St. James Parish Council Minutes
February 12, 2001

 

OPENING PRAYER:  Tim Laird

 

PRESENT:  Ralph Agee, William Bednar, Anita Holt, Roger Holyfield, Tim Laird, David Porter, Jerome Scheider, Brett Scott, Annette Talbot, and Father Ron

 

ABSENT:  Steve Gregoire, Kim Parente, and Parker Stanley

 

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tim Laird.  The January minutes and the February agenda were both approved.

 

PROGRAM:  John Scheer, Chairman of the Administration & Finance Committee, was present to inform the council of their responsibilities and activities.  He said their committee is comprised of seven volunteers who serve as an advisory board to Father on anything pertaining to the building and grounds.  They meet once a month on the 3rd or 4th Wednesday, and the meetings are open to the parish.  He stated one of their major concerns are the parking lot is in bad shape.  Another concern is the parish is growing, however, collections aren’t.  Council members asked about their involvement with the school budget, and how tuition was handled for parishioners and non-parishioners.  John stated the non-tithing student’s families pay approximately $2,800 tuition per student. 

 

1)               The Proposed Restructuring of the Pastoral Council was distributed by Tim.  He had proposed to split the actions of the 2010 Project to each council member pertaining to their assigned ministries (Option A).  After discussion was held on having two members assigned to each strategy rather than dividing up the strategies (Option B), it was voted to use Option B.  Members volunteered for each strategy, and it was decided not to assign two members whose terms would end at the same time to a strategy.  The members assigned are as follows:

 

            Strategy #1: Strengthen the Parish Community                             David Porter

                                                                                                                        Jerome Scheider

 

            Strategy #2: Offer Diverse Spiritual Experiences                             William Bednar

                                                                                                                        Brett Scott

 

            Strategy #3: Create the Optimal Spiritual Atmosphere                 Ralph Agee

                                                                                                                        Roger Holyfield

 

            Strategy #4: Achieve Excellence in all Educational Efforts             Anita Holt

                                                                                                                        Annette Talbot

 

            Strategy #5: Reach Out to our Community by Thinking               Steve Gregoire

                                         Globally and Acting Locally                                    Tim Laird

 

2)               Planning the implementation of Project 2010 the weekend of February 24th and 25th was discussed.  Council members volunteered to assist before and after Masses that weekend to be greeters, conduct a slide show, and prepare wallboard displays for displays in the social hall. 

 

3)               The Nomination Committee for upcoming elections the weekend of May 5th and 6th will be outgoing members Ralph Agee, William Bednar, and Tim Laird.  William volunteered to prepare a bulletin announcement asking for volunteers for candidates. 

 

MINISTRY REPORTS:

Christian Formation: Ralph Agee – Reported the Marriage Enrichment program with Sister Mary Jo he attended was very nice.

 

Human Concerns and Outreach: Annette Talbot – Reported the Advent giving tree recipients numbered 342, and there were some names left on the tree this year so they had some difficulty getting all names taken for gifts.

 

Catholic Organizations: Roger Holyfield – No report

 

Stewardship and Administration: Kim Parente – Absent

 

Liturgy: Brett Scott – Reported Boy Scouts contacted him about a Mass to present religious awards during Mass.  The council members felt that since this involved such few parish families, and due to the short intervals between Masses, the presentation should not be held during the Mass.  It was suggested they could be distributed right after Mass by Father, and those that wanted to stay could. 

 

Education: Steve Gregoire – Absent

 

School: Anita Holt – Reported there were some school families who were unable to pay all of their fees, so they did have some donations from others which helped.  A growth committee will study the school to see if there is a need for a middle school.  There are 64 on the Kindergarten list with 48 openings.  Registration will be next month.  The Science Fair was held last week.

 

Youth: Jerome Schieder – Confirmation will be Monday, May 21st, and the Bishop will be here.

 

Prayer: David Porter – No report

 

Communication: William Bednar – No report

 

Parish & Family Life: Tim Laird – No report

 

PASTOR’S REMARKS:

1)               Handout to each member from a newsletter on “Qualities of a Precious Blood Parish.”

2)               Reported the Stewardship Committee met last month after being inactive the past year.  He said Jim Thornton is conducting a pilot project whereby he is contacting new parishioners who have been members about six months or more to get their ideas on how they feel we as a parish are serving their needs.

3)               Father encouraged all council members to attend all three nights of the Parish Mission by Fr. Jim Urbanic since the March council meeting will fall during the mission.  We will drop the March business meeting.

 

The next regular council meeting will be April 9th at 7:00 p.m. with opening prayer by Jerome Scheider.  Ideas for the program were to have a representative from the Boy Scouts and the Youth Group.

 

Father Ron closed the meeting with a prayer.

 

 

 

Meeting notes courtesy of Dorothy Haynes