In 1990, the Office of Stewardship & Development introduced an annual celebration to its menu of activities to promote parish stewardship conversion: The Ceremony of Induction into the Bruté Society of the Catholic Diocese of Evansville.

That year, the charter Bruté Society members numbered 58, and 32 parishes chose to participate. In 2000, the tenth anniversary celebration featured 130 candidates from 56 parishes. As we hoped in 1990, membership in The Bruté Society has become the most prestigious diocesan honor for lay Catholics in southwestern Indiana.

The purpose of the Society is to celebrate parish stewardship heroes, parishioners whose devotion and dedication to their parishes can be simply described as extra-ordinary. Bruté Society members are people who give selflessly of their time, talent and treasure. They know that God is the source of all that they have and, overwhelmed with gratitude, they joyfully return a substantial portion of their God-given gifts to support God's work in their parishes.

Parishes with 500 or more names on their CPC mailing list are eligible to nominate two individuals or couples. All other parishes may nominate one individual or couple