Parish Council Meeting

March 21, 2007

 

President’s comments:  We are an advisory group.  Fr. George wants to be able to come to the council with needs that have to be addressed:

·             The school roof needs to be replaced.

·              Fr. George wants skylights in church roof.

·              Fr. George wants to extend the sanctuary and put up larger crucifix.

 

Chair’s comments:  Ellen Davis introduced herself and the purpose of the council:

·              Father called together representatives of various ministries to discuss budget items and ways to raise revenue.

·              Revenue has been raised.  Boiler has been paid for and we are running above where we expected to be running.

·              Introduced the 15 members: 9 community members and 6 organizational/ministry members.

·              This group does not supersede talking to Fr. George individually.  Community is essential and he hopes that this group is able to maintain communication.

 

Social Justice:  Jim Huitema

·              The report (distributed as a handout) focused on Safe haven.

·              He will not be coordinator anymore, so we need to locate someone else.

o        requires a lot of time for meetings and during the week that the program is at the church

o        there are concerns about the future of the Safe Haven program

o        Mary Lou Milstead knows Lois (safe Haven) personally and will see what she can find out.

·              The council's "job" is to find a HR coordinator for Safe Haven. Bob Pizzano and Jim Huitema will help out the new person/people. A woman can be the coordinator.

·              Make this request in the bulletin and on the website.

 

Scouts and School:  Rita Thompson

·              The Girls Scouts sponsored the Community Sunday this last Sunday.

·              They made 60 cups of coffee and only threw out 2.  8 o’clock Mass and 10 o’clock Masses were well attended.

·              Contact Lynn DeVore if interested in having your group participate.

·              4 seasons room is very large and hard to clean up afterward.

·              Lynn DeVore and Joan Laskey will make sure Community Sunday is announced at Mass.

·              The School Board is meeting next week.

 

Finance:  Fr. George

·              Shared budget information

·              Expected shortfall of $36,000

·              We have enough money to pay bills every time bills are due.

·              We will make a single budget page and a cover letter to the parish and Fr. George will speak to it at Masses.

 

Youth:  Marie Shaulis

·              The Youth Group annually donates ~$1,000 to charity.

·              Next month is the “Raise The Roof” dance to raise money for the roof fund.

 

Christian Formation:  Lynn Baker

·              ~20 teenagers attend School of Religion (Monday night) weekly.

·              Confirmation is Wednesday April 28 at 7:30 pm.  31 eighth graders and 2 high schoolers being confirmed.

 

Liturgy:  Kathy Nieman

·              Shared the purple Lenten calendar.

o        The additional Wednesday reconciliation opportunities are on the website and in the bulletin.

 

Direct Debit: Tuition and tithing will be implemented in July (the new tuition year).  It will require the families fill out a form.  There was a recommendation of adding information to the form along with a means for informing the parents.

o        It was suggested that the first thing that will be done is to offer it for tuition.

o        There was discussion among the council as to starting with tithing rather than with tuition.

o        The survey results do not indicate that this is a desire of the parish.  Ellen Davis said that the majority of the survey "completers" are over 70 years old.

o        Invite Kathy Schoffstall, a member from another parish, or a bank worker to come to the next meeting.

o        Fr. George explained that using the tuition first was a way to determine the effectiveness of the program and the ease of managing the program - it is a set amount for a set group of people being deducted at a set date.

o        It was suggested that a packet of go home to the school parents and perhaps have someone available to answer questions after Masses and/or at the school.

 

Survey Results:  Ellen Davis

·              Sara Nordman compiled the data and created a 300 page book.  Ellen called Sara and asked for a summary and received the packet handed out at the meeting.

·              The survey, in general, indicates that the majority of people do not want changes.

·              However, the data in the survey is still useful.  If there are still things that we want to know, we need to ask the question specifically.  We can do this through the website, bulletin, call-in, etc.

·              Run experiments like adding another Mass and recording the increases and decreases at the other Masses.  Or hire another priest to do Masses.

·              The summary pages will be posted on the website, along with a summary letter written by Ellen.  Also have copies at the doors of the church.

 

Financial information: 

·              A handout was distributed.

·              A plan has been created, by Fr. George, to deal with the issue of category 1 tuition guidelines and tithing.

 

Facilities Budget:  Bob Pizzano

·              Distributed a handout

·              Hopefully the committee can identify other people that can help Bob with these issues.  Ex: renderings of drawings for the new roof/facility improvements.

·              This committee can be a vehicle for locating people who can assist us with the work.

·              Bob may draft a letter to send home to all school parents.

 

Pot Luck Dinner: 

·              Kudos to Marie Winterson and Bobby Shaulis.

·              The dinner is on Saturday March 24.  There will be a “kids space”.

·              30 families have signed up.

·              Information is on the website.

 

The next meeting is the third Wednesday in May.