Pastoral Council Minutes

Oct 20, 2020 Pastoral Council Minutes
Present: Kelli Flege, Wayne Green, Trent Lockard, Phil Paladino, Ruth Schluter, Jennifer Seward, and Father Doug Wathier in person. Jeff Keen and Elaine Lawler via Zoom. Not present: Kris Dunkin and Jennifer Siech.

• Meeting called to order by Trent at 7:03pm.  
• Father Doug started with prayer, Seven Sorrows of Mary.  
• Appointment of secretary. Ruth made a motion that Wayne be appointed secretary, seconded by Kelli, and approved by the Council.  
• August minutes. Ruth made a motion to accept the August minutes, seconded by Father Doug, and approved by the Council.  
• The Parish Life Committee recommended a $2,000 donation to Catholic Charities from their savings, designated for derecho relief. The Peace and Justice Committee recommended a $1,800 donation to Catholic Charities, also for derecho relief, using the balance of Holy Day collections from 2019/2020 and the Holy Day, Assumption of Mary, in August 2020. Elaine made a motion to OK these donations, seconded by Kelli, and approved by the Council.  
• Other Peace and Justice donations for quarter. The Peace and Justice Committee recommended a $698 donation to the Butler County Food Pantries, a $800 donation to SELF Help, and a $800 donation to Doctors without Borders. Kelly made a motion to OK these donations, seconded by Ruth, and approved by the Council. 
  
• Covid concerns were discussed.  
• The Archbishop indicated in a letter that the archdiocese recommends continuing the current practices into the foreseeable future.  
• The plan is to wait a little while to start up 8:00 service.  
• There was a discussion on upgrading the equipment used to film Mass for online viewing. It was decided to not to spend any more money in the hope that it will be a temporary need, and that the quality seems fine for now, and that there are other online options available.  
• There was discussion on doing another parish outreach.  
• It was mentioned that there may be some folks who are more comfortable attending daily Mass versus weekend Mass. It was encouraged to continue to remind the parish of the daily Mass schedule.  
• Kelli gave the Finance Committee report.  
• Offertory is close to budget. There were some IRAs the supplemented regular offertory being lower.  
• There is an expense toward alarm system panel repair. Bids are being gathered. Insurance will cover some of the cost.  
• Dixie is working on the PPE loan.  
• Wayne gave the Faith Formation report.  
• As of now there are about 197 students enrolled. This is versus 208 this time last year, but this year does not include pre-school and kindergarten.  
• Edge has 46 students enrolled which is similar to last year’s number.  
• CGS is on hold for now.  
• Plexiglass was purchased from Miller Hardware using FF snack money. More has been ordered from another source.  
• Still in need of volunteers at all levels.  
• Peace and Justice is conducting a Just Faith program called Faith and Racial Healing starting October 5th and lasting 8 weeks.   
• Other topics
  • Parish Life is meeting in October. As of now there are no known fund raisers planned. The idea of a virtual bizarre or other virtual activities was brought up. Other ideas for activities were mentioned. Father may talk with Gerri on the subject.

 

• Motion was made by Wayne to adjourn, seconded by Kelli. Meeting adjourned at 7:49pm.
• Father ended with the Glory Be.
  

Submitted by Wayne Green

St. Mary Parish Life Minutes, November 18, 2020            
Sixteen people in attendance (includes 6 thru Zoom). Gerri started the meeting with a prayer.
Helen briefly reviewed the October meeting.  Linda shared the communications that had been sent to all funeral list callers, funeral workers, group leaders and those on the linens list.  She has also sent a note to the parishioner who donated money (in memory of a loved one) that purchased the new mixer for the kitchen.  The parishioner was pleased with the purchase.        
Gerri shared her role within the Parish Life Committee.  She is the committee’s liaison with the other staff members. Gerri shared that terms for a Parish Life Chair and Vice-Chair would run from July 1 to June 30 of each year with the vice-chair moving to the chair position. Mary Jo Stromberg volunteered to fill the position of Chair and Amy Price volunteered to fill the position of Vice-Chair.  These positions will go from the present to June 30, 2021.
The group brainstormed the many activities in which Parish Life could possibly be involved.  Gerri recorded these ideas on chart paper.  Five pages were filled.  Gerri also noted that there will be a time when funeral support will come back.                                                                                                                                                  The following activities were identified as those on which the committee will focus efforts for the next 90 days: 
Phone Pals- Bernice, Ruth, Nancy and Jan have started this Welcome new parishioners                                                                                                                                      Outreach
Current parishioners
--Grieving families
--Prayer chain follow-up
--Sending cards
Recognize sacraments                                                                                                                                               Grocery delivery   --    Veronica  volunteered to coordinate                                                                                                                            Meal Train                                                                                                                                                                      Sewing groups  --One is scheduled for Friday (Nov.20) morning.
Anyone who has a special interest in any of these activities and wishes to organize the involvement of others needs to contact Gerri.  Gerri will meet with Mary Jo and Amy to brainstorm parishioners who might be interested in a specific activity.                                                                                                           Communication was also identified as a need.  It was clarified that all church committee minutes are on the website, but they are listed under the heading:  “Parish Council”.  It was pointed out that this title is misleading, as it leads one to believe these are only Parish Council minutes.  It was suggested that this title be changed to accurately reflect that this includes all committee minutes.  The minutes are included in the packet that Parish Council receives before each of its meetings.  Communication between groups would allow for enhanced working together within the church towards a common purpose.                                    The meeting was ended with a group prayer.
Next meeting is at 7 PM in January…DATE TO BE DETERMINED.  Everyone is encouraged to bring a friend.  Respectfully submitted,       Helen Melichar