School Board Room
Attendance: Father Jacobi, Teresa Marianos, Mary Latta, Bill Thomas, Peggy Berringer, Carl Raczkowski, Jude Offiah, Barbara Curcio, Alejandro Garcia, Ray Gonzalez, Mary Beth Carter
Absent: None
1.Opening Prayer and Reflection on the Gospel.
2. Old Business:
A. Minutes approved as corrected.
B. Committee Reports: No questions.
C. New Church
1. Not much feedback on the topic has been received so far.
2. As Father has attended recent organization meetings, he has informed
these groups that he will come to their meetings only if he receives a request to attend. This will enable him to concentrate on getting the new church project off the ground.
3. The January Gospel Truth will contain Father’s first article on this topic. Copies of it were given to the members to read-comments were all favorable. Father has already outlined ten monthly submissions for the Gospel Truth on the subject of the new church.
4. Father Ross has volunteered to identify 20-30 “movers and shakers” of our parish and will work to keep them involved and informed as our plans go forward.
5. Beginning Steps: Father asked council members to think of names of parishioners who would be good choices for membership on the following committees:
a. Design Committee—this group will be responsible for coming up with general design ideas for our new church. They will probably visit other churches and need to be open-minded and creative.
b. Building Committee—perhaps contractors, people with knowledge of the construction trade. The chair of this committee would need to have the time to devote to this time-consuming position.
c. Fundraising Committee
d. A special subcommittee, perhaps under the Finance Board, would be needed to look at the costs of running and maintaining the new additions to our parish plant.
6. Stages:
a. Stage 1—Church
b. Stage 2—Remodel of current church into hall/meeting space.
D. Planned Giving Committee:
1. Chair Joe Combs and his committee met for the first time on Wednesday, January 11, 2006. The plan is to offer workshops on this topic to the parish later this year.
E. Fall 2005 Regional Meeting Summary
1. This regional meeting to discuss the shortage of priests was held in November. No conclusions were drawn, but the report that was a compilation of all the parishes’ suggestions will be emailed to council members.
F. Restructuring of Parish Organizations
The Parish Council has decided not to go forward with the reorganization of parish organizations because we have contracted with Parish Evaluation Project for a Parish Assessment and Renewal. Fr. Tom Sweetser, SJ and Sr. Peg Bishop, OSF come in and help parishes “identify who they are, dream who they could be, and plan how to get there.” See attached handout for a more extensive explanation of the program (with these minutes in the parish office). Through a survey, interviews and town hall meeting, we will learn how to better organize our efforts with less overlap and better results. The best way to reorganize our committees will undoubtedly come out of this study. Members of the Parish Oversight Committee who will be closely involved with this process are Bill Thomas, Parish Council representative, Karen Bernardy, and Jerry Rakosky. Council members made suggestions of more parishioners to be added to this group. Also attached to these minutes is a time line for implementation of the study. The first meeting between the Parish Oversight Committee and Parish Evaluation Project staff will be on February 1, 2006. The cost of this study is $22,500 to be paid over 3 fiscal years, $7500 at a time. Parish Evaluation Project members provide support and follow through on implementation of the plan.
3. New Business:
A. School Strategic Plan
1. Council members were sent the plan for comment via email.
2. Ray Gonzalez provided a handout with a brief overview (attached).
3. The only comment was that if the plan is to “grow the school”, they should have concrete ideas in the plan concerning “Grow where?” and “To how many students?”
4. Council members overwhelmingly support this plan.
B. Rescheduling Christmas Party
1. Possible dates will be sent by email to members.
4. Pastor’s Report:
A. One Major Parish Auction
1. Father held a luncheon for the leaders of the various parish auctions and a committee was formed to work toward holding one large parish auction in 2007. Judi Wilkinson will chair this committee.
B. New Young Adult Group
1. This group for adults in their 20s and 30s, single, married, single again, is getting off the ground. There is a core group of 4 who are enthusiastically moving this forward.
C. Vocations
1. Father and Sister Carmen are speaking to parish youth on the subject of vocations. Fifth through eighth grade boys in our school have heard from Father and Sister Carmen spoke to the girls. The sixth through eighth grade RE students have also heard from them. Studies have shown that it takes this kind of invitation to encourage our youth to consider a religious vocation.
D. Deirdre Hite—Counselor/Communications
1. Deirdre will be cutting back to 30 hours per week. Father is asking someone else to take over handling the Safe Environment program for our parish.
5. Parish Calendar:
A. Jan. 18—Benediction of Blessed Sacrament for Children and Youth of CCD- Main Church
B. Jan. 30—Catholic Schools Week begins
C. Feb. 4—Volunteer Thank You event
D. Feb. 11—Friends of Bolivia Auction
E. Feb. 25—Mardi Gras
6. Open Forum:
A. Ads for our school could be put in The Gazette, Friday, and the Quail Creek News for a relatively small investment.
B. Father’s time spent with our school children is a lesson in vocations and sends a powerful message. The council appreciates his efforts!
C. The Exposition and Benediction on Wed, 1-18-06, will be in the church and is being done at 7 PM so the CCD students can attend.
7. Next Meeting’s Agenda:
A. New Church-on each agenda for the foreseeable future.
B. Report from Catholic Stewardship Consultants on the results of our recent renewal.
C. Report from Bill (Parish Oversight Committee) on the Feb. 1 meeting with the Parish Assessment and Renewal group.
8. Closing Prayer and Blessing by Father Jacobi.
Next meeting will be on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006 at 7 PM in the School Board Room.
Submitted by Mary Beth Carter