ananias, training is actually a it's the formation process that my buddy Bobby Vidal and I we were both in Parish ministry at the time when we were touring with this idea. It really is a practical guide to raising up analysis. And it's inspired by Sherry was talking in forming intentional. Disciples about as people begin to move along this conversion journey, they need an Antonius to come alongside them, as Ananias did along Saul. And so we created this process to help people be able to walk with one another. Now here's the really cool thing about it. Bobby and I started this journey in 2012. We were talking about accompaniment. And then, of course, Pope Francis has elected the joy of the gospel came along, and all of a sudden we're talking about. Accompanying people. But it's truly what's important, we find that.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

People as they move along, they need someone who can ask them some deeper questions, can challenge them to talk about who is Jesus for you and then help them take those next steps as they grow to being a disciple and then eventually grow as a disciple.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

To the point where they can be sent by Jesus as an apostle.

Christopher Beaudet

And Ananias also gave confidence to Saul, did he not? He he was there to call him my brother and welcome him into this post. Damascus. This new missionary evangelistic life that Paul was called to live and he so many others were afraid of Saul because of his his zeal in persecuting the faith. And Ananias had been probably equally afraid, but had been prompted by God to receive Saul. So. I guess even the.

Katherine Coolidge

Ananias. Yeah, Ananias had it. But, I mean, he pushed back. He told God. He said, don't you know who that guy is? But the cool thing was God for deal to him that he.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, he did well. Right, yeah.

Katherine Coolidge

Had a purpose for Saul.

Christopher Beaudet

Right.

Katherine Coolidge

He had a mission for Saul, and this goes back to what Joe, JP II said in his document on Christ. Like faithful. He talks about communion and mission. They are co-essential. We need our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And that fuels our mission. And then as we begin to live our mission, that deepens our communion because we realize we cannot be on mission with Jesus without the rest of the church. We need our brothers and sisters. Yeah. So it's it's a beautiful thing when you begin to make.

Christopher Beaudet

Exactly. Right.

Katherine Coolidge

Disciples and they begin to see that they can take their place. In the work of the Kingdom of God here on Earth. And what is Jesus calling them to? And this goes right back to stewardship because.

Christopher Beaudet

MM.

Katherine Coolidge

At. At the Catherine Siena Institute, one of the things we spend a lot of time talking about, we have a program called the called and gifted Discernment Process. I don't know if. You're familiar with it.

Christopher Beaudet

I I've I've read a lot about it and particularly in light of our conversation today, but say more about it.

Katherine Coolidge

OK, sure. So when we are baptized at our baptism, we received gifts from the Holy Spirit. Most people know the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit that we receive. Those are to help us grow in holiness and in our relationship with God. But God also gifts us with what are called charisms. Thomas Aquinas called them gratuitous graces. These are graces that are given to us, not for our own benefit, not for our own edification, our sanctification, but to equip us to give them away to others so that we can be a channel of God's love and provision for others. So when we talk about the stewarding of God's gifts, it's also the stewarding of these charisms, you know, God is challenging us. Don't just put them on the shelf and forget about them. But what we find, it's fascinating. I as people begin to discern these charisms they begin to see themselves. Was a giving channel of God's grace, and that translates also into changing their relationship. The material things and it changes how they were, how they respond to giving.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

In the context of the needs of the church or the needs of the mission, because they begin to see that the two are linked, that is, that our charisms and our substance God is calling us to share both of those for the sake of the Kingdom.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM. Mm-hmm. Right. And and I wonder too if maybe. The because the material or temporal resources may appear to be more limited than, say, spiritual charisms or gifts of personality that we can share that, you know, we might be more tempted to cling or hoard or reserve the material resources. But yet the more trained I would imagine, or more accustomed or habitual virtue that we learn of sharing that charism, it reorients our whole sense of giftedness and that well actually even. Even these material goods too, when I give generously, will be folded back a hundredfold into my life.

Katherine Coolidge

Exactly, exactly. And I think also there's some things that we can do at the parochial and the diocesan level to be able to help foster that one. One of the things that I've noticed as I've worked with parishes, now that I'm at the institute.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM. And you've worked with parishes all over the country, and indeed all over the world, correct? Yeah.

Katherine Coolidge

Sharon. All over the world, all over the world. Yeah. Yeah. Where I was, I we worked with parish. But Australia, Canada, the UK, Ecuador, the Philippines, Singapore, that's just a few of the places that we've worked. Yeah, but we what we find is when we begin to talk about when we begin to talk from a context of charisms, it changes the parish.

Christopher Beaudet

Wonderful.

Katherine Coolidge

Culture and it impacts that desire to be a stewardship, culture, culture in all aspects, time, talent and treasure, which we often, you know, boil it down to the Tees. For instance, when? When we work with a group of parishes and they they they have a number of people who have gone through the called and gifted process, they begin to realize, hey, we can walk away from what I call the worn body ad in the bulletin. We need someone, for example, we need someone to pour juice at coffee and doughnuts. After the 9:00 mass.

Christopher Beaudet

Right, right.

Katherine Coolidge

I mean, it's just a very simple. Little thing, but think of the transformation when you ask, do you have a charisma of hospitality? Or perhaps service? Would you like to put your gift at the service of the parish by helping out? It's a totally different conversation and it hits people different where they live. Because you're calling for something that God has given them and is challenging them to share.

Christopher Beaudet

Mm-hmm. MHM, MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

So it becomes, it becomes a response. It becomes that disciples response that we're looking that Archbishop Murphy talked about in a stewardship and disciples response. So it and it does it changes how people react and respond.

Christopher Beaudet

So you know, you talk about the work that you do with parishes and and the Institute focuses on equipping leaders at the both parochial and and diocesan level. Maybe just talking about parishes and and pastors because pastors themselves aren't always well formed or haven't had the benefit of some direct formation and how stewardship is integral to discipleship. Sometimes stewardship can still be perceived as kind of your stick, if that's what you're into, and I'm not. So therefore I you know.

Katherine Coolidge

Right.

Christopher Beaudet

Look for warm bodies. So what? What formation or training do you think? Do you believe Parish leaders probably need most? In order to integrate stewardship effectively into parish life, and this is something that for obvious reasons, directly touches upon the work of fundraising and. You know, capital campaigns that the Steyer group does because we want those to be more than transactional. We want them to be born out of and flow out of.

Katherine Coolidge

Uh.

Christopher Beaudet

A A life of Stewart understanding of stewardship so. Yeah. How can pastors be equipped? How can parish lay leaders be equipped to UM to help do that? Integration of stewardship effectively into parish life?

Katherine Coolidge

Oh, wow. Oh, there's a there's a lot of things.

Christopher Beaudet

In 2 minutes please.

Katherine Coolidge

What I find is most important is. Where are they in their own relationship with the Lord?

Christopher Beaudet

M It always comes down to that, doesn't it? Very simply.

Katherine Coolidge

A lot of it does. It does. I think there's and you know, I'm I I am well aware. Parishes are different from place to place. Sometimes it's the the poor pastor and a Lady Stewardship committee and a secretary and that's. Or it can be a very complex staff of 20 or 30 people. So it once again, not so. I'll talk in very general terms, recognizing it's going to look a little different in different areas. There needs to be a commitment on the part. This is something that we're finding in incredibly important.

Christopher Beaudet

Sure.

Katherine Coolidge

It begins with a commitment to to what we call Apostolic intercessory prayer.

Christopher Beaudet

Hmm.

Katherine Coolidge

Shari's writing a book on that right now and it's due to come out the first part of the year. And let me just unpack that a little bit. It's essentially interceding for the mission of Jesus in our time and place. It's a prayer that calls us to deepen our own relationship with the Lord. Because what we find is to call people into a life of stewardship, we have to call them into a life of discipleship. The 2GO hand in hand. But we also have to form them to call people also to mission people want to. And it's a natural inclination we have, and we find it's incredibly important to help people. See themselves as something bigger than what they than themselves. You know, there's just a natural and I think when we, you know, when we talk about here was the operatory last year. Here's what the budget looks like. You divide the budget by 52. This is what we need for an auditory. This year. I think if Father just makes that ask from the pulpit. There, there's a part of the late person that's going to respond. OK, sure. I want to help father, but when he makes when? When he says. Here's what we're committed to. And here's our mission for the next year. That's a totally different conversation, but that starts with Father and his leadership team, whatever that may look like, praying together and discerning what is it that God is calling us to, and that's where Apostolic intercessory prayer comes in, is we begin to ask Jesus, what is it? How can we help further the Kingdom here at Saint Aloysius Parish? Whatever it might be.

Christopher Beaudet

Umm, yeah, we'll say money follows mission. So if you lead with mission, then the then the the.

Katherine Coolidge

Yeah.

Christopher Beaudet

I can. I can see how it's easy to stop at the money. Like, here's what we need, you know, fill in the the put the bottom line is and and can. Yeah. It's similar to calling out gifts like you have gifts to give of your resources. And this is going to how you how you can help advance mission. One way you can.

Katherine Coolidge

Exactly. Let me give you 1 concrete example. So like I said, I was at a parish that had an $18 million capital campaign and we eventually did build a new church, the the parish campus that on the top of the hill overlooking Metro Los Angeles.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah.

Katherine Coolidge

Well, we as a staff went out. They had, they had leveled the area we were, we've been given permission by the the archdiocese to move forward with our capital campaign. We were with our building project because this was right after of course the 2008 economic crash. We yeah, we had excellent timing like four months before that. We had gotten our bill. We had finally clear. Heard the hurdles with the city and we and then everything. The bottom just fell out like it did for everybody. But but the archdiocese said they were willing to let us go forward. So we were encouraging people to give in spite of economic difficulties. Just, you know, do what you can. We're standing on the edge of the property they had just cleared where the new church was going to be, and we were standing where the altar was and we were looking out and what could we see that we could not see before because there was a wall with trees there. But the city of Los Angeles. And I don't remember who it was on staff, but somebody said what was in, I think all of our hearts because we were just stunned seeing that view. It's like our parish is here for the sake of the city.

Christopher Beaudet

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Coolidge

So we took that vision to our people and we began to tell stories about how, as we were making disciples, those disciples became people for the sake of the city, and people responded to that.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful. Cause it it makes it takes their their faith life out of an enclave and yeah. And the pastor was felt prepared, equipped, embrace that vision and was able to feed that and preach to it and encouraged others to to see that.

Katherine Coolidge

Exactly. Exactly right. Not it was David. But he was. He was already committed to a culture of stewardship. He he talked about our parish being a stewardship parish, but it took it to the next level for him spiritually as well because.

Christopher Beaudet

Was his name Ananias, by any chance? OK. Well, that's all right. OK.

Katherine Coolidge

It challenged him, he said he was he was a very, very good man, started every morning with a holy hour in the Chapel at the rectory. And he said, I found that my prayer was transformed during that time to praying for the city to be able to share with people. What was the vision for our parish? For the sake of the city and one of the things we also did was we chose people. For our stewardship talks that could get up at the end of mass and talk a little bit about how they were living life as a steward of the gifts that God had given. Them. And many of them we found were talking about efforts that we had no idea they were doing. Thing we had one couple in the parish. She was a social worker. He was in the legal system and he was talking about how he was bringing parolees in and mentoring and coaching them so that they did not go back into a life of crime. She. Was taking other social workers over to Africa. To work with genocide survivors and trained village elders on basic trauma therapy that they could do with the children. So it wasn't just a matter of their going over and doing therapy, but actually equipping the village elders to be able to continue the process. After they left, nobody in the parish had any idea. But as they heard the pastor preach, they realized they were responding to and sharing the gifts that God had given them out. And for the sake of the world, really.

Christopher Beaudet

Yep, Yep. So yeah, we and and we talked about charisms, you know being particular gifts, whereas there are certain gifts bestowed upon all by by God, right.

Katherine Coolidge

Right.

Christopher Beaudet

And that those charisms are not meant to simply for the aggrandizing of one’s own ego or station in life, etcetera. And it might be tempting to say that some people maybe. Well, let me ask you this. Would it be incorrect to say that some people are given the charism of generosity? And some are given the charism of stewardship because aren't those part of that universal gift of God to all?

Katherine Coolidge

Well, here's the interesting thing we there is a charism called giving and it is a radical trust to the love, power, power and provision of God that allows one to give. So it's first and foremost rooted in our own lived relationship with God. But people with the charism of giving. They're known for giving away 80% and living on 20%, for instance. You know a lot of them say, you know, if my family members knew what I was doing, they locked me up because they're they're just extraordinary givers. But as we always say at a called and gift, a workshop, if George has a charism of.

Christopher Beaudet

OK.

Katherine Coolidge

Giving that doesn't mean that everybody else in the in the Pew on Sunday can pass the basket down to George and say here you give for everything. It doesn't take the place of the Christian call to be a cheerful giver, so stewardship.

Christopher Beaudet

Right, right, right. MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

Is is a discipline to which all the baptized are called. It's just how each one of us is a stewardship, a steward of God's manifest mysteries, and of his gifts is going to be different and unique, just like we all don't have the same charisms how our expression of stewardship. To differ from person to person in circumstance to circumstance.

Christopher Beaudet

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And we always caution our clients that we work with who may. Well, or maybe better put in many communities, if not most, if not all, there are some people who have resources or means whose past generosity may be well noted and appreciated, no doubt. But there can develop sometimes a kind of sugar daddy mentality where they're always going to be here to bail us out or or my money doesn't matter quite as much because I I just can't give at that level or make that kind of an impact, etcetera.

Katherine Coolidge

Hola. Right. Umm.

Christopher Beaudet

And one of the emphasis of stewardship in the efforts that we run is that, you know, in essence the widows might no matter what, no matter what you can give. We're intentional about asking that it be sacrificial, but what that means for you will be the fruit of prayerful discernment. But but the more sacrificial you're giving, the more joyful you're giving will be.

Katherine Coolidge

Amen. Amen. Yeah, and I think that's that's the beauty. When we can introduce people to the vision of the parish as a communion of persons. You know, communion and mission are so intertwined and linked and communion gives rise to mission. Mission gives rise to communion. And if we can begin to talk about how we each are called and you said it so well, prayerfully discerned prayerfully discern you know, and that I you know, I've sat in many of you in many different parishes. I travel and I speak all over the all over the country, in the world. And sometimes I land on stewardship Sunday and.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, right. Because the other 51?

Katherine Coolidge

You know and. Yeah, yeah. You know how it goes. And but. It when when the pastor or the head of the Finance Council, whoever is the one that's that's passing out, that's directing the filling out of the stewardship cards that particular Sunday as they begin to talk. When I heard one guy just put it so beautifully because he said.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

He said. I challenge you, take your card with you because they they would pass them out one week and they'd return them the next week, he said. Take your card with you, he said. Stop by the adoration Chapel. Spend some time with Jesus and prayerfully consider, he said. But then he also said, but also take it to your kitchen table. Talk to your family members. How are we going to commit as a communion of persons to support the mission of the church? And so it was just so beautiful to hear him use such. You know, incredible faith filled language and I had a chance to speak with him after mass and this particular individual. Absolutely. He was a disciple of Jesus and he and he said this is just the easiest thing for me to say, he said. Because it's so obvious to me. And I said, well, it's not always obvious to all of us.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah. Right, right.

Katherine Coolidge

And that's why you say it. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that is beautiful. I like that. He incorporated both the the the practical, the prudential virtue of prudence, of the natural order and prayerfulness of the spiritual order to come to a a decision about it.

Katherine Coolidge

Hmm.

Christopher Beaudet

Excellent.

Katherine Coolidge

Exactly.

Christopher Beaudet

What I'd like to do right now is just take a brief break and then when we come back, Catherine, I'd love to talk a little bit more about the this culture of stewardship and discipleship, but also again, Visa V fundraising and inviting into mission and some some practical tips and experiences that that you've had. And also maybe to look down the road and forecast how you see movements on in this matter, maybe in the church and in the US, so don't go anywhere. I am speaking with Catherine Coolidge about intentional disciples and themes of stewardship and disciples.

Katherine Coolidge

Mm-hmm.

Christopher Beaudet

We will be right back.

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Christopher Beaudet

Thank you for staying with us. I'm speaking with Katherine Coolidge from the Catherine St. Catherine of the Catherine of Sienna Institute, and she serves as director of Parish and Diocesan and Services there about intentional disciples and and what an impact that makes of knowing the Lord, encountering him and setting us on the path of generous. Mission before the break, we were talking about. You know the various ways that parishes can foster this sense of, of generosity and others, certainly by calling people to prayer and and serious reflection on their gifts and whatever those gifts are, to recognize that they are to be shared. Sometimes pastors or parish leaders worry that fundraising can distract. You know, asking for money is kind of the unfortunate CD business side of of of things, that's a necessity in order to get on with the real, the real work of pastoral ministry, which is of course sacramental life and and you know you name it, how do you? We we've we've talked about this, but I guess if you were to address that false dichotomy directly. In an elevator speech, how would you? Where would you start? How would you address that and break that down?

Katherine Coolidge

OK. I think one of the things is to not forget that people like to be called into something bigger than themselves. And so the the fundraising, how you. How you tactic how you tackle the practical? First begins with knowing why does the parish exist and what is our mission?

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

You know, we had A tag line at a previous parish. Love God, love all people make disciples. That was our. That was our our mission statement. I think if you put it in the context of you know, we need to tackle the practical. But how does the practical serve the mission for that? We as a parish are called to a part of that is, yes, transparency I, you know. Some people are more numbers based than others, but I think when people are given the practical, this is how much money it it costs to run the parish. And these are the things we have to pay for that transparency gives them some confidence on a very human level that they know where their money is going to. So that's one thing.

Christopher Beaudet

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Coolidge

But I think you also have to couple it with a call to with with stories of. How is it we are being fruitful disciples bearing fruit for the Kingdom? And fulfilling the mission that we have been given for our time and our place. So that's where I think the testimonies come into play is how can we talk about and in today's world especially there are so many needs as I call it outside the walls.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah.

Katherine Coolidge

And that I'm writing a book right now on the on pre evangelization and I'm just I'm just wrapping up and getting ready to send it off to my editor this week. So it's on my heart. But I talk about we are called to be first responders for Jesus, especially those of us who are lay, you know, we we see all the statistics about how many people are not coming to church and how many Catholics, you know how many. Former Catholics are out in the world. How many who are non practicing Catholics? They pertain the identity, but yet they don't come. As well as people who are seeking God, but maybe they don't even know it outside the walls. So what I find is interesting. When parishes begin to identify their mission and can concretely talk about this, is this is how we are going to use the funds that you entrust us with?

Christopher Beaudet

Mm-hmm.

Katherine Coolidge

To fulfill the mission of Jesus and to meet these needs, people are a lot a lot more responsive when they see themselves as part of that big mission.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM. You mentioned stories.

Katherine Coolidge

Yeah.

Christopher Beaudet

Jesus taught with stories.

Katherine Coolidge

Amen.

Christopher Beaudet

And it it worked for him. Talk about storytelling. Why? That moves hearts as opposed to just being informed. Here's here are the needs. Here's the urgency of the needs. Here's what you can do to help address those. Means please stand for the creed. What? What's the story? Benefit of of that. We we we believe that at the Steyr Group all the time. Storytelling is essential to to sharing the mission. Why do you think storytelling is so important and so effective?

Katherine Coolidge

I think a lot of times it provides people with context the the numbers are sort of abstract.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

Paying the utility bill is just sort of very mundane, pragmatic, but if we know that the reason that we're turning the heat on is because once a quarter we host families that are unhoused through family promise that we're part of that effort, that's one what one parish did and they told the story of how. How a family was transformed. I think the story. Provides people with the understanding of the fruit that they're called to bear for the life of the world. I I say a lot of times the Devils in the details and the details are in the stories.

Christopher Beaudet

Hmm.

Katherine Coolidge

So you know, we can give people a, you know, a budget spreadsheet and they can see that, you know, they can see on a. An academic level that you know, we're using the funds wisely.

Christopher Beaudet

Sure. Right, transparency and accountability, etcetera.

Katherine Coolidge

Hi. Absolutely. Yeah. But. How is it transforming people's lives? Because that's what we're called to do. And the stories tell the transformation. It's not just that we're doing things for the sake of doing, but we're doing things for the sake of the Kingdom.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah. Yeah. Right, right. And if stewardship is others focus, then obviously as opposed to an understanding of just transactional money is mine till I give it away when I decide to or. Out a a story puts reorients my whole relationship with my money to the good of others and yeah.

Katherine Coolidge

Exactly.

Christopher Beaudet

How do you see evangelization, discipleship, stewardship kind of intersecting in the future of parish life in the US? What kind of, what kind of you've been at this for a little while now and what kind of trends do you see are there, are there fruits you've seen come of the of the the recent magisterial voice? And your own work in the Institute's work. Are there new threats or challenges that you hadn't seen before? Number what are your? What's your? Forecast, I guess.

Katherine Coolidge

My forecast. Ohh gosh.

Christopher Beaudet

Or trends.

Katherine Coolidge

Trends that I see is we we're facing some demographic realities as we all know you know the the Boomers of which I am.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah. OK. MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

On are, you know, moving into retirement, there's a question of the, you know, what's and this is just an overall question within Society of transfer of well and where the resource is going to come from. You know, you look at a lot of philanthropic organizations, they're struggling with the same thing.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

Exercises and millennials are are not as big givers as the the Boomers because they don't have as much discretionary income. That's just the breast tax reality for many people. But what we find is sometimes, perhaps, and you talked about the sugar daddy. Sometimes we've relied on two small a handful of. What we used to call pardon the crass term petty hitters in the parish to make sure that the bulk of the money was there. I remember. And I I got a little bristled at the time because one of the members of the Finance Council said, well, you know how this works, Catherine. We go to a handful of big time donors. We secure 80% of the money and then the little people can give 20%. And I and you know, my heart just sunk. I just said no. That's not how it should work, but I think that's going to be the opportunity going forward is looking more at that widow's mite, many, many widows mites put together are going to fund the mission of the church. Mm-hmm. So I think it's calling us to a healthier place. It's calling us to. Through at at the Institute, we estimate that presently. You know 3 to 5% of all Catholics who go to church every Sunday are intentional disciples, that's all.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM.

Katherine Coolidge

So. Evangelization is going to be important to making disciples, who can then respond. Out of generosity to supporting the church, no matter what their particular balance sheet may look like. But I think it's calling us actually in my estimation to a little bit healthier place to look at us as more of a communion of stewards. Rather than a group of people who just do the best and we give what we can when father needs help, right? So that's what I'm seeing emerge.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah. Yeah. And that so that's and and and like so many things in the history of the church, there tends to be seeds of regrowth and blooming when there's been. Kind of seeming or actual kind of. Scaling back or shrinking or struggle. So that's.

Katherine Coolidge

I think sometimes the success factors that we've relied upon in previous eras need to fail and provide a vacuum for new initiatives and new people to emerge.

Christopher Beaudet

MHM. Yeah, I'm struck at the turn of the century. Well, last turn of the century, 19th into the 20th and that. The gorgeous churches people built.

Speaker

Mm-hmm.

Christopher Beaudet

And they they were coming. You know, without not a lot of resources, but they it wasn't more of a grassroots maybe. I mean, clearly there were philanthropists etcetera. But but when yeah, when those widow mites come together it's it's pretty pretty a mighty widow more collective.

Katherine Coolidge

Amen.

Christopher Beaudet

I guess in in in our last few minutes here, you know we our theme is 12 Wicker baskets of course, which highlights the the generosity of God that what starts with meager resources and perhaps a bleak horizon of how we're going to handle urgent needs ends up being not only meeting them, but while we've got. We've got leftovers. Do you have a 12 Wicker baskets moment or experience to share from from your work of of building up Catholic apostolates and working with various parishes or diocesan leaders?

Katherine Coolidge

I actually do have a wonderful story. There is an amazing parish in Ann Arbor, MI. It's called Christ the King that we've we've worked with members of that parish for decades now. It's an extraordinary parish.

Christopher Beaudet

Ohh good. I was hoping I was hoping you'd say. That. The blue.

Katherine Coolidge

Most parishes are at very early pre discipleship stages, but this is a parish that is working much more, has a much larger, probably majority of their members or disciples. But here's what the pastor could do. They had a Bishop from Africa visiting and he was preaching that Sunday and while he was there, his cathedral burned down. And the pastor, after he preached and he had already asked the Bishop if he could do this, he stood up in front of the people and he said I talked with the Bishop in his country to replace his cathedral with the $35,000. Now, he said, by a show of hands at all the masses over the weekend, if you agree, we will take this money out of our budget, out of our our coffers and we will send Bishop home with the money to rebuild his cathedral and he said. But I challenge you to replace the. You know, replace the resources. Would you be willing to do that? And the majority said yes. So they sent the money to him and then they ended up sending another $10,000 because the people responded so generously. They not only replaced the money that had been that he took back, but also had raised an additional 10,000.

Christopher Beaudet

Wow, that's beautiful.

Katherine Coolidge

And that was just the response to one weekend.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, that's yeah, that's really powerful. Yeah. And you know, and it was just that simple invitation, but there's the storytelling too. The Bishop was there.

Katherine Coolidge

Right.

Christopher Beaudet

He was able to share, you know, the the devastation that that losing that sacred space was causing the community and people felt that, you know, they were. Those were our brothers and sisters in need. There it is again. Intentional disciples is a communal reality, not not individualistic or isolated, yeah.

Katherine Coolidge

Exactly, exactly. And people give generously and in response to God's prompting. And when you have, you know, a critical mass of intentional disciples in a parish community, it changes the the. Sure.

Christopher Beaudet

Well, Katherine, I I really want to thank you for spending some time talking with me today. And I know that this conversation will bear fruit in the hearts of those who are listening and inspire. All of us really, to keep praying and going back to the Lord asking, you know, I want to be intentional about following. You where will you have me go? How will? How will you have me give. Uh. What? What? What can I do to build up what is around me and be mission driven. So for your own you know response to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your life and the work you're doing at the Catherine of Sienna Institute and. For the benefit of so many parish and diocesan communities, thank you so, so much. And thank you for the gift of your time and witnessing today.

Katherine Coolidge

Well, thank you. And I thank God for the work that the style group is doing to help parishes and diocese fulfill the mission Jesus has given them.

Christopher Beaudet

Thank you. I pray that we follow you in every parish campaign. We do. So thank you truly. Thank you. Many thanks to Katherine Coolidge from Catherine of Sienna Institute for sharing her considerable experience in forming intentional disciples and parishes and dioceses across the world. Visit www.sienna.org. To learn more about Catherine of Siena Institute. Catherine's experience underscores themes that we at the Stire group emphasize in all of our capital campaign partnerships, namely that to give is not a burden, but a joyful response that flows out of a life ordered to the good of others. A life lived intentionally after the Lord who himself was God's gift. To the world. These themes of discipleship and evangelization, stewardship, and giving mission, it's all what we love to explore on this podcast, and we hope you'll join us again next month on Twelve Wicker Baskets.