Giving Tuesday

November 28th, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is Giving Tuesday. It was originally started as a way to use social media to challenge the excessive consumerism found in Black Friday and Cyber Monday where BUYING is the mantra. Instead of pressuring you to buy more, Giving Tuesday encourages you to give more.

Generosity is a topic that can be frustrating. People may give because they feel a sense of obligation. Sometimes they give to appear spiritual. Sometimes they feel pressured to contribute to a certain organization. But the best way to give is to an organization that grabs you heart with its mission and vision.

We always encourage people to be generous to their parish and diocese as well as to ministries that are doing the good work of preaching the gospel. We hope that the good work done by Compass Catholic Ministries is on your heart as a place to give so that you can participate in the Church’s work of Evangelization. Galatians 6:6 tells us “If you are being taught the Christian message, you should share all the good things you have with your teacher.”

Every day, lives are changed and hearts are healed by the prayers, teachings, and conversations that happen in the Compass Bible Studies.

Did you know that Compass Catholic has had or currently has Bible studies in about 70 parishes and 20 dioceses in the US? And we are in Latin America: Columbia, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. In the rest of the world, Compass has touched lives in Poland, Croatia and Singapore. The Navigating Your Finances God’s Way and Your Money Counts books are being contextualized and printed in Canada. By translating the Compass material into 6 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Polish, we can reach 70% of the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world.

The word about Biblical stewardship is spreading and we are helping people everywhere escape from the consumerism that is so prevalent across the world.

God has a plan for each of us as individuals, and also has a mission and vision for each parish, diocese, and the Catholic Church as a whole, as well as each ministry spreading the good news of salvation.

In our world, it takes money to do the tasks that God assigns us and running a ministry in similar to running a business. While our hearts are totally committed to the spiritual aspects of the ministry, there are lots of secular aspects to contend with, such as: the cost to edit, format, proof read and print books. We pay for computer programs and apps that are required in order to run the ministry and keep track of book sales, invoices, inventory, donations. There is a cost to maintain and update the website and send out the newsletters. We travel to conferences in order to spread the word about Compass Catholic Ministries and our mission.

The list of expenses goes on and on and the monthly operational costs average about $7,000. The funding comes from the sale of books and donations.  Every time the ministry grows, the costs increase.

We do everything possible to maximize the use of volunteers. In fact, Jon and I spend almost full time working in the ministry as volunteers, with no need for a salary.

If you are interested in supporting Compass Catholic we can use your help in many ways.  The first way is to become a donor. You may donate by mailing a check or setting up Compass Catholic Ministries as a bill payer vendor with your bank for recurring donations. If you choose to donate by check, please make checks payable to Compass Catholic Ministries, and mail it to:

Compass Catholic Ministries
5840 Red Bug Lake Road #590
Winter Springs, FL 32708

We also accept online donations via the secure PayPal link on our website and you can make a one-time donation or set up a recurring donation at  CompassCatholic.org/donate/.

If you shop via Amazon, use Smile/Amazon.com and choose Compass Catholic Ministries as your charity. Amazon Smile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on Amazon Smile the Amazon Smile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers. It works whether you are an occasional Amazon user or a Prime account holder.

We can always use more volunteers. We need volunteers who are passionate about using their time, talent and treasure to serve God through this ministry. There are several Volunteer opportunities available

Become a Facilitator and lead a Compass Bible study with a group of friends. Training is available from the Facilitator Page after you create a user ID and password to access it. We are always looking for Parish Volunteers who focus their efforts on coordinating Compass classes and promoting Compass within a single parish.

The Area Volunteer promotes Compass within a local area. The size of the area can be as small as two parishes, or as large as a particular city, an entire state or even multiple states.

And if you have other talents, we are always eager to have people join our mission who can help with Grant Writing; Videographer; Guest Blogger; Editor; Ghost Writer; Translator; Proof Reader.

If you are interested in getting involved or if you have any questions, please contact us.

A lot of times when people are asked to donate to a specific cause, they ask themselves “How much of my money can I afford to donate?” We’re sure that the thought “How much do I have to give?” has crossed your mind. The answer is that you don’t have to give anything. As a good steward, you should be asking the question, “How much do I want to give?” The blessing that we have as good stewards is that we are free to give as much as we want. The whole question of giving shouldn’t revolve around the “minimum” gift, but on the “maximum” gift. Our gifts should come from our heart and should be an indication of our faith. (Cf. USCCB, “Stewardship – A Disciple’s Response; A Pastoral Letter on Stewardship,” p 67.)

Instead of asking “How much of MY money can I afford to give?” the question should be “How much of GOD’s money do I need to keep?” which is a much different perspective.

In addition to what you give to your parish and diocese, we would suggest that you pick one organization to be your major focal point and we hope Compass Catholic Ministries is one of those places in your heart.

When you have found a way to really make your giving sincere and heartfelt, you will make a difference. We cannot do this without your generous support.   We encourage you to join the mission of Compass Catholic Ministries and help us change the world!

When you say “yes” to becoming a partner with us, you’re helping Compass Catholic Ministries teach people to be generous givers, wise spenders and responsible savers. Marriages and families are strengthened and the work of the Church is sustained. Your generosity will touch people and change their lives forever.

For more about the importance of giving, join the Compass Catholic podcast on Podbean as we discuss generosity.