Bishop Wester discusses stewardship at Cosgriff

Intermountain Catholic

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Bishop Wester explains how to gracefully receive a compliment to the eighth-grade class at J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School.

SALT LAKE CITY — J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School eighth-graders got their letters answered Feb. 17 when the Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, visited their homeroom to discuss stewardship.

The students had been discussing stewardship in their religion class and writing formal letters in English class. Cosgriff teacher Kathy May suggested they combine the two and write letters to Bishop Wester, asking him to visit and discuss stewardship.

During his visit, Bishop Wester complimented the students on their letters, saying they showed a real appreciation for stewardship. He then spoke about the Catholic Church’s view on the matter.

"We have to start, when we talk about stewardship, where everything starts, and that would be God," Bishop Wester said. "One of the first principles of stewardship is that God is the giver of every good gift."

Stewards believe that everything they’ve been given is a gift from God, he said, and "as stewards we realize that not only are we grateful to God, but our gratitude has got to be limitless because God’s love is limitless and God gives to us in an infinite way. The more we can concentrate on God’s love and God’s goodness, what God gives us, then the more we are going to be grateful, and that is the essence of stewardship."

A key way to engage in stewardship is to give time to someone, the bishop said. "When we give of our time we truly give of ourselves. We have a finite amount of time. It is truly ours. No one else has it."

However, "one of the best ways to be a good steward is to affirm somebody else, because then you’re empowering them to give of themselves to others," the bishop said.

The Diocese of Salt Lake City has begun a stewardship effort. Planning meetings in English and Spanish are underway, and by fall each parish and school will have its own stewardship committee, Bishop Wester said.

At the end of his presentation, Bishop Wester presented the students with some stewardship materials, telling the students that they are among the first in the diocese to receive these; others won’t receive them until the fall, when the stewardship effort gets fully under way.

Betsy Hunt, Cosgriff principal, told the bishop that the eighth-grade class has a head start on stewardship. "They have really set a fine example to the rest of the school with how they conduct themselves with the younger students and the projects they’ve been involved with," she said. "I’m very, very proud of their efforts."

The bishop was presented with a book by Jim Larson, the eighth-grade homeroom teacher. He has used selections from the book, "Earth Prayers from Around the World," edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon, for the past two years and said he thought it was an appropriate gift for the bishop, who several times in his presentation spoke of stewardship of the earth.

Having the bishop discuss stewardship with the students was beneficial, Larson said. "I think it makes the whole concept of stewardship much more tangible to see it eminate from the head of our faith here in Utah."