Marci McCarthy - St. Basil Parish, South Haven

Sept 2019 Newsletter SFC Member Spotlight:  Mrs. Marci McCarthy

1. What is your name and to which parish do you currently belong?  

Marci McCarthy, St. Basil in South Haven…right on the Big Lake.  

2. Do you help in ministry work there?

I’m a member of the Finance Council, the Stewardship Council and the Hospitality Team. I also Usher on Sundays.

3. What are some of your earliest memories regarding your faith?

I’ve always been deeply moved by the music in church. My earliest memories of Sunday mornings include Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, Come Thou Fount. Those hymns, with deep theology embedded in their lyrics, still bring tears to my eyes. Many things about my faith have changed, shifted and grown in the last 50 years, but those songs remain a constant source of grace for me.

4. Please share your path to conversion in becoming an active Christian steward, Christ’s disciple.  

There were three important milestones in my stewardship journey. First, my mother was an amazing example of stewardship for me. She recognized all things as a gift from God and would tithe every month—before she paid the rest of her bills. I carry that stewardship imprint with me to this day. Second, as a young adult, I heard a powerful homily on our relationship to our financial resources. The pastor stressed that we should view ourselves as a “point of distribution”. God gives us talents, time, and resources, but not to be hoarded.  They are simply to pass through our hands to meet the needs that the Lord puts in front of us.  Finally, in my mid-30’s, God brought me to the place of detachment, calling me to leave behind my Wall Street job and be guided in the life of the Spirit. It means different things at different times, but always with an understanding that my gifts and talents are to be at the service of my brothers and sisters.

5. In your daily faith practice, what is most meaningful to you/how do you keep the fire of your faith alive?

At this point in my life, radical Christian hospitality feeds my faith. God places most of us in community, to be Jesus for our brother and to meet Jesus in our sisters. My faith isn’t adherence to a set of rules and practices, or allegiance to a group. It’s an attempt to live out of Christ’s words “whatever you do for the least of my brothers,” in the moment before me.

6. What is your most ardent hope as a commissioned member of the diocesan Stewardship Formation Council?  In what way do you envision being a part of realizing that hope/goal?  

I hope to help people “wake up”: wake up to the blessings all around us, the many and varied gifts we have all been given, and the desperate need to share those things with our communities.