The Catholic Community of St. Luke the Evangelist was the recipient of the 2004 Stewardship Parish of the Year Award. An international award presented to the parish that best exemplifies a long-term commitment to stewardship as a way of life. Its purpose is to recognize a parish that has embraced every aspect of stewardship and has shown evidence of spiritual growth and community outreach.

The award was created by the International Catholic Stewardship Council, (ICSC). The Council’s primary goal is to promote the concept of Christian stewardship. The ICSC holds annual conferences in cities throughout the world. Hundreds of pastors, diocesan directors of development and stewardship, parish leaders, and professional firms come together each year, for four days of presentations, workshop, liturgies and major addresses, experiencing the full Catholic vision of stewardship as a way of life.

The award was created in memory of the late Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy’s for his leadership on stewardship. As Chairman of United States Catholic Conference of Bishops Ad Hoc Committee on stewardship he was an ardent supporter of educational efforts in teaching stewardship as a way of life.

From all the parishes in the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, St. Luke was nominated and invited by the ICSC to apply for the award. The award process included responding to five questions and sending in documentation to support the responses.

St. Luke, was established 29 years ago and has been guided by their parish Concept of Giving that calls for each parishioner to be Christian stewards and share their gifts of time, talent, and treasure in proportion to the blessings they have received from God. This stewardship Concept of Giving calls for the total support of the parish to come from the weekly offertory contributions and all parish services and programs are offered free of charge to its parishioners. For more information see our parish church history.

The International Catholic Stewardship Council presented the award to the Rev. Stephen R. Horn in New Orleans on September 14, 2004. Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, diocese of Galveston Houston, presented the award to Pastor Horn and its parishioners at a liturgy celebration on Sunday Oct. 3rd.

For more information see Stewardship.