On Today’s Show

Debbie serves as Director of Parish Stewardship for the Orange Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Orange in California. The Diocese serves a growing English, Vietnamese and Spanish speaking population with over 3.2 million Catholics. The Diocese serves the largest population of Vietnamese in the United States.   

Today, Changing Our World‘s Jim Friend talks with Debbie Leaverton about a variety of initiatives in the Diocese of Orange, including Debbie’s work with assisting pastors to adopt stewardship as a way of life in their parish. Debbie describes how she serves parishes in stewardship, planned giving and capital campaigns.

Debbie describes the interesting backstory on the construction of the new Christ Cathedral that was just dedicated on July 17, 2019. The Cathedral is now open to the public. The Cathedral will be open for tours during the 2020 International Catholic Stewardship Conference (ICSC) in Anaheim next fall.

About Debbie Leaverton

Debbie started with the Diocese of Orange in 2001 and then
moved to the Orange Catholic Foundation in 2008, and is responsible for directing
the annual Pastoral Services Appeal and the Parish Stewardship Education
ministry.

Debbie leads the annual diocesan Stewardship Renewal process
that takes place each November, provides consultation to parishes for capital
campaigns, electronic giving and coordinates formation opportunities to help
parishes embrace Christian Stewardship as a way of life. She first began
working for the Church as a volunteer catechist for elementary, youth ministry
and Confirmation. She served on her parish’s Pastoral Council and started her
parish’s Stewardship Committee in 2005. Debbie’s background includes training
and development, project management and sales and marketing. She served on the
Board of the International Catholic Stewardship Council for seven years and firmly
believes that Christian stewardship is the living of our faith as Disciples of
Christ. She is inspired by working with parish leadership and seeing the impact
Stewardship formation can have on parishes, increasing engagement of all
parishioners and revitalizing the life of the parishes.