ST._FRANCIS_OF_ASSISI_PASTORAL_COUNCIL_MINUTES_April_3,_2008
ST._FRANCIS_OF_ASSISI_PASTORAL_COUNCIL__MINUTES_May_1,_2008
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ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI PASTORAL COUNCIL MINUTES May 1, 2008
Members in attendance: Dan Buscher, Kevin Crowley, Wes Ehrecke, Fr. Ed Hurley, John Lensing, Julie McCarty, Dan Nielsen, Larry O’Brien, Fr. Joe Pins, Becky Reding, Brad Reiman, Wendy Solawetz.
Members not in attendance: None
Newly Discerned Members for the 2008-2009 year: Brad Olson, Bill Pierson
Newly discerned Pastoral Council members Brad Olson and Bill Pierson were introduced to the Council. Gary Goodhall, the third new member, had attended the April 3 meeting due to a conflict this evening. Brad and Bill joined the Council for the remainder of the meeting.
3. Approval of Agenda
A motion was made to accept and approve the agenda. Motion seconded and unanimously approved.
4. Minutes
A motion was made to accept and approve the minutes of the April 3, 2008 meeting. Motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
5. Committee Chairperson Reports – there were no reports this month
A. Confirmation went very smoothly last weekend (April 26 & 27). There were 140 - 8th Graders confirmed.
B. First Communion will be held this weekend (May 3 & 4) for over 200 children.
C. The Diocese has a new Bishop. The installation ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, May 29 at 2:00 p.m., at HyVee Hall downtown. Everyone is encouraged to attend. One of the Bishop’s goals is to visit every parish within the first six month of his ministry.
7. New Business
A. Parish Budget – Final Approval
The 2008-2009 Parish budget was present to the Pastoral Council for final approval based upon recommendations made from the Council at its March 2008 meeting. Only two revisions were made on the “income” side: 1) to increase tithing by $20,000; 2) to increase the Christmas and Easter collections by $5,000. A motion was made to approve the 2008-2009 Parish budget as presented. Motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
B. Pastoral Council August Retreat
The tentative date for the Pastoral Council Retreat was set for Sunday, August 17, from 6:00 -10:00 p.m., with the location to be determined. Fr. Hurley and incoming Pastoral Council Chair, John Lensing will be finalizing details.
8. Old Business
A. Pastoral Council Slate of Officers
The 2008-2009 Pastoral Council members will be voting on the Slate of Officers for the 2008-2009 year at the June 2008 meeting. The Slate of Officers follows:
John Lensing, Chair
Kevin Crowley, Vice Chair (Chair-Elect)
Dan Nielsen, Secretary
B. Stewardship Committee
Fr. Hurley reported that the
Stewardship Committee needs to be recruited this summer.
C. Strategic Plan Review
Wes Ehrecke presented the revised and approved (April 3, 2008 Pastoral Council meeting) St. Francis Strategic Plan document which had been circulated to each Pastoral Council member via email prior to the meeting.
Next steps include sharing the document with St. Francis staff and receiving their input. This will be done at their staff meeting on Wednesday, May 21 at 10:00 a.m. Wes and Kevin Crowley will present the plan.
In addition, the Pastoral Council Committee Liaisons will contact their Committee Chairs and incoming Chairs immediately, and invite them to a meeting on Tuesday, May 20, at 7:00 p.m. in the Large Meeting Room with the purpose of reviewing and discussing this important document.
Once these important meetings have been held, and input gathered and incorporated, the document will be shared with the Parish (minus the timeline and responsibilities portions).
9. Liaison Reports
A. Building & Grounds (Feb) (Oct) - John Lensing
Fr. Hurley illustrated the proposed plan for the canopy for the north side of the Church drive and pick-up area.
B. Board of Education (Jan) (Sept) –
Dan Nielsen (Julie McCarty attended the April meeting on Dan’s behalf and
reported for him)
1). Demonstrations were presented re: new technology for the
school. St. Francis will be going with Mimeo which interfaces with current
white
boards. SFA will do a substantial amount of technology updating this summer
– approximately 12 classrooms. This will be a phase-in project.
Proposals are being considered.
2). The Board of Education discerned for its slate of Officers for the coming year:
Mike Wunn – Chair
Lisa Davis Cook – Vice Chair
Fran Otte – Secretary
3). Fr. Hurley shared that interviews were occurring today (May 1) for open positions at SFA day school.
C. Parish Life (Jan) (Sept) -- Dan Buscher
The Wine Experience, wine tasting event, occurred Saturday evening, April 19. There were 150-160 paid guests in attendance, down from last year. People commented that they loved the music, which was quieter than last year and that they could hear the wine pourers talk about the wines. Mike Holmes catered the food, which was the same price, but no work for the committee. Dan Buscher recommended trying the event one more year to see how the numbers go.
Dan then wanted to engage the Council in the general question of “what are you looking for in Parish Life?” Discussion ensued about the history and future of Parish Life as a “committee” and how it should/could function, etc.”
D. Social Concerns (Apr) (Nov) - Larry O'Brien
Larry reported that he and Deb Nugent, Committee Chair, met to discuss a more organized approach to the Social Concerns Committee. As a result, the 11 committees will be meeting on May 28th. Chair-elect, Nikki Snyder, assumes her role in September.
E. Worship & Spirituality (Mar.) (Nov) - Wendy Solawetz
The Committee is right on target and meets next week. Nothing new to report.
F. Finance (Mar) (Sept) - Kevin Crowley
1). Kevin distributed the March 2008 financials.
2). Kevin noted St. Francis received $13,000 back from the Diocese from the Annual Diocesan Appeal. $5,000 had been budgeted. This year’s goal is $241,000.
G. Communications (Feb) (Oct) - Wes Ehrecke
Wes reported that INS (website developer) gave a presentation to the group and everyone was comfortable. INS is coming back to demonstrate a security solution which is of critical importance to SFA. If SFA School is not satisfied with this solution, they will not proceed with INS and will re-open the search with RFPs. The cost of this project is approximately $20-$25,000.
H. HR Ad Hoc Committee - Julie McCarty
Julie has been working with Fr. Hurley and has put together a job description for Kathy Rahm’s replacement. This will be a full time position that will provide oversight of the Church Administrative Team and will have responsibility for some administrative work on the Capital Campaign, as well as some Human Resource responsibilities. The title has not yet been determined. Once this person is on staff, it will need to be determined whether or not the H.R. Ad Hoc Committee needs to continue to exist. The Human Resources Handbook will be out-sourced.
10 Concluding Comments: Next Meeting, Thursday, June 5, 6:30 p.m., Pizza Party Farewell
for “Retiring” Members Dan Buscher, Becky Reding, Brad Reiman, Wendy Solawetz
Retiring members will be “dismissed” after the meal. The newly discerned members of the Council will have their first meeting as new members and new officers will assume their roles.
11. Closing Prayer was offered by Fr. Ed Hurley.
12. Meeting adjourned at 8:56 p.m.
ST.
FRANCIS OF ASSISI PASTORAL COUNCIL MINUTES April 3, 2008
Members in attendance: Dan Buscher, Kevin Crowley, Wes Ehrecke, John Lensing, Julie McCarty, Dan Nielsen, Larry O’Brien, Fr. Joe Pins, Becky Reding, Brad Reiman, Wendy Solawetz.
Members not in attendance: Fr. Ed Hurley
Newly Discerned Members for the 2008-2009 year: Gary Goodhall attended a portion of the meeting as deemed appropriate by Chair, Brad Reiman. Other newly discerned members will be in attendance at the May 2008 meeting, when Gary is unable to attend.
2. Approval of Agenda
Chair, Brad Reiman, joined the meeting and assumed his role. A request
was made to move Item #6. New Business, Discernment of Pastoral Council
Vice- Chairman, to Item # 8. Liaison Reports, to enable Gary
Goodhall to participate in as much of the meeting as possible. He will
be dismissed for the
Discernment of Council Vice-Chairman discussion. A motion was
made to accept and approve the amended agenda. Motion seconded and
unanimously
approved.
3. Minutes
There were several corrections to the March 6, 2008 minutes.
1). Number 4. Committee Reports. Under Finance, line two, the phrase (See attached), was deleted from the minutes, as there was no attachment included.
2). Number 6. B. Council Discernment. The last two sentences of that paragraph should read as follows:
“…There was a lengthy discussion on ways in which the Pastoral Council can make certain it accurately reflects the demographics of the Parish. It was concluded that the Council members need to encourage parishioners to consider discerning to help meet the present and future needs of our Parish.”
3). Number 6. C. Pastoral Council Vice Chairman and Secretarial Position. The last sentence of this paragraph should read, “Kevin Crowley, Julie McCarty, and Larry O’Brien will be considering the role of Vice-Chair for the 2008-2009 year.”
A motion was made to accept and approve the minutes of the March 6, 2008 meeting as corrected. Motion seconded and unanimously approved.
4. Committee Report
Fr. Pins presented the Pastoral report on behalf of Fr. Hurley, who was out of town.
A. Fr. Hurley is out of town until next week. Msgr. Stessman will assist at the 8 a.m. Mass on Sunday, April 6.
B.
Easter went very smoothly. Crowd control worked
well. The Church looks great and won’t change seasons for a number of
weeks. Easter Vigil
was very beautiful and only lasted 2 hrs. and 20 minutes. They had a
slight issue when went to lower the veil from the main cross. It became
caught,
and the cross began to swing. Finally, just left the fabric hanging
because didn’t want to pull down the huge cross. Got it down after
Mass with no
problem.
C. Confirmation Retreat is this weekend with Confirmations being held the last weekend in April.
D. First Communion Retreat was the weekend of March 30th, with First Communion occurring the first weekend in May.
E. Weddings begin in earnest next weekend.
F.
The canopy design for the north entrance to the Church is
completed and ready to be presented to the Pastoral Council for their input.
That will
occur at the May 2008 meeting.
6. Old Business
A. Stewardship Committee
Fr. Hurley and John Lensing intended to participate in the Stewardship Meeting being held in Cedar Rapids on March 27, but a weather-related car accident prevented their attendance. Thankfully, they were not injured in the accident. A list of names of potential members of a Stewardship Committee has been developed and the recruitment of those persons will begin sometime this summer, as well as the entire Stewardship process.
B. Strategic Plan Review
Wes Ehrecke presented the latest version of the revised
Strategic Plan and reviewed the specifics being recommended
by the Task Force from its
March 24 meeting. They had primarily
addressed, “How will we get there?” and “How will we know we have arrived?”
In other words, looking
for the “Responsible parties” and “timelines” – the measuring devices.
The Council reviewed the document in its current format and determined they liked the action verbs leading off each goal; in goal #2, the words faith “education” should be changed to faith “development;” accepted the spelling change in #8 under Responsibility of the word “capitol” to “capital”; and finally, that the document be entitled, The St. Francis of Assisi Strategic Plan, with a small date placed in the lower corner.
In terms of a Timeline, Wes proposed that the Council continue to look it over, make any further suggestions and comments to this document and that, if possible, we be ready to share this in an approved form with the committee chairs and staff in May or June.
A motion was made to accept the proposed changes to the Strategic Plan as outlined above and to distribute to all appropriate parties by mid-May; to then present back any feedback to the Council for a final approval at the June meeting, and prepare to present to the Parish sometime after that. Motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
7. Liaison Reports
A. Building & Grounds (Feb) (Oct) - John Lensing
1). In the financials for the Buildings and Grounds Committee, the increased snow removal of this winter has put them over budget. It costs $2,000 every time the snow is removed from the parking lot. In addition, because of all the snow removal, the parking lot was cleaned over Spring Break to remove the excessive sand.
2). The roof-top heating/cooling units are “limping along.” The committee is hoping they will last until the Capital Campaign.
3). The B & G Committee would like to have some type of roof over the utility tractor for protection.
4). Building Security is a major issue. A sales representative recently presented some security ideas, i.e.: arming doors, magnet readers, cameras. SFA intends to visit with other parishes to see what they have done.
5). The Committee continues to work on exterior lighting in the new east parking lot.
6). Recycling is finally happening at SFA.
7). We have a tree care service and use True-Green Chem Lawn. Timberpine will give SFA a bid on tree care, as a family member belongs to SFA.
8. Rental of the land north of the Church property was discussed. SFA owns the land and has been approached by the Catholic Football league that currently plays at Dowling. To date, we have said, “No.”
B. Board of Education (Jan) (Sept) – Dan Nielsen
1). Three new members have
gone through the discernment process for the Board of Education. The
new members are: Greg Ehm, Mary
Cassing, and Michelle VanLandSchoot.
2). Contracts have been issued and approved for teachers for the next school year.
3). Approval has been granted for the trimester system within the day school. Conferences will continue to be held twice a year.
4). A Strategic Plan for Technology was presented as had been challenged by the Board of Ed. It would cost approximately $7,300 per classroom to effectively implement this plan.
C. Parish Life (Jan) (Sept) -- Dan Buscher
The Wine Experience, wine tasting event, is scheduled for Saturday evening, April 19. Ticket sales are continuing after Masses each weekend. Dan is still seeking volunteer assistance for ticket sales. To date, 100 tickets have been sold. He hopes to sell a total of 300.
D. Social Concerns (Apr) (Nov) - Larry O'Brien (Above)
E. Worship & Spirituality (Mar.) (Nov) - Wendy Solawetz (Above)
F. Finance (Mar) (Sept) - Kevin Crowley
1). Kevin distributed
the February 2008 financials.* (Each month’s financials are not available
until the 11th of the month, so it is not possible
to get the month immediately prior to the Council meeting, due to the fact
the meetings are always held prior to the 11th.)
2). Kevin noted the increased expenditure in snow removal this year.
3). Annual Diocesan Appeal Weekend, April 12-13.
G. Communications (Feb) (Oct) - Wes Ehrecke
The Communications Committee met in late March and recommended to
discontinue the discussion with their first choice for developing the St.
Francis website, and to pursue the second-choice company that scored nearly
as high. Emphasis on training and back up support were two factors
in which the committee wanted a higher level of confidence going forward.
The committee will also be selecting a new Chair in the near future.
H. HR Ad Hoc Committee - Julie McCarty
No report.
8. New Business
A.
Pastoral Council Vice Chairman and Secretarial Position At this
point in the meeting, Gary Goodhall was excused for the remainder of the
meeting.
Kevin Crowley, Julie McCarty and Larry O’Brien were invited to discern their interest in the position of Vice-chair of Pastoral Council for the 2008-2009 year. The position of Vice-Chair becomes Chair of the Council the following year. Larry O’Brien indicated that he had discerned that he would like to withdraw his name from the Vice-Chair consideration to continue devoting his efforts to the Social Concerns Committee. Kevin and Julie then had an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings regarding the Vice-Chair position. They then left the room and thoughtful discussion ensued.
Kevin Crowley was discerned to be the Vice-Chairperson of the Council for the 2008-2009 year.
B. Dan Nielsen will serve as Secretary for the 2008-2009 year.
9. Concluding Comments: Next Meeting, Thursday, May 1, 6:30 p.m.
10. Closing Prayer was offered by Fr. Joe Pins.
11. Meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m.