Session 13
10:30 am – 11:30 am
Chicago Ballroom VIII
Holy Collaboration: Growing a Stewardship Parish from the Ground Up
Speaker: Reverend Drew Wood
Pastor
St. Laurence Catholic Church
Sugar Land, Texas
Speaker: Pennie DeGroot
Director of Social Concerns
St. Laurence Catholic Church
Sugar Land, Texas
Speaker: Sharon Ehrenkranz
Director of Parish Life
St. Laurence Catholic Church
Sugar Land, Texas
Speaker: Tony Oltremari
Parish Administrator
St. Laurence Catholic Church
Sugar Land, Texas
Moderator: Mary Ann Otto
Pastoral Minister for Missionary Discipleship
St. Joseph and St. Mary Parishes
Appleton, Wisconsin
With God, all things are possible, including growing a vibrant parish based on strong stewardship principles. Just as a gardener carefully plans, fertilizes and plants good seed, a pastor must know his parish and grow it from the ground-up through inspiration, invitation and intentional ministry, all in God’s time and abundant grace. Hear from Fr. Drew Wood and his parish leadership team how they approach this holy collaboration at St. Laurence Parish.
The Reverend Drew Wood
Raised in Houston, Texas, Father Drew Wood is a graduate of St. Thomas High School and the University of St. Thomas. He entered St. Mary’s Seminary and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in 1973. He served at many parishes throughout the Houston area. In addition to fulfilling the roles of vocations director and vice chancellor for the archdiocese and spiritual director at St. Mary’s Seminary, he was assigned to the large, suburban parish of St. Laurence in 1998. In 2002, he became pastor and subsequently led the parish through two major building initiatives to keep up with the needs of the growing parish. Inspired by the Steubenville Youth Conferences, Father Wood created Heart of Worship, an annual, day-long spiritual event at St. Laurence, which set the standard for hospitality, unity and participatory worship for 14 years. Today, he is recognized in the archdiocese and throughout the community for his leadership and stewardship of this vibrant parish, comprised of over 7,700 families, from nations all over the world, united in the love of Christ and glorifying God in all they do.
Ms. Pennie DeGroot
Pennie DeGroot is the director of social concerns at St. Laurence Catholic Church. Her primary responsibility is the development and coordination of outreach programs for this large Sugar Land parish. She provides oversight to 21 separate initiatives under the umbrella of social concerns and coordinates the support of 16 outside agencies. Ms. DeGroot has received numerous recognitions, including the Catholic Charities Charity in Action Award, Parks Youth Ranch True Believer Award and Fort Bend Family Promise Service Award. She has been married to her husband, Tom, for 35 years and is the mother of two and grandmother of three. Devoted to her family and to her parish, she considers it a great privilege to “serve at a parish where the support and love from parishioners is overwhelming and enables us to reach so many lives in our community.”
Ms. Sharon Ehrenkranz
Sharon Ehrenkranz is the director of parish life at St. Laurence Catholic Church in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston, Texas. In serving this large parish of over 7,700 families, she draws from previous experience as executive director for the Sugar Land Cultural Arts Foundation and ten years of sales management at Procter & Gamble. She and her husband, Doug, and their three children moved from Ohio to Texas, which they have been happy to call home for 24 years. She jumped right into parish life at St. Laurence, with its beautiful liturgies and thriving ministries, 11 years ago. She was hired as communications director, which was, at the time, the first job of its kind in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Today, she is responsible for parish life and ministry coordination, stewardship, and communications and is active in the Stewardship Networking Group and serves on the board of directors of the Catholic Strengths and Engagement Community.
Mr. Tony Oltremari
As parish administrator for St. Laurence Catholic Church in Sugar Land, Texas, a parish of over 7,700 families and 90 plus ministries, Tony Oltremari understands the importance of the spiritual mission of the church and the need for the material resources for fulfilling that mission. He previously served as director of stewardship and vice-chair of the Evangelization Commission for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. He is a graduate of the ICSC Institute for Stewardship and Development. Through his efforts the archdiocese was awarded first place recognition by ICSC for Excellence in Materials Promoting Diocesan Stewardship in 2001. After leaving the archdiocese, he beccame vice president for Cavan Corporation, conducting increased offertory initiatives and capital campaigns for parishes and diocesan annual appeals. He is on the ICSC board of directors, is actively involved with the Stewardship Networking Group in the Houston area and is a member of the Archdiocesan Stewardship Advisory Committee. Mr. Oltremari was born in Memphis, Tennessee but has been in Houston since 1960 where he was educated at St. Thomas High School and the University of Houston. He and his wife of 49 years, Peggy, have four children, ten grandchildren and one great grandchild.