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Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church |
Parish Council Minutes | |
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Parish Council
Minutes
Meeting began at 6:35 p.m. in
the Parish Office building. 1. Opening prayer led by Pete Johnson 2. Minutes from April 7, 2008 meeting approved with noted change. 3. Continuing Education – Jim McBrayer made a presentation on the proposed Jail Chapel at the Daviess County Detention Center. The council supported this program. Details of support will be worked out in the future. 4. Youth Ministry Report – Ken spoke on four projects:
5. Hispanic Report – Chris asked that all council members commit themselves to education regarding our Hispanic community. One way to do this is taking part in the events sponsored by the Hispanic community. Chris said he welcomes sitting down and talking with any parishioner. Chris added that while we are a welcoming community, this can always be enhanced. 6. Elderly Report – at this time, there is not a representative to the council from our seniors. Martha was asked to speak with the Senior Citizen Bible Study group and the monthly social group to see what the needs are for the seniors and also to come up with possible representatives that can report to the council. 7. Old Business A. Technology and Liturgy update – Ken continues to work on this. He will bring more information to our next meeting. B. Associate Pastor update – we will not be getting an associate at this time due to budget constraints. The bishop was in agreement. C. Wedding guidelines – Fr. Carl handed out a draft of the new guidelines. Each member is asked to look it over and offer changes/suggestions. These should be to Fr. Carl by May 15. Once completed, the guidelines will be brought to the council for approval. D. Open Parish Council meeting – on a positive note, it was a wonderful opportunity of communication. Everyone who attended came away with knowledge of all that is going on in the parish. On a negative note, there were very few parishioners who attended that were not a part of a committee. We still need to look at ways to reach out to these people. We will discuss this topic in more detail at the next meeting. E. Stewardship of the Environment – there is a “green space” in the bulletin each week and we will continue to look at ways to educate the parish (and to live out) environmental stewardship. The Social Concerns Committee has been asked to lead this effort. 8. New Business A. The Social Concerns Committee wrote a letter to the council that Tony presented. The letter challenged us to look at how we are helping the poor, and not ourselves. Two specific areas of concern were $1,900 spent on cleaning the parish hall floor and $9,000 for a proposed sanitizer in the parish hall. Much discussion took place. We all agreed that the parish has been very generous in helping others (Block Party, St. Vincent DePaul, mission trips, etcetera; however, we can do more. We were very grateful to the Social Concerns Committee for this challenge. John will draft a response letter and give to Tony and Fr. Carl for review. B. 2008-2009 budget – the new budget was brought forth for approval. Details were passed out and will be made available to the parish. One major increase is in the amount of funds going towards Catholic schools. We have added $26,129 to the budget for this item and we will attempt to raise an additional $26,129 with fundraisers. One major focus will be getting parents of Catholic school children more involved (those who are not currently involved) in the parish. The budget will include 1.25 percent of the collection going towards a Christian Service Fund that will directly assist the poor and needy of our community. This is over and above what is currently being spent. We requested that the word tithing be changed in the budget. Otherwise, there was unanimous approval. C. Non-violence pledge – this pledge is available in church. Fr. Carl will emphasis the pledge during Masses at an upcoming weekend. This is a pledge we will make to ourselves and God to truly be people of peace in all of our words and actions. D. A candlelight prayer service for peace will take place Sunday at 7 p.m. in front of church. E. The Building and Grounds Committee recommended to the council that we offer the old Birthright building to our youth on a one year trail basis. The council unanimously approved. 9. Closing prayer offered by Fr. Carl. 10. Opening prayer for the June 2, 2008 meeting will be lead by Martha Little. Continuing Education will be lead by Debbie Luedke. 11. Meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. 12. Next meeting – Monday, June 2, 2008
Respectfully submitted,
sdrose@bellsouth.net |