Stewardship as a Path to Holiness

When a local community comes together and builds a church for itself, the church building becomes a symbol, a legacy passed down to future generations. It is one generation’s way of saying to their children and grandchildren, “Because of our faith, because of our love of Christ, because of our love for you, our children and grandchildren (who in many cases were yet to be born), we came together, raised the money, gave our time, and built this Church.” They treasured the gift of their faith, and hey wanted their descendants to know their faith and to have a place where their descendants could receive this faith.

Building the Church was the easy part; being the Church of St. Jude of the Lake became the new mission. If it were not for the community that flocked into the church and made it their home, the Church of St. Jude of the Lake would have been a monument to the dead. The people who found a home in the Church of St. Jude of the Lake, made it into the parish it is today.

Some people made huge and lasting impacts on the parish – Don & Jan Koebele, Mary Klein, Don and Helen Kohler; their legacies continue on. Others made a lasting impact through their children and grandchildren who now fill our school. Others are making their impact today, such as Principal Carrie Hackman. But for each of the people who made such visible impacts on our parish, so many others built the parish into what it is today through thousands of hours of volunteering, through countless gifts left in the basket, and through tireless prayers. It takes a village to raise a church; it takes a community coming together – sharing their time, talent, and treasure – to make our parish such a vibrant focal point for the Mahtomedi community; where families come to baptize their children, where eager minds come to learn, where families come to celebrate traditions, here loved ones say goodbye, and where an entire town comes to celebrate the amazing gift of corn. 

It is our hope and our dream that this next chapter of St. Jude is nearer to the beginning of the book and not its end and it is the legacy we want to leave to the generations yet to come.