College Kids Growing Up Catholic

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Imagine this! Your college-age child or grandchild home for Thanksgiving break wants to talk about his faith – he speaks about the joy of worship, reading the Bible, and meeting regularly with friends for prayer and sharing. Sounds unbelievable? It’s not.

This student is involved in St. Paul’s Outreach (SPO), active on several college campuses throughout the country. Recently, the Columbus chapter serving the Ohio State and Ohio Dominican Universities celebrated its 10th anniversary. At the annual banquet attended by over 700 supporters and alumni, my nephew Andrew Kebe, SPO’s Ohio Senior Mission Director, recounted his past ten years of service to this organization that has empowered and inspired so many young people and made such a lasting impact on college campuses.

The Stewardship Foundation is honored to partner with this inspiring organization. As a leadership mentor, I’ve been personally blessed with my involvement and proud to be a father and uncle to several students impacted by SPO.

Watch the video God Has Given The Growth – Ohio 10 Year Anniversary from Saint Paul’s Outreach:

If you are moved by what you see, please consider supporting SPO with a tax-deductible donation to the Stewardship Foundation’s Donor Advised Fund where 100% of investment returns benefit the Columbus SPO Chapter.

In the donation form, Under Optional Information, enter “SPO” in the Comment box. If you’d like to learn more about this particular DAF, please call me directly at 614-800-7985.

If you have a child or grandchild who has strayed from the faith, you can make your donation to the Donor Advised Fund in their name and we will pray for them – because it’s never too late for the Holy Spirit to enflame a heart.

If you have a college-age child or grandchild who could benefit from this ministry, contact Andrew Kebe.

From the Ohio Mission Center

God has given the growth! As we look back at the 2013-2014 school year, we can truly see the effectiveness of God’s grace upon our work. Here is a glimpse of the impact from last year:

  • More than 225 students were involved in small groups on the Ohio State, Ohio Dominican, and West Virginia campuses.
  • 4 SPO Ohio alumni entered formation for priestly or religious life and 11 more agreed to serve as full-time missionaries with a Catholic ministry. In 10 years, 72 SPO Ohio alumni have served at least one year of full-time missionary work, 21 are currently in religious or priestly formation, and 73 are now married and starting families.
  • SPO Ohio continued to collaborate in close partnership with the St. Thomas More Newman Center at OSU, particularly on building a stronger Catholic Bible Study program and kicking off the school year with Catholic Rush Week.
  • We completed the renovations on our new home on 13th Avenue, bringing our evangelization efforts to a new frontier in the heart of OSU’s off-campus housing and Greek houses.

Read more on our website.

Back to the Lion’s Den

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In Syria and Iraq, Christians are being persecuted by the Islamic State (or ISIS) militants. These Christians have choices: either pay a tax to acknowledge Islam’s dominance over them, be killed, convert, or leave so they are no longer a threat.

They are being targeted simply because they are different, much like the early Christians in Rome who were persecuted because the Romans thought they were “bad” for society, and later because the church was a threat to Jewish identity.

Iraqi Christians persecutedIt seems that we can forget to appreciate the magnitude of these sacrifices that happened so long ago. However, presently we are witnessing the martyrdom of many Christians in Iraq and Syria. Their blood is no less sacred than those lives lost in New Testament times.

History shows us, however, that the Church thrived despite the horrific attempt to destroy it. In fact, it emboldened early Christians to spread the gospel wherever they went, further spreading the faith – the opposite of what was intended.

Undoubtedly the Church will survive in Iraq and Syria and throughout the world because the Lord promised that He would not abandon it. Yet we must take notice of this latest attempt to curtail religious freedom.

When Christians anywhere in the world suffer the loss of their religious liberties, we must take notice and partner with them in mind and prayer. As you know, the Stewardship Foundation is founded on four major tenets, one of which is religious liberty. So it is to advance our faith that we partner with organizations that promote the Christian faith. We are currently working with:

  • Priests and Sisters of the Holy Cross who are looking to expand to Ohio,
  • Lighthouse Treasure Ministries that provide financial support for seminarians seeking ordination, and
  • Franciscan Sisters, T.O.R. whose contemplative spirituality is making a tremendous impact at Steubenville University and the full time soup kitchen they hope to staff to provide frontline support for the poor in their community.

We are happy to announce that in the last quarter, three pregnancy centers in three States have requested the Stewardship Foundation’s assistance in their efforts to pursue major funding.

As you can see, there is much work to be done in shoring up the kingdom of God. We invite you to partner with us in your prayer and your financial support as we assist these and other amazing ministries who are on the front lines living God’s word in their actions and daily lives.

And please join us in fervent prayer for safety, protection and witness of our fellow Christians in Iraq, Syria and throughout the Middle East.

10 Days in Israel – Despite Hamas Bombs

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Despite the whine of bomb sirens and feelings of uneasiness huddling in bomb shelters, the young people signed up for Birthright Israel are still flooding into the country. For most of us Americans, it might seem that plunging into a study of Israel during such a time of conflict would be insane, but the young people, and their consenting parents, consider it a learning experience about daily life in Israel.

Birthright Israel groupTaglit-Birthright Israel, known here as simply Birthright Israel, is the brainchild of Charles R. Bronfman, a Canadian / American businessman and philanthropist who inherited Seagram spirits empire (sold to Vivendi for $34 billion) and today is the father of a family of charitable foundations including Taglit-Birthright Israel that sends Jewish youth from all over the world on free educational tours of Israel.

Philanthropy is part of the Bronfman DNA. As children, Charles and his siblings knitted squares for blankets to be sent to the troops overseas during WWII. At 17, he began to solicit money for the United Jewish Appeal. From a poor Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, he collected 50 cents from 20 friends, even though he could have donated the $10 himself and simply written their names on the donation. He did it because he wanted the donors to experience how good it feels to participate in helping others.

The Bronfman DNA is evident in Birthright Israel today, even with Hamas rockets raining down on Israel. In late July, the website reports that “fewer than 10 of the 6,000+ participants that came to Israel in the past 15 days have left trips earlier than planned.”

Birthright Israel is the first Jewish educational program with a waiting list bigger than the number of applicants who actually are able to participate in the 10-day, all expense paid live and learn experience. Over 400,000 young adults from around the world, ages 18 – 26, have taken this journey.

The Bronfman family wants young Jewish people to come to Israel to see it, experience it, talk about it, and think about what Israel means for them and the Jewish people. The New York Times published an article August 1 that recounts the personal experiences of participants who have just recently returned from their trip to the Middle East with the Taglit-Birthright Israel organization.

We live in a passionate world and our hearts go out to all those who are suffering on both sides of this conflict. We pray for quick and permanent solution and ask you to join us in this petition for peace and religious freedom.