Home > Stewardship

Contemplating our role as God’s stewards allows us to explore and understand the many facets of Christian stewardship open to us. As God’s stewards, as Christians, we:

• receive God’s gifts gratefully;
  
• cultivate those gifts responsibly;
  
• share our gifts lovingly in justice with others;
  
• and stand before God daily in a spirit of accountability.

Please review the list of stewardship opportunities at St. Paul’s and find the areas where your time, talents and treasure are best suited.

Ecological Stewardship
God gave us dominion over the earth for its well bring. Pledge to be a steward of the earth.

Financial Stewardship
Your generosity makes it possible for us to seize opportunities for pastoral care, social justice, Christian formation and other expressions of our faith. More information, including a secure online donation form, is available here.

Global Stewardship
Commit yourself to the relief of others suffering around the world.

Local Stewardship
Speak out and work for change in the common good of our community.

Personal Stewardship
Make positive every day choices for ourselves, for others and for our world.

Stewardship of Our Gifts
Share God’s generous gifts of knowledge, talents, experience, attitude, time, energy, interest and enthusiasm

Alternative Gift Giving
In early Advent FaithJustic members provide an opportunity to support various charities. Those who contribute are given gift cards to inform family and friends that a donation has been made in their name and wishing them a Merry Christmas.

Automatic (Electronic) Giving to St. Paul’s
Good News. We have set up a special arrangement with our bank so you can use your credit card for weekly contributions to St. Paul the Apostle. We are encouraging all parishioners to use this process. It reduces administrative costs, making your contributions go further. Many parishioners prefer not having to write a check each week and appreciate the air-miles and other benefits they receive using this system. Your credit card will be billed once a month reflecting your weekly level of giving (calculated at 52 weeks per year divided by 12 months). You can change your level of giving or go back to check or cash contributions at any time. If you would like to start this program please contact Lois in the parish office at 424-832-5152 or lmassey@sp-apotle.org.

Food Pantry
When attending Mass, please bring items from your home as a “tithe” for the poor. Food pantry collection baskets are set up at each door to receive your donations. The following items are always helpful: pasta, rice, beans, tomato sauce, cookies, small packaged cookies and snack packs, bottled water, men’s socks, large t-shirts, underwear, soap bars, toothbrushes, toothpaste, disposable razors, shaving cream, etc. Items received are taken to various service agencies in the area.

Jump Rope for Heart
Bi-annually the parish school children solicit sponsors and participate in a jump rope marathon on the playground. The money raised is contributed to the American Heart Association.

Memorials
A wonderful way to remember a loved one or special friend is by making a memorial tribute gift. Gifts may be made in any amount to remember a deceased loved one or to honor a birth, anniversary or other special person in your life. Send your donation to St. Paul’s along with the name of the person you want to remember. Please provide an address and we will send a memorial letter to whomever you designate, informing them of your gift.

Outreach Fund
Giving directly to our parish Outreach provides support for the parish programs that assist individuals, families and communities in the midst of extreme circumstance. The parish assists people directly and through contributions to agencies such as St. Robert’s Center in Venice, and the Westside Food Bank. Donations to this fund are used strictly for these purposes and not for general operations.

PATH (People Assisting the Homeless)
,103,109,97,105,108,46,99,111,109,60,47,97,62)) } //--> St. Paul parishioners provide meals and serve food one evening a month for the homeless living at PATH in West Los Angeles. You may wish to volunteer one month by making a dinner for about 25 people, bringing it, and serving the food to the residents. It makes a good family activity. Contact: the parish office at parishoffic@sp-apostle.org.

Planned Giving
As Christians we know that our life does not end here on earth. Nor do the things we care about and support while we are here end when we are gone. Making a planned gift such as designating St. Paul the Apostle in your will ensures that the ministries and programs you care about deeply will be sustained well beyond your lifetime. Should you wish to include St. Paul’s in your estate planning, advice from your legal advisor is essential. We welcome your inquiry and will be happy to assist you in creating a giving plan according to your wishes. Should you wish to include St. Paul’s in your estate planning, please note that our correct legal title is: “The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, A Corporation Sole for the benefit of St. Paul the Apostle Church, Westwood.” For more information please contact Celeste Anlauf at 424-832-5162 or canlauf@sp-apostle.org.

Read to Feed
Each Lent the children of the school solicit donations to support a reading campaign. The more they read…the more is donated. On Holy Thursday they contribute a check to St. Joseph’s Center in Venice.

Sandwich Builders
Once a month members of the community bring bread, peanut butter, jelly, bananas, water bottles and individually packaged desert items to the parish upper social hall and make lunches for the homeless. Over 100 people generally participate and make close to 1000 lunches which are then packed into parishioner cars and distributed to various outreach centers in the city. It’s always a Friday night and it takes one hour. Look to the calendar for the next opportunity and just show up with a few supplies.

St. Paul the Apostle School Educational Endowment
The Endowment Fund is a plan for our future generations of students. It is an endowed fund dedicated to securing the legacy of St. Paul the Apostle School. Our goal is $4,000,000.The principal is invested to generate interest income. The interest earned will be distributed to the school to: Support faculty excellence, keep tuition affordable, and provide income for school improvements and repairs. Please contact Celeste Anlauf at (424) 832-5162 or sp-apostle.org.

St. Paul the Apostle School Foundation
The School Foundation is a separate 501(c) whose mission is to provide financial support to St. Paul the Apostle School. The Foundation is focused on the immediate needs of the school children and school faculty. For more information please contact Please contact Celeste Anlauf at 424) 832-5162 or canlau@sp-apostle.org.

Sister School
St. Paul the Apostle School maintains an on-going relationship with Ascension School. In September St. Paul School Children donate school supplies that are given to the children of Ascension school. In February, Ascension children provide valentines for the children of our school.

St. Roberts Center
St. Roberts is located in Venice. Every six weeks parishioners volunteer to serve the homeless on the weekend at St. Roberts. Our Religious Ed students (CCD) also collect toiletries and socks for St. Roberts during Advent and Lent each year.

Suits for Success
Save your suits. Once a year we will sponsor a drive to collect clothing items that are “suitable” for job interviewing. These suites, shirts, ties, shoes are distributed to PATH, and to Chrysalis, two agencies that provide the homeless with training for job placement and a better place in society.

Sunday Evening Food Sorts

Thanksgiving Projects
Each year parishioners volunteer to provide turkeys and traditional thanksgiving dinner items to the Westside Thanksgiving event. We also volunteer to serve the homeless at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Thanksgiving morning where more than 3,0000 guests are served a traditional thanksgiving dinner and as well as other amenities. For more information contact Daryl Crowley at spajoc@gmail.com.

At thanksgiving time the children of our school take home a shopping back and bring it back to school with Thanksgiving food items which are then given to various agencies throughout the Westside.

Together In Mission
Together In Mission is a unique fund raising campaign. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is the only Archdiocese in the United States that dedicated its entire Annual Appeal to assist parishes and schools that cannot survive economically without outside financial support. The people of all of our 290 parishes including those that are subsidized are asked, once a year, to make a significant financial commitment to this important cause. In 2008, 35 parishes and 48 schools will receive funding through Together In Mission. The annual appeal provides an opportunity to share our financial gifts in order to provide Catholic education, ministry and serves through the parishes and schools that are assisted by the campaign.  For more information please call (310) 474-1527.

Voter Registration
St. Paul’s FaithJustice committee provides an opportunity each year for parishioners and visitors to register to vote, encouraging our community toward informed and responsible citizenship.

Weekly Giving
Parishioners have three ways in which to make their weekly offering:

• Weekly envelopes: A packet of envelopes will be sent out each month for your connivance.
  
  
• You may instruct your bank to send your regular offering check to St. Paul the Apostle Church every month. (No fee charged to the parish)
  
  
• Automatic giving through your credit card. (see Automatic Giving above.)
  For more information please contact Lois in the parish office at lmassey@sp-apostle.org or 424-832-5152.

Stewardship prayer

Christ has no body now but ours,
no hands but ours here on this earth ours is the work, to serve with the joy of compassion

Christ has no hands but ours to heal the wounded world, no hands but ours to soothe all its suffering, no touch but ours to bind the broken hope of the people of God

No eyes but ours to see as Christ would see, to find the lost, to gaze with compassion; No eyes but ours to glimpse the Holy Joy of the city of God

No feet but ours to journey with the poor, to walk this world with mercy and justice Ours are the steps to build a lasting peace for the children of God

– Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)