By A.M. Kelley
Superior Catholic Herald

Superior couple wins stewardship award

SUPERIOR -- John and Muriel Freeman received the Diocese of Superior 2006 Spirit of Stewardship award on May 3 during the ninth annual Stewardship Day Educational Seminar.

Steve Tarnowski, diocesan director of development, had high praise for the Freemans.

"As far as modeling stewardship, they're perfect," he said. "The closer you are to God the more you're going to give of your time, talents and treasure."

Later during an interview in their Superior home, the couple expressed surprised about the award.

"It was a total shock to us," Muriel Freeman said. "There are so many other people that should have this. We think of the number of people who are at the cathedral every day and wonder, what did we do that Fr. (Dan Dahlberg) brought us up?"

The Freemans are members of the Cathedral of Christ the King and were nominated for the award by Dahlberg, the cathedral's rector.

"They are dedicated, devoted people," he said. "And I never have to worry about the DSA every year."

The Freemans coordinate the annual Diocesan Services Appeal as one of their many volunteer jobs for the cathedral.

The Freemans are both 77 years old and retired. John Freeman retired in 1991 after 36 years with Duluth Public Schools where he was first a teacher and then later the director of special education. Muriel Freeman kept books for 10 years for Co-Op Publishing, which published a Finnish newspaper, and then for 25 years at Rueben, Johnson and Sons contractors.

Before retirement, they were both involved in full-time, demanding jobs and did not have much time to volunteer at the cathedral.

When Muriel retired in 1992 she dropped in at the office one day and offered her services.

"If you ever need any help, call me," she said. "They called me the next day."

John Freeman has served on the parish council and the diocesan school board. He counts the Sunday collections at the bank each Monday morning and together they helped established the current greeter program years ago when they hosted the evangelization committee in their home.

They attended the ninth annual Stewardship Day at the Schwan Retreat and Conference Center in Trego, east of Danbury. A team from the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids, Minn., was the featured attraction and told how their parish has been transformed by an ethic of stewardship and tithing.

The standard tithe is 10 percent of one's income and according to Tarnowski, only about a third of the diocesan parishes meet that goal, and other Christian denominations give more to their churches than do Catholics.

"Catholics, traditionally, are 'crisis givers,'" he said. "If we need something, people give to it. On the national average, Catholics give 1 percent."

But the Coon Rapids parishioners pledge 10 percent yearly and have eliminated all special collections, bingo and fund raisers to fund its school.

"The school is cost-free to parish tithers," Tarnowski said.

Muriel Freeman was impressed with Coon Rapids' results.

"The workshop was inspiring," she said. "I firmly believe in tithing. If you can't do it monetarily, do it with service."

The Freemans were married 56 years ago in the Ironwood, Mich., parish of St. Ambrose, now known as Our Lady of Peace. Muriel Sullivan grew up in Ironwood and John Freeman grew up just across the state line in Hurley. They moved to Superior in 1950, the year they married, so he could attend the University of Wisconsin and get a teaching degree.

The couple has three godchildren and they also serve as prayer partners with Cathedral School third graders during the school year and follow the diocesan way of stewardship: "(Give) not until it hurts, but until it is deeply rewarding."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2006