34. Debbie Leaverton
Published: October 13, 2019
Debbie Leaverton 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 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 of 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 the engagement of all parishioners and revitalizing the life of the parishes.
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