March 2026

Pastoral Council Minutes, March 17 @ 7 pm
Present Nathan Heitz , Mary Jo Stromberg, LuAnn Scallon, Theresa Buss, Chris Schneider via zoom (Faith Formation), Phil Paladino, and Fr Doug Wathier

1. Call to order:  Nathan Heitz at 7 pm. Journey in Faith Prayer led by Father
2. We reviewed and approved as written the Pastoral Council minutes from 2/17/26.   We also reviewed minutes from Finance Council  2/17/26, Faith Formation 3/3/26, Building and Grounds 10/29/25 and 3/2026, Peace and Justice 3/9/2026, Parish Life minutes 2/9/26. 
3. Phil reported on the latest finance council meeting.  Paying $5,000/month to pay off loan over 9 months.   Still getting pledges in.  Pledges ended up more than the estimated budget due to Huff completing some of the items at a lower cost.   The “extra” money will be used toward the parking lot surface.  
4. Journey in Faith –Priests are getting their assignments this week.   On April 10th, the priests will meet to discuss the new model and on April 11th, the final Model will be made public.  And changes will be implemented on July 17th.     

A video was shared about the new design for councils and committees.Each current council member was asked to complete and interest link for serving another 1 year appt.
Next Meeting- Tues April 21, 2026 at 7pm 

Finance Council, Mar 17, 2026
Present: Becky David, Tom Kuhlmann, Adam Losey , Regina Peters, John Holden, Katie Crouse, Fr Doug Wathier. Also present: Deacon Phil Paladino, Will Kurtt, Dixie Jacobs.
Meeting opened with Journey in Faith prayer.
Monthly Financials: Offering is still strong; about $12,000 above budget. The repairs for the nave furnace were paid this month $3,475. The stained glass company began work refurbishing the angel window for the vestibule this month. No completion date for its installation. 
Religious Education Endowment: A budgeted 4% of the endowment, about $20,000, is budgeted for this year. Withdrawals from endowments can only be completed the first two weeks of Nov and May. A request will be made in May for this withdrawal.
Building Loan $75,000:  Current balance is $45,000. The interest is invoiced quarterly by the Archdiocese. The payments are set at parish level, which has been $5000/month. A consensus was reached to continue at this payment level. Any building gifts above the cost of the project will be set aside for the parking lot. This was communicated to donors at the time they made their pledge.  
Building & Grounds: The building & grounds committee met and are recommending additional lighting west of the parish center for the handicap parking. The finance committee came to a consensus to proceed with this as soon as possible due as a safety issue. The cabinets under the hand washing sink in the kitchen will need repaired/replaced from water damage. No estimate on this yet.
Journey in Faith: The council received a copy of Archdiocesan Guidance booklet for Journey in Faith Councils & Committees and accompanying video. Parish-level councils will meet quarterly, and Pastorate-level councils with representatives from each church will meet monthly. St Mary’s councils are asked to discern their willingness to be considered for a parish (one-year term then transition into rotating terms) or pastorate council position. They are asked to complete a survey in April. At the April finance meeting, further discussion will be held on the roles of the councils and the survey.
Agenda for Tues, April 21: monthly financials, parish and pastoral councils, review Journey in Faith Councils & Committee Guide, Journey in Faith survey for council, budget 2026/27.

Faith Formation Commission, Apr 7, 2026

1. Faith formation leader review

• Not currently in position to review

1.  Budget in March

• Expenses on par, will look to start discussing finance in march
• Fiscal start July 1st
• 26-27 Fiscal year will be a transition year for journey in faith

4. Men’s /women’s conference

• Will not host women’s conference this year
• Previous years, an office position lead the group
• Still can sign up individually online
• May look to find a volunteer to start in Oct/Nov - Faith Formation to initiate
  • Host receives a leader package from arch diocese.  Guide and information included
• Men’s conference is a travel trip - reach out to Gabe Stauffer if interested

5. Faith formation support

• Catechist are in place
• Feb/march leaders look ahead to fall faith programs
• Can we help decorate Room of John?
• Ted made comments that several coordinators seem to not get enough support

7. NCYC

• Shareholder event is scheduled
• Saint Mary was very responsive and gracious with donations 

6. Coordinator

• Timeline may not be effective to wait for new hire
• May need help from committee with program planning and budget
• Outline of each position’s responsibilities
• Review of each job description by the committee
  • Suggestion and understanding but Father has final decision

Additional notes of conversation:
VBS - at St Paul
LOTEC has three from St Mary’s going. Should look to promote early with a fall registration for the following summer
ICYC March 21 (high schoolers), Mar 22 middle schoolers (6th, 7th, 8th) in Cedar Rapids

• Full Day St Ludmila
• Faith Formation to help spread the word? Cards to give out to the MS Edge?
• Tri-Fold made to promote at Sunday coffee?

 
Peace and Justice Minutes for April 13, 2026
Opening Prayer: Wayne shared information about Patron Saint for today, Saint Pope Martin and had a prayer pertaining to him.
Sister Water Project: Collection of $16,855.97. Wayne will contact the nuns to ask them what they suggest as a way to follow-up with providing information to our parishioners explaining in more personal detail how their donation helped.
 Habitat: In February, the Raise Roof Gala auction raised $19, 530. In April, there will be a Woman’s Bill Breakfast. They started a Rehab Store in Parkersburg, and are currently working on 5 properties. Wayne will contact Dixie to announce the Woman’s Build Breakfast in the bulletin.
Food Bank: April was cancelled as planned. Next one is Saturday, May 2nd.
Discussion of Nursing Home Volunteers: Ideas shared as to how to try to get some volunteers in the 3 nursing homes that requested volunteers. Jan will talk with Gerri.
Tithing: Local: $ 1,000 to Larrabee Center
 National: $1,000 to Guiding Star and $1,000 to U.S. Catholic Charities
International: $1,500 to CRS and $1,000 to Caritas
Closing Prayer: Prayer for Peace and Justice
Next Meeting: Monday, May 11, 2026. Minutes written: Jan Kriener
 
St. Mary Parish Life Minutes, Monday, April 13, 2026
Present: , Father Wathier,  Cindy Franzen, Gerri Dix, Mary Lou Ungs, Liz Poock,  Mindy Hart                                                  Meeting called to order by o-Chair Liz Poock.
Opening Prayer:  Liz
Added to the Agenda:  Welcome for new priests
Review of March Minutes:   No additions/corrections
Old Business:

• Easter Egg Hunt:  Held Saturday, March 21. Kids loved the juice and donuts.  76 kids in attendance - which was up from last year due to construction and weather. Worked well to hide eggs near Rosary walk. They enjoyed having to cross items they found or completed off a list - like finding all of the Jesus pictures.
  
• Treats for Wartburg Finals Week:   Filled 31 bags (extra one didn’t have a sticker) with cookies on Friday April, 10th.  These were handed out the weekend of April 11-12, along with 2 other sets of goodie bags prepared for each student.  Liz covered Saturday evening Mass but didn’t have any students.  Cindy covered 8:00 Mass with Mariah and had 7 students..  Mary Lou gave away all of  the remaining bags except for 1.  Students were very appreciative!
  
• Retirement Recognition:  July 12 after 10:00 Mass. Mary Lou made the reservations for ice cream for retirement party and parish picnic.  Will need sign-up sheets for pies and workers.  Gerri talked to Troy Merkes and we will need to find someone with a hog that he can roast for us.
  
• Graduation Breakfast:   Sunday, May 24..  If we don’t get many junior parents to volunteer, then will plan to make the egg bakes at the church.  Will need sign up sheets for other help with the breakfast. Since Gerri will be gone, Lynn is in charge of deciding if will make cinnamon rolls or will buy them.  Will make fruit cups ahead of time..
  
• Parish Picnic:  June 7 after 10:00 Mass.  Lynn is in charge of potato salad.  Gerri is to contact Tom Johanns about having the KC’s do the grilling.  Amanda Wente will coordinate games. Will - cowboy beans. Gerri will get ice cream toppings, and sign up sheets for workers..
  
• Spring Tea:   Saturday, April 25 at 1:00 PM.  The committee met to taste test mints and scones - decided on the ham and cheese scones. Only one table of guests and a few workers signed up so far.  Gerri will make a bigger promotion of it for this weekend’s masses.
  

New Business: 

• Welcome for Transferring Catholics to St. Mary Parish:  Now that the new pastorates and priests assigned to each pastorate have been announced, we discussed how this will impact St. Mary's parish life committee.  Will need to wait for the outgoing and incoming priests to meet to make initial decisions on what masses each church will have starting in July.  Father Miller will probably need to meet with us to see what changes he wants to make in our activities.  Will likely have to coordinate our activities with Cedar Falls, St Stephens and Reinbeck. We set up a meeting, July 8th 2:00pm,  to finish planning for the retirement party on July 12th, and also to start planning how to welcome the new priests.  Will likely need to plan an event for the first time that each one of them comes to Waverly for a weekend mass as it is not likely that we will be able to get them all here at the same time.

 May Meeting:  Moved from May 11th to May 4th as Cindy and Gerri will be out of town.
Closing prayer:  Father led “Hail Mary” Next meeting:  Mon, May 4 at 7PM. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Franzen