Stewardship is about participation, say presenters at Leadership Conference 2026

By Lara Pickford-Gordon

snrwriter.camsel@catholictt.org

Stewardship is often mistaken for giving money, but at the 2026 Leadership Conference hosted by the Catholic Education Religious Development Institute (CREDI), speakers stressed that baptised Catholics are called to active participation and leadership as missionary disciples.

“Many people hear the word stewardship and immediately think, money, ‘dem Christians and dem like money!’”, said Fr Matthew d’Hereaux, parish priest of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Fernando, drawing laughter at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya. Hundreds attended the conference, themed Forming Missionary Disciples.

Fr d’Hereaux and Fr Kenwyn Sylvester, Director for Vocations in the Archdiocese, delivered the presentation, ‘Stewardship and Missionary Discipleship: Bearers of Promise’.

Fr d’Hereaux said the Church understands stewardship as far more than money. Quoting the pastoral letter of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, he described it as “the grateful response of disciples who recognise that everything they have and everything they possess are entrusted to them by God”. He continued, “stewardship begins in gratitude. It matures in a responsibility, it bears a fruit in mission. Stewardship is ultimately about participation”.

Linking stewardship to the synodal pillars of ‘Communion’, ‘Participation’ and ‘Mission’, he said it is participation in God’s work, “God’s work for a dream for a new world”.

Attendees were invited to consider what God had entrusted to them. Fr Sylvester, referring to Acts 2:42, said the early Church was compelling because it was “people who prayed together; a people who shared what they had; a people who cared for one another; a people who took responsibility for the mission of the Church, the mission of Christ”.

The early Church was not full of spectators but alive with participation. “Each person brought something to the life of the community…. the early Church was sustained by disciples who fully understood that faith is not only received: it is lived, shared and entrusted,” Fr Sylvester said. The presenters said synodality reveals the gifts, while stewardship activates them.

Fr d’Hereaux quoted the International Theological Commission document Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, noting that every baptised Catholic has dignity, a vocation and responsibility. Each person has gifts to offer, and parish life flourishes when these are shared.

“Stewardship helps us move from the belonging to participating,” Fr Sylvester stated, while Fr d’Hereaux added, “stewardship forms us to say, ‘the mission is also mine…that is not Father and dem thing alone, I have mission, all of we have mission’.”

Participants were asked to reflect on what kind of leader they were. Fr d’Hereaux said there is an image of leadership in which the leader “carried everything, solves everything and answers everything”. While involvement may begin as generosity, participation can shrink, responsibility becomes concentrated, and mission falls to a few.

“Both the community and leader suffer. This is not the synodal mission. The synodal leader leads differently,” he said. The synodal leader gathers, accompanies, discerns, builds relationships and creates spaces for others to contribute.

Capitalising on the excitement of the FIFA World Cup 2026, the audience was invited to do the Mexican wave. Then footballs were distributed for the audience to bounce around as participants were asked to catch the “leadership vibes”.

The first talk, ‘Synodality and Discipleship: Being born in and for such a time like this’, was delivered by Episcopal Delegate for Youth, Taresa Best Downes and Fr Kwesi Alleyne, parish priest of the Church of the Incarnation, Maloney. Using a podcast format, they explored the topic using sections of the Mass liturgy.

The final talk, ‘Together—Discern, Walk, Witness’, was presented by Director of Synodal Transformation, Fr Peter Mc Isaac SJ and Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon.

In his welcome remarks, Archbishop Gordon provided the background and context for the conference. He said: “It [the conference] was born out of a listening to you, the people of God. It was born to be able to share the ways forward and what we were hearing, and also born that we as leaders could be formed in a way Christ is inviting us as leader of our Church today”.

Organisational psychologist Shian Ottley-Reid gave a summary of the 2024 conference. The event concluded with Holy Mass presided by Archbishop Gordon.