Our parish started this a number of years ago. There are still fundraisers, like Spaghetti dinners for the KofC (which last year contributed over $20,000 to charity) and we still have a summer festival, which everyone enjoys. But Stewardship involves more than money. It involves time and using one’s talents for God, and it is supposed to be a way of living, not just signing a pledge of a certain amount to give every week.
It has been very successful in our parish, both financially and in increasing parishoner involvement. We don’t have second collections except for things like the Religious Retirement Fund and Mission Sunday, we’ve increased our giving to various charities by tithing a percent of the collection, and formed a number of new ministries because of increased parishoner involvment. Overall it has been very good for our parish, and also for our community in general because of our ability to extend charity. Many of our parishoners actually volunteer for these charities also, not just give money.