INTRODUCTION

When St. Paul talks about the gifts of the Spirit that are necessary for the building up the community, he lists seven.  But anyone who has worked in a parish like St. Camillus knows well that to fulfill a mission such as ours, the number of gifts necessary is not seven, but more like seventy times seven.  There are the ones like teaching and healing that Paul mentions, but there are also some others less obvious.  For example, take a moment to think of those God given talents that you have developed through your work.  Whether your talent is putting up walls or tearing them down, whether you are creative at raising funds or knowledgeable about investing money, there is a place for your God given talent. 

Perhaps you are someone with experience in business or finance.  If so, there is a place for you on our finance council that helps us to be good stewards of the funds that have been so generously entrusted to us.  Have you developed good organization skills through your work?  If so, we certainly have a place for folks who are creative in putting together events that not only raise badly needed funds, but at the same time are fun and build community. 
Or perhaps you are one of those involved in the fairly new area of grant writing.  The gift of your talents could better enable us to access funds to support our various educational and outreach ministries.  We also need people who are gifted with their hands, folks who do painting and plumbing, carpentry and tile work and all the other trades.  We have been blessed with a marvelous, yet aging facility.  In addition to the necessary maintenance, there is much that we have dreamed of updating in order to meet the needs of our growing parish family.  With the help of the skills of our people, these dreams can become a reality.  We recently saw this in the renovation of our St. Francis Room, which was completely remodeled by the hands of many parishioners. 
Or perhaps through your job you have become proficient in the hi-tech areas of computer or graphic design.  There is an ever-growing need for these skills.  Through the gift of work, God has helped each of us to develop talents that not only enable us to put food on our table, but are equally useful in the building up of the Kingdom.  Have you ever felt a stirring in your heart?  Maybe you have a sense that God is calling you but you also find yourself thinking, “I’m so busy right now, with work, my family, everything going on and I don’t even know where to start.”  If you've heard that voice, then this booklet is for you.  Won’t you take a moment to think about what talents God has given to you and how perhaps, through participating in ministry here in St. Camillus, you can give back to our Lord from whom all good things come?