Dear Esteemed Parishioners,
Please help us give Nicole Marie Romanos a warm welcome. It is with great joy that we introduce her as the new Director for Stewardship and Development for the Diocese of Laredo after a long awaited search. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Bishop Tamayo for his trust and support towards Nicole as she continues to settle into this important role.
Nicole’s background is rooted in Public Relations, Communication, and Marketing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Writing and Rhetoric, as well as a Master of Arts in Communication with a concentration in Transnational Settings. Her diverse experience equips her with the skills necessary to effectively communicate the Diocese’s mission and foster meaningful connections within our community.
In addition to her academic achievements, Nicole has a wealth of experience in government relations, non-profit work, and strategic planning. She feels a strong calling to this position, having been a faithful Catholic all her life. Approximately five years ago, she experienced a deeper awakening of her faith, which now inspires her to serve our Diocese with greater dedication and passion.
As a proud parent of a son in Catholic education, who currently attends St. Augustine High School, (Our only Catholic High School in Laredo!) Nicole understands the value of our faith-based community and is dedicated to fostering its growth. Go, Knights, Go!
Nicole’s role in the Stewardship and Development department is vital to supporting the Diocese’s mission through communication, community engagement, and resource allocation. She directly oversees the Catholic Sharing Appeal and manages all grants for our beloved Diocese.
As we embark on this journey together, Nicole emphasizes the importance of supporting the Catholic Sharing Appeal and highlights the need to secure new grants while maintaining our current ones. She is dedicated to building and nurturing relationships with esteemed trustees and board members who share our mission of bringing Jesus to the world, as well as fostering new connections.
Having witnessed firsthand the critical needs of our missions, she understands the positive impact we can make through our collective efforts. If anyone has leads, connections, or information they would like to share to help bring more gifts and treasure to our Diocese’s mission, please reach out to her at nromanos@dioceseoflaredo.org or at her office at (956) 764-7871.
With that said Nicole is very happy with the staff she has acquired and looks forward to working alongside them to further our mission. Her dedicated team is here to assist you with any inquiries regarding the Catholic Sharing Appeal or any grants under the diocese’s umbrella. For all CSA-related questions, please contact Ms. Linda Torres, Development Services Coordinator, at ltorres@dioceseoflaredo.org or (956) 727-2140 Ext. 7874. For grant-related matters, please reach out to Gloria Vasquez, Development Projects Coordinator, at gvasquez@dioceseoflaredo.org or (956) 764-7875.
Nicole extends her heartfelt gratitude to all who have already contributed to the department’s mission. Your gifts of time, treasure, and service are bringing more souls to Christ, and for that, Bishop Tamayo, the whole Diocese team and Nicole thank you.
Nicole looks forward to working alongside each of you to strengthen our community and deepen our commitment to our faith!
Have you donated to our Catholic Sharing Appeal?
Please do so today!
https://www.dioceseoflaredo.
TEXT: “GIVE” to: 1 (956) 302-0140
Our mission is to assist, teach, affirm, and empower Catholics in the Diocese of Laredo to live as disciples and stewards of the Church.
As Christians and faithful disciples, we are asked to receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly, and return them with increase to the Lord. Our faith response leads to a way of life we call stewardship that seeks to express our oneness in the mission of Christ. (U.S. Bishop’s Pastoral Letter: A Disciple’s Response, 1993)
The Office of Stewardship and Development undertakes its mission through:
“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pt 4:10).
What identifies a steward? Safeguarding material and human resources and using them responsibly is one answer, and so is generous giving of time, talent, and treasure. But being a Christian steward means more. As Christian stewards, we receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord.
Disciples as Stewards
Let us begin with being a disciple—a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. As members of the Church, Jesus calls us to be disciples. This has astonishing implications:
Mature disciples consciously decide to follow Jesus, no matter the cost.
Christian disciples experience conversion—life-shaping changes of mind and heart—and commit themselves to the Lord.
Christian stewards respond in a particular way to the call to be a disciple. Stewardship has the power to shape and mold our understanding of our lives and how we live.
Jesus’ disciples and Christian stewards recognize God as the origin of life, the giver of freedom, and the source of all things. We are grateful for the gifts we have received and are eager to use them to show our love for God and one another. We look to the life and teaching of Jesus for guidance in living as Christian stewards.
The Bible contains a profound message about the stewardship of material creation: God created the world but entrusts it to human beings. Caring for and cultivating the world involves the following:
– Joyful appreciation for the God-given beauty and wonder of nature;
– Protection and preservation of the environment, which would be the stewardship of ecological concern;
– Respect for human life—shielding life from threat and assault, doing everything that can be done to enhance this gift and make life flourish, and
– Development of this world through noble human effort—physical labor, the trades and professions, the arts and sciences. We call such effort “work.” Work is a fulfilling human vocation.
The Second Vatican Council points out that, through work, we build up not only our world but the Kingdom of God, already present among us. Work is a partnership with God—our share in a divine human collaboration in creation. It occupies a central place in our lives as Christian stewards.
Jesus calls us, as his disciples, to a new way of life—the Christian way of life—of which stewardship is part. But Jesus does not call us as nameless people in a faceless crowd. He calls us individually, by name. Each of us—clergy, religious, layperson, married, single, adult, child—has a personal vocation. God intends each of us to play a unique role in carrying out the divine plan. The challenge, then, is to understand our role—our vocation—and respond generously to God’s call. Christian vocation entails the practice of stewardship. In addition, Christ calls each of us to be stewards of our personal vocations, which we receive from God.
Stewards of God’s gifts are not passive beneficiaries. We cooperate with God in our redemption and the redemption of others. We are also obliged to be stewards of the Church—collaborators and cooperators in continuing the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, which is the Church’s essential mission. This mission—proclaiming, teaching, serving, and sanctifying—is our task. It is each of us’ personal responsibility as stewards of the Church. All members of the Church have their roles to play in carrying out its mission:
– Parents who nurture their children in the light of faith;
– Parishioners who work in concrete ways to make their parishes true communities of faith and vibrant sources of service to the larger community;
– All Catholics who give generous support—time, money, prayers, and personal service according to their circumstances—to parish and diocesan programs
and to the universal Church.
People who want to live as Christian disciples and Christian stewards face serious obstacles. In the United States and other nations, a dominant secular culture often contradicts religious convictions about the meaning of life. This culture frequently encourages us to focus on ourselves and our pleasures.
At times, we can find it far too easy to ignore spiritual realities and deny religion a role in shaping human and social values. As Catholics who have entered into the mainstream of American society and experienced its advantages, many of us also have been adversely influenced by this secular culture. We know what it is to struggle against selfishness and greed, and we realize it is harder for many today to accept the challenge of being a Christian steward. Therefore, we must make a special effort to understand the true meaning of stewardship and live accordingly.
A Steward’s Way
The life of a Christian steward models the life of Jesus. It is challenging and even difficult in many respects, yet intense joy comes to those who take the risk to live as Christian stewards. Women and men who seek to live as stewards learn that “all things work for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28).
After Jesus, we look to Mary as an ideal steward. As the Mother of Christ, she lived her ministry in a spirit of fidelity and service; she responded generously to the call. We must ask ourselves: Do we also wish to be disciples of Jesus Christ and Christian stewards of our world and our Church? Central to our human and Christian vocations, as well as to the unique vocation each of us receives from God, is that we are good stewards of our gifts. God gives us this divine-human workshop, this world and Church of ours.
The Spirit shows us the way.
Stewardship is a part of that journey.
Stewardship recognizes that God is the origin of life, the giver of freedom, and the source of all we have and will be.
Grateful stewards who return their gifts of Time, Talent, and Treasure to God express their acceptance of their role as disciples and deserve to have complete confidence that their contributions are:
Donors may feel confident that the Diocese of Laredo will not share any lists or any personal or financial information with other organizations or vendors.