Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes

July 9, 2006
 

Attendees Fr. Regis Farmer, Denis Antol, Joe Beri, Mary Weber, Don Wisniewski, Steve Zbur, Frank Petroy, Lori McKinniss, Karen Gust, Gary Spicuzza and Bill Rasile

Opening Prayer given by Fr. Regis Farmer

Minutes from Pastoral Council Meeting of May 7, 2006 were revised to remove vote counts from the Pastoral Council elections and approved

Welcome 3 New Members to Pastoral Council Gary, Bill and Karen gave a short introduction of themselves. Commissioning Mass for all Pastoral Council members will be held July 16, 2006 at 9:15 mass.

Old Business By-Law Changes – Joe Beri made a few minor revisions. All in attendance agreed on changes.

Meeting dates were set as follows: August 27, 2006, November 12, 2006 (with Finance Council), January 28, 2007 and March 25, 2007

New Business Fr Regis’ Update 1. Need a name for the new building. Should it be the Pastoral Center? 2. The pledge cards for the new building campaign are slowly being returned. Probably because of the time of the year. Need to try and get people to return the cards. So far 144 pledges have been returned totaling $342,289 and of that $114,880 have been collected. 3. The pre-school is in the process of hiring a new director. Also they are looking for ways to better advertise in order to increase enrollment. Current enrollment is 50 children. 4. Fr. Regis, Sr. Mary and Gary Roney had a meeting with a company that wanted to place CD’s and other reading materials in the narthex that could be purchased. Didn’t think the program was worthwhile and did not pursue. Information was passed around and all agreed with this conclusion. 5. Lisa Maier, who represents Tastefully Simple, would like to do some type of fundraiser at the church. Idea was brought up that some type of fundraiser could be done in the fall with various types of products and a certain percentage going to the church. Mary and Francine will look into this and update at the next meeting. 6. Mass at the parish picnic will be outside. 7. All permits for the new building are approved. The next step is to hire a contractor. The plan is to break ground by September 1, 2006. Cannot use TEDCO Construction because they are in litigation with the diocese over some issues at the cathedral. The diocese has approved the borrowing $1.6 million for the new building. We will try to borrow as little as possible depending on the total of the fundraising campaign. The current debt now stands at $1.9 million.

Committee Reports Instead of giving a committee report each committee was outlined as to their purpose in order for all Pastoral Council members to choose which committee they would like to be involved with.

Community Life – Oversee and assist with planning and running all social events in the parish. Some examples would be the golf outing, parish picnic and fish fry. Also the golf outing in June collected $9,300 for the building fund.

Worship and Evangelization – Meet with parish staff about things that need to happen at masses during the year. Examples would be the current layout of the church and ministry booklets that are given to the eucharistic ministers, alter servers and lectures. Meet every other month.

Physical Plant & Resources – For now this committee will be the Building Committee for the new building. When that is complete the committee will be reinstated. All drawings for the new building should be complete by mid July and a contractor should be selected by mid August.

Faith Formation – Most of this is handled by the parish staff. This includes the pre- school, RCIA, religious education, vacation bible school and all the youth minister activities. Sr. Mary is going to run the RCIA program this year.

Steve asked all members in attendance to select a committee or committees that they would like to be involved with. At the next meeting the committees will be finalized. The following are the choices that were made by the Council member present:

Community Life – Frank, Don, Bill, John F. and John B. Worship – Frank, Mary and Joe Physical Plant and Resources – Bill and Joe Faith Formation – Denis and Karen

Next Meeting The next meeting will be August 27, 2006 at 7:15 PM. The opening prayer will be given by John Madia and minutes will be recorded by John Beran.

Minutes submitted by Denis Antol

May 7, 2006
 

Attendees Fr. Regis Farmer, Lori McKinniss, Denis Antol, John Beran, Joe Beri, Patty Powers, Mary Weber, Don Wisniewski, Steve Zbur, and John Madia

Opening Prayer given by Don Wisniewski

Minutes from Pastoral Council Meeting of March 19, 2006 were approved

Old Business By-Law Changes – Joe Vetter’s Draft 1 of the by-laws was distributed and reviewed for additional changes. The following changes were proposed: Article II: A. Add the names of the standing committees to this description. Article II: B. Any resolution passed by Pastoral Council is presented to the Pastor for approval or rejection. Article III: A.1. Add Pastoral Associates Article III: B. 2-3. Since 4 is being eliminated move the “and” from 3 to 2 Article IV: B. 4. Add the following sentence. Each vacancy will be voted on individually. Article IV: B. 5. Change as follows. The nominee receiving a simple majority for each vacancy will be elected to the Pastoral Council and their name will be removed from the list for the remaining vacancies. Article IV: B. 6. Remove the second sentence entirely. Article VIII: C. Change as follows. Each Standing Committee Chairperson shall be appointed by the President for a 2 year term and may not serve two consecutive terms.

Motion to approve Draft 1 of Constitution and By-Laws with the addition of the above mentioned changes by Mary Weber. Seconded by John Beran. Changes to By-Laws approved by 100% of Pastoral Council in attendance.

Motion to adjourn meeting by Patty Powers. Seconded by Don Wisniewski. Meeting adjourned 7:45 PM.

Pastoral Council meeting called to order by Steve Zbur at 7:51 PM.

Motion to approve changes to By-Laws as voted on in prior meeting by Don Wisniewski. Seconded by John Madia. Changes to By-Laws approved by 100% of Pastoral Council in attendance.

New Business Fr Regis’ Update 1. Bernie Raszkewski has been awarded a Rotary Scholarship and the St. Timothy Service Medal. The St. Timothy medal is awarded for involvement in youth activities. She will be awarded the medal at a special ceremony by the dioceses. Pastoral Council will send a note of congratulations to her. 2. Next year the religious education program will present awards for perfect attendance. There were 60 students with perfect attendance this past year. 3. Dr. Jose George is starting a 30-week discerning program for the deacon program in the diocese. 4. February 2007 will be the Bishop’s Celebration of Priesthood Month. St. Catherine’s will host the first meeting. Two or three parishes will be combined for the celebration. There will be a display on the history of each parish. The Bishop will be in attendance. 5. The Building Committee is working on a presentation for the Diocese Building Commission to ask for permission to roll the cost of the new building in to the present mortgage. If this request is granted, we do not need to raise 65% of the cost of the building to begin construction. The meeting is scheduled for June 26th. If all goes well, construction could begin by August. 6. Need to reinstate the Building Fund Drive. All pledges from the last fund drive are paid in full. Except the memorials, which have one year left on their original term. Need to contact all new parishioners (joined the parish since the last fund drive) by either phone or mail before announcing it to everyone. The cost of the new building is approximately $1.6 million. Should we ask for a 3-year pledge or a 2-year pledge with an option for a 3rd year? Council appeared to be favoring a 3-year pledge but nothing was formalized. How much should we ask from each family? Fr. Regis suggested $3,200 per family, which works out to about $90 per month over 3 years. This is less than the previous fund drives. How should this be presented at the masses? Need to encourage all to participate. Approximately 1,600 families in the parish, about 500 will pledge. The others will give when they can or for certain events (eg. Weddings and funerals). 7. Need 2 volunteers to meet with Building Committee to start a Fund Raising Committee. Patty Powers volunteered. Need one more volunteer.

Committee Reports

Community Life – Golf outing scheduled for June 5, 2006 at Deer Run Golf Club. This is the 10th anniversary. 10th anniversary windbreakers will be given to all who participate. Still looking for prizes and volunteers.

Worship and Evangelization - Greeters were in attendance during Holy Thursday services.

Physical Plant & Resources – The parish received a letter from the diocese to start plans for the new building. Also the Building Committee is close to putting the plan out for bid. There is an ongoing effort to correct the HVAC issues. The screen behind the altar is being addressed because the alter servers are bumping in to it during mass. The request for (blue) highways signs was rejected. The new church sign at the entrance is in and working. The preschool playground has been put on hold until the new building is complete.

Pastoral Council Elections There are 3 vacant positions on Pastoral Council at this time. There are 8 candidates that asked to be considered for these positions. They are Charles Hecht, Gary Spicuzza, Bill Rasile, Karen Gust, Jim Sudac, Robert Nagle, Mike Posey and Lisa Dubees.

John Beran and Don Wisniewski spoke to each candidate, except Lisa Dubees, about why they were interested in the position and shared their findings with all in attendance.

There were eight Pastoral Council members in attendance. Based upon the by laws a candidate needed 5 votes to be elected to Pastoral Council. Each position was voted for separately. The following individuals were elected to Pastoral Council:

Karen Gust    Bill Rasile    Gary Spicuzza

Steve Zbur will contact each newly elected member asking them to accept the position as will also contact those not elected and thank them for their interest.

Next Meeting The next meeting will be July 9, 2006 at 7:15 PM. Opening prayer will be given by John Madia and minutes will be recorded by John Beran. The meeting schedule for the next twelve months is as follows; August 27, 2006, November 12, 2006, January 28, 2007, and March 25, 2007.

Minutes submitted by Denis Antol