Stewardship Today

The St. Joseph Hospice Foundation

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A recent Works of Mercy Trust grant recipient, The St. Joseph Hospice Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Baton Rouge and created to provide hospice care for terminally ill patients who would otherwise be unable to afford such care because of limited financial resources or inadequate insurance coverage. Offering peace, comfort and dignity to patients and their families, the St. Joseph Hospice Foundation reaches services to non-funded patients and families in communities throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. For additional information, or to see how you might support Foundation efforts, please visit their website: www.stjosephhospicefoundation.org

One of the six recipients of this year’s Works of Mercy Trust grants is the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition (BRYC), an organization founded by high school teacher Daniel Kahn in 2009 to help “high-achieving but under-resourced high school students enter, excel in, and graduate from college so they can become full participants in society.” Staff members and volunteer supporters achieve this goal through activities as diverse as educational and recreational camps and retreats, service programs, partnerships with related organizations, instructional coursework, life skill preparation, and opportunities to work with professional mentors who serve in a great variety of business and government disciplines. More than two hundred young people are involved in various programs this year alone. Visit the informative website for additional information: https://thebyrc.org

THE STEWARD'S BOOKSHELF

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NATIONAL CATHOLIC NEWS

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Voice of Wisdom, Voice of Folly

From the Stewardship Today Archives, August 2009

Dr. Edward de Bono is the noted author of dozens of books, most of which explore his thoughts on the subjects of creative thinking and learning processes. Some have called him an expert, a term he’s chosen to define as follows: “An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgments simpler, through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore.”...read more

CATHOLIC SAINTS ON STEWARDSHIP

From St. John Chrysostom:

“What is nobler than to rule minds or to mold the character of the young? I consider that he who knows how to form the youthful mind is truly greater than all painters, sculptors, and all others of that sort.”

LOCAL DIOCESAN NEWS

Televised Mass

Catholic Life Television broadcasts the Tuesday Midday Mass, live from St. Joseph Cathedral at 12 Noon, and rebroadcasts the service at 6 PM and 10:30 PM. Visit www.catholiclifetv.org for a variety of daily Catholic programming.

Diocesan News Page

Works of Mercy Trust

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In 1991, the year just prior to his passing, Bishop Stanley J. Ott initiated the Diocese of Baton Rouge’s Works of Mercy Trust, helping to fund area ministries through awards secured by the Works of Mercy endowment. Over half a million dollars have been given to date, and six worthy beneficiaries received grant awards this May. The following six organizations offer exactly the kinds of ministry and service for which Bishop Ott was so well known, and each is a welcome addition to the list of past recipients: the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition (BYRC), Life of a Single Mom, the St. Joseph Hospice Foundation, Evergreen Presbyterian Ministries, the Urban Restoration Enhancement Corporation (UREC), and the Women’s Community Rehabilitation Center.

STEWARDSHIP IN SCRIPTURE

“When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, ‘Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me teacher and master, and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.’ ”

(John 13:12-15; New American Bible, Revised Edition)

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Planned Giving

Avoid These 7 Charitable Giving Mistakes

You give because you want to make a difference, but you—and the causes you care about—may not be getting the most from your charitable giving. Learn to avoid the following common giving mistakes to ensure you and the organizations you support may reap the greatest benefit from your generosity.

AUGUST 2018

Stewardship: A Louisiana Legacy

Welcome to Baton Rouge,

Bishop Michael G. Duca!

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The Diocese of Baton Rouge welcomes Bishop-designate Michael Gerard Duca, to be installed as the sixth Bishop of Baton Rouge on Friday, August 24, 2018, at 2 PM in St. Joseph Cathedral. The evening before, on Thursday, August 23 at 7 PM, Bishop Duca will lead a prayer service at St. George Catholic Church, 7808 St. George Drive. As certain events are by invitation only, a full schedule of activities, including information regarding access, is available through the following link, a dedicated site offering multiple, related resources. ...read more

The Stewardship of Prayer

Spiritual Nurture from the Great I Am

The most gifted teachers regularly test students with ideas that demand more than casual assent. As the Master Teacher, Jesus frequently challenged his listeners, stretching their thinking and stimulating their understanding. To a devout Jewish audience, as recorded in the Gospel of John, he connected the fundamental Old Testament identity of the great “I Am” to his personal provision of spiritual nurture. “ ‘I am the bread of life,’ ” he told them. “ ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world’ ” (John 6:48, 51). Many didn’t like it at all....read more

For He Is Just ... read more

The Stewardship of Ministry

Others Watch When We Follow

College basketball coaching legend John Wooden is often credited with affirming the difference between character and reputation. “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching,” an idea others have phrased like this: “Character is what you are when no one is looking.” Well, in an age of cell phone cameras and ubiquitous social media, not only does it seem someone is always looking, but more than a few are recording our actions for posterity.. . .read more

The Power to Heal ... read more

The Stewardship of Finance

The Appearance of Good

On September 3, 1969, over a hundred golf balls rained from the sky near a golf course in Punta Gorda, Florida, along Charlotte Harbor on the Gulf Coast, less than a half hour from Fort Myers. Observers believed the golf balls may have been taken up by either a tornado or water spout and deposited inland in a bizarre modern-day picture of biblical tempests involving plagues of frogs, locusts, lice and worse. In antiquity, the heavens also yielded bounty and blessings, of course. Even bread.. . .read more

Plenty, with Leftovers ... read more

“Don’t think that, because the particular virtues you have in mind don’t shine in your neighbor, he won’t be precious in God’s sight for something you’re not thinking about.”

St. John of the Cross

“The dignity of resembling the Almighty is common to all men; we should then love them all as ourselves, as living images of the Deity”

St. Francis de Sales

“Divine Scripture is the feast of wisdom, and the individual books are the various dishes.”

St. Ambrose of Milan