Josh & Abby Hill - Our Stewardship Story!

 Hi! We’re the Hills, Josh and Abby. We’ve been parishioners at Lourdes for about 3.5 years. Fr. Dan has asked us to speak on stewardship this weekend, to share a little of our story and to encourage continued investment in the mission of our Church!
 
We both attended the University of MN (Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers!), and as we approached graduation, began thinking about finding our parish home after we left the campus Newmann center. Lourdes was the closest Catholic Church to the U, and so we decided to pay a visit! We decided quickly that we would stay.
 
We clearly and fondly remember meeting Fr. Griffith after our first mass here in the spring of our senior year of college. We were planning to be engaged, but weren’t at the time. His first words to us were “Are you getting married here?”, our response, “Well, we’re certainly not NOT planning to be married here!

Fr. Dan’s guess turned out to be right: Josh journeyed through RCIA, led by Patrice, with Abby as his sponsor, and came into the church at the 2017 Easter Vigil. We continued our sacramental bonanza that fall and were married here at Lourdes. 
 
From our very first visit, we were drawn to the truth, beauty, and goodness so apparent in this parish.
Truth in great pastoral guidance and teaching, and educational opportunities to deepen our faith.
Beauty in this gorgeous historic building, and in the awe-inspiring sacred music, physical signs that bring us closer to the Divine.
Goodness in the friendliness of the parishioners, making this a joyful place to worship. We’re sure many of you share these observations and experiences!
 
We choose to be involved because we pray the next person to walk through these doors for the first time will feel just as we did on our first visit, and still do today. We also choose to be involved because Lourdes has supported and challenged us in many aspects of our faith. 
 
Every opportunity we’ve had to be involved here has been enriching to our faith and has ultimately deepened our relationship with Christ. In addition to RCIA and marriage, Josh has been part of the choir as long as we’ve been here, and has recently joined a new Facilities and Maintenance committee. Abby volunteers with Youth Faith Formation and, as a graphic designer by day, provides some design work for parish programming. 
 
These opportunities have all come to us in different ways - some through “Sneaky Jesus” moments, and other more obvious calls. Every, “Yes,” has blessed us more than we expected!
 
In addition to Mass and the sacraments, the vibrant community at Lourdes makes this a great place to call home. We’ve met some of our closest friends here, enjoy attending fellowship events, and thanks to you all, just generally love spending time at Lourdes! Being centered here brings us a deep sense of peace and gratitude. 
 
We love coming to Mass here each week and seeing full pews. We love seeing both many familiar, and many new faces. We have much to celebrate: our parish is growing quickly, and so many people are already volunteering, giving, and enriching life at Lourdes.
 
We currently have programs for assisting the needy, enriching educational opportunities, an awe-inspiring sacred music tradition, community outreach, Healing Ministries, and more. This list is constantly growing, often in response to parishioner input! 
 
These increasing opportunities require increasing resources, both financially and in volunteers & personnel. Our parish is understaffed and while many parishioners are already stepping up to fill those gaps, there is always room for more.
 
We can only keep growing and fulfilling our mission of sharing Christ with the world if we all decide to continue investing in that mission. As we are richly blessed to be part of this community, we are also called to give back in a meaningful way for the Glory of God! 
 
There is no such thing as being “too new here” to get involved. There is no such thing as a financial contribution that is too small to make an impact. 
 
God will always find a way to maximize the impact of your offering, whether it is your time, talent, treasure, or a combination of all three.
 
We encourage you to pray about how you can be involved in supporting the parish, and to move as the Spirit calls you to. We encourage you to act on the call you may have already felt on your heart to say “Hi” to that person you see every week but have never met, volunteer for that role you know needs filling, or increasing your weekly giving to show your support for all the parish does.

As is always the case, we’ve found giving of our time, talent and treasure here to be more rewarding than we thought possible, and are confident you’ll feel the same.
 
Lourdes has a rich history as a beacon of Christ’s love in the world for our Diocese, City and community. We have a strong foundation of stewardship. If you call this place home, and are here at mass today you’re part of that, and share in our collective goal to ensure Our Lady of Lourdes remains a vibrant parish, guided by Christ, for years to come.