Matching Our Mission: St. Paul’s Outreach

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The Stewardship Foundation supports charities that are aligned with The Stewardship Foundation’s credo, otherwise expressed as “the reason we exist.” We understand that values are always the driving force in a nonprofit; that the social mission trumps profit, and the bottom line is measured on the good that we do in the world.

When a nonprofit or a charity seeks funding and their niche mission aligns with ours, we put our experience to work with their estate planners, advisors, accountants, and attorneys to help them achieve their charitable goals. One such nonprofit is Saint Paul’s Outreach (SPO).

Five smiling adolescents, heads together and facing downwards in a circle with arms locked
Group of adolescents smiling downward to camera.

The mission of St. Paul’s Outreach is critical! They say it best: “college campuses are battlegrounds for the minds and souls of young people, and that many are leaving the Church.”

Unfortunately, at the most, about 10% of students attend Sunday Mass, and most admit they feel isolated from God. SPO’s mission is to reach out to students and young adults on campus with the message that they can transform their lives through a deep relationship with Christ and with His people.

The word “transform” is part of the credo. “God has called us to be a transformational people who live deep relationship—with him and with one another. Our charism values support our mission, characterizing the transformative way of life that God has given us and called us to share. 

These “charism values” are:

  • Community is at the heart of SPO, its source and fruit of our mission.
  • We invite people to a personal encounter with the living Christ.
  • We respect the dignity of all human life and uphold a healthy culture of masculinity and femininity. 
  • We strive to be prayerful communally and individually.
  • We share Christ’s compassion and message with others.
  • We become committed missionary disciples for life.

We at the Stewardship Foundation support and rejoice in the work that the St. Paul’s Outreach does on our local campus here in Columbus, Ohio, and several other states in the U.S. To learn more about this vital non-profit visit the SPO website or call our office.

As usual, if you or someone you know is looking for advice about transformational giving and would like to speak to an advisor, please email us or call our office, (614) 800-7985.

America’s Free Fall

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In a May 2022 Gallup poll on Values and Beliefs, over 50% of Americans rated the overall state of moral values in the U.S. as poor and 37% as fair. That left only 13% of Americans with a rating of good, and 1% as excellent. This is Gallup’s worst rating ever on American Values and Beliefs!

Ethics, Honesty, Integrity, Respect: as illuminated in four incandescent light bulbs
Ethics, Honesty, Integrity, Respect

Proverbs 10:4 says, “Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches.” God has designed us to work. Everything belongs to God, including the money we make. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you do for a living…Psalm 24:1 reminds us that “The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belongs to the Lord.” Everything the Lord makes is good. It’s not about how much we have, it’s how well we serve God and others with it.

There’s a story told by Jesus Christ, the Parable of the Talents, in Matthew 25:14-30. This Parable serves as the backbone of the Stewardship Foundation and our guiding principle. It says that those who are entrusted with much, whether it be money, assets or non-financial riches, much is expected! Christ instructs us to “do something” with the riches we have — invest it, or share it – but never bury it.

As younger Americans stray from biblical truth to “find themselves” and older Americans reject the traditional biblical values that have defined Americans since our founding, they join a general population that no longer attends church services and is greatly influenced by what is seen and heard on the screens of millions of mobile devices. 

As the culture around us breaks down, our traditional moral values formerly based on the Word of God or moral tradition are ignored. Deciding that belief in God is not required to be a moral person, we become restless, self-centered, angry, immune to violence, and generally feel less safe.

Can we turn this loss of morality around? God made us, thus we are a reflection of our Creator. People can behave morally and not believe in God; we humans seem to know what’s good and want to do good things. This alone is because God does exist. 

Ranked #1 as the “most important problem with the state of moral values in the country today” was lack of consideration of others. However, personal accountability ranked near the bottom. An interesting, if not revealing, juxtaposition. 

As always, if we can provide guidance or advice to help you make make wise, moral decisions about your money, please give us a call at (614) 800-7985.

America Moral: Is There Hope?

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Gallup ran a poll in May 2022 on Values and Beliefs: over 50% of Americans rated the overall state of moral values in the U.S. as “poor” and 37% gave a rating of “fair.” A little math reveals the sad truth that only 13% see U.S. moral values as “good” (12%) or “excellent” (1%). 

In all fairness, partisanship plays a role. Conservatives are more likely to give a lower rating as the morals of the country seem to have fallen to a new low. What was unthinkable a few generations ago — honesty, respect for the rules of law, sanctity of life, sexual morality — are no longer being embraced by the majority of Americans, especially younger Americans as they stray from biblical truth to fine moral guidance, and “find themselves” by rejecting the traditional values that have defined Americans since our founding in 1776.

Fewer Americans make moral choices based on faith, and are heavily influenced by what they see and hear on screens — whether it’s on the big screen in movie theaters, on television, or the millions of mobile devices that have taken over our lives.

What we believe dictates how we act. As the culture around us breaks down, every time traditional values based on the Word of God or moral tradition are ignored, the world becomes a bit more troubling, angry and less safe.

Moral values are the foundation of our ability to judge between right and wrong. They are formed from a person’s life experience (and often subject to opinion). For instance, we know that murder is wrong, but we don’t believe that driving “slightly” over the speed limit is; we know lying is wrong, but gossip…that’s not just a bad thing.

Can we turn this around? Perhaps we can with the younger generation. We can help our children and grandchildren by teaching them the 10 Commandments and giving them certain books to read, such as Aesop’s Fables for the young ones or To Kill a Mockingbird for preteens.

Raising kids who know and love God is the only place to start if we expect to reverse the moral decline in America in our lifetime —or in the lifetime of our grandchildren.