Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church

Meeting began at 6:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall.   

Members present: Fr. Brian,Tony Kraus, John Little, Ron Greene, Hal Mischel,  Pete Johnson, John Wells, David Danhauer, Debbie Luedke, Gene Hamilton, Mike Hagan, Carol Alvey, Tom Hayden, Rick Rhodes.
Members absent: None  

1.  Opening prayer led by Tony Kraus. 

2.  Tony Kraus explained the Executive Committee’s recommendations for Council member representation to parish committees. Each member agreed to serve on the committees that were recommended. They are as follows:

Worship/Arts and Environment – Ron Greene
Spiritual Life – Hal Mischel
Social Concerns – Pete Johnson
Parish Activities – John Wells
Family Life – David Danhauer
Education – Debbie Luedke
Stewardship – Gene Hamilton
Building and Grounds – Mike Hagan
Special Projects – Carol Alvey

3.  There will be a “Welcome Social” for all new members of the parish on Sunday, March 12 at 5:30 p.m. 41 families have joined the parish since the last social. All Council members are encouraged to attend. Desserts will be provided by Carol Alvey, Gene Hamilton, David Danhauer, Ron Greene, John Wells, and Pete Johnson. The other committee members will provide dessert at the next social. 

4.  Members from the previous Parish Council (Lavida Mischel, Laura Wells, Scott Ingram, Steve Lindsey, Rick Williams, David Montgomery) joined the meeting to discuss events from the past three years. This discussion was led by Tom Hayden. 

Accomplishments:

• Initiated a capital campaign.
• Developed a stewardship program for parish so that ALL might be involved with time, talent and treasure.
• Eliminated BINGO (funds lost from BINGO have been made-up in less than one year).
• Opened Good Samaritan house for refugees.
• Purchased new church bus.
• Instituted parish Block Party (the 2005 event had 450 participants and 140 parish volunteers).
• Parishioners have made mission trips to Mandeville, Jamaica goods and funds have been provided for mission work in this area.
• More opportunities provided for adult retreats and Bible study.
• Growth in parish during last three years (200 additional English-speaking families, 100 Spanish-speaking families). Adding of two additional weekend Masses.
• Initial work on converting parish hall to offices and construction of new parish hall.

Two programs that were put on the back-burner were:
1)  New church marquee at 4^th and Triplett. The marquee has been designed and the conduit has been laid. Cost will be approximately $8,000. New council may want to consider again.
2)  Visiting homes of new families. This was done for a time, but is not being performed at the moment. 

5.  Discussion was held concerning the new construction of a parish hall and renovation of the current hall to offices. A letter to all members of the parish will go out by the end of February asking families to extend their capital campaign contributions for 24 months (note: we have approximately 61 percent of the previous pledges already in at the half-way point of the first campaign). Letters will also go out to new families. Parish response should be in by mid-April. Assuming money is available, construction will begin around August. We will be without a hall for approximately three months. Rick, Fr. Brian and others will oversee details of the construction. Vince Hayden will serve as contractor.  

When completed, the hall will seat 350 (compared to the current space for 175). This will provide for all current needs and will also provide an opportunity to rent out the space to non-parishioners for additional income.  

There was talk concerning putting a traffic light or crossing sign between the church and new hall as a safety measure. Scott Ingram said we need to check with the city to begin this process. Rick will look into the matter.  

6.  Tony thanked the past council members for their dedicated service and outstanding accomplishments. 

7.  Fr. Brian led closing prayer. Meeting ended at 8:38 p.m. 

Next meeting: Monday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m.  

Respectfully submitted,
John Little – Council Secretary

sdrose@bellsouth.net
6-07-2006