St. James Parish Council Minutes
May 13, 2002

 

OPENING PRAYER:  Ed Barlett

 

PRESENT: Ed Barlett, Doris Cadd, Lou Carey, Steve Gregoire, Anita Holt, Jerome Schieder,  Annette Talbot,  Chris Venditti, Father Ron, and Father Dien

 

ABSENT:   Roger Holyfield and Mike Klamm

 

GUESTS:  Ken Oyen and Willy Fontanez

 

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Steve Gregoire.  Anita Holt made the following underlined additions to her report on Project 2010 in the April minutes.  Strategy 4, Action #2: Have 5 working computers per schoolroom by 2005 as projected in the 5 year technology plan; Action #3: Airfare is too high this year for everyone wanting to go to NCEA.  Action #4: Increase middle school retention to a full class by 2010 for the next year.  The minutes were then approved after a motion by Anita, seconded by Doris.

 

PROGRAM:  Willy Fontanez was present to update the council on the Youth Ministry.  There are 250 in the Youth Group 6th through 12th grades including 15 college students.  They are doing some outreach events which he hopes will increase this number. He feels the college ministry is very positive with 11 retreats this year. The Youth Ministry assists with other outreach ministries such as the Food Kitchen and Habitat for Humanity. Willy said the youth ministers in the Northland are planning to have a large event monthly with each youth minister being responsible for two events per year.  The kickoff program with 12 parishes invited will be a candlelight program and barbecue at Smithville Lake on September 11th at 5 p.m.   

   

AGENDA:

1)       Father Ron gave members a handout regarding a summary of last year’s Day for Councils held October 6, 2001, and announced the next one will be October 5, 2002, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

 

2)       The newly elected council members are John Alvey, Chuck Koesterer, and Kimberly Lay.  Bob Wiese was elected to the school board.  A committee of Ed, Chris, and Doris was formed to bring ideas to the July meeting on possible changes to the election process since we had so much trouble getting candidates to run for the council this year.

 

3)       The Parish Council Retreat to get acquainted with new members and election of officers will be Saturday, June 8th, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the St. Cecilia Center.  Each member is to bring a salad for lunch.

 

4)       Volunteering for the new Fundraiser Committee for the next six months, July through December, were Ed, Doris, and Chris.

 

5)  October 19th at 9 a.m. was the date set for the fall parish workday.  Roger will head this project again.

 

6)   An update on Strategy #5 Reach Out to our Community by Thinking Globally and Acting Locally was given by Steve Gregoire and Mike Klamm.  Steve reported both actions of Goal A are in place: Publicizing our Current Community Outreach More Effectively.  Goal B: Involve the Youth in Community Outreach.  He reported good representation from the Confirmation group in involvement with activities for the poor.  Action #2: By 2010, have a dedicated childcare center in place.  He noted we will need to reduce our parish debt before we can begin the process to have a dedicated childcare center in the parish.  Goal C: Emphasize St. James’ Presence in Liberty.  Mike reported their main goal is to find a person to represent the parish on the Chamber of Commerce and other Liberty activities to make St. James’ presence in the community known.  Elizabeth Schneider was added as a point of contact for Action #3: Optimize our visibility in local newspapers by submitting regular articles on our “goings on” that are likely to get published.  Action #4: Sponsor one parishioner a year to attend Liberty’s Leadership Course.  Information obtained from Melinda Mehaffy was that the next course was in January, 2003.  Goal D: Work with other Churches in Liberty and Kansas City.  It was noted we actively continue to help with St. Mary’s Food Kitchen on a monthly basis.  Not much has happened lately on our involvement with St. James, Kansas City, but Mike will keep in contact with Sandy Turner in regard to ways we can assist our sister parish.  Father Ron asked if we should continue financial support to St. James-KC, or redirect our contributions to another needs of the diocese  or center on adopting a sister parish in the third world.  Goal E. Think Globally. Action #1.  Adopt a sister parish in the Third World by 2004.  Mike talked to Tom Vinton and he feels they will meet this goal by 2004. Action #3: By December, 2001, we will host a yearly diocesan lecture on the state of the global church. Mike reported with was completed last December with Bishop Boland.  He also noted we will need to find a new point of contact for this action because Tim Laird is leaving the parish.    

 

Ministry Reports:

Administration/Stewardship – Lou Carey

The 2002-03 budget has been approved. Catholic Key subscriptions needed are 465, and currently only 76 parishioners have paid.  A bid of $2,000 to $3,000 has been obtained to fix a gas leak above the narthex in early June. She said the leak is not dangerous, but needs to be fixed.  The PTO will be paying for the outside signs to mark church, school, etc.

 

Youth – Jerome Schieder – No Report

 

Liturgy – Ed Barlett – No Report

 

Communication – Doris Cadd - No Report

 

Christian Formation – Chris Venditti – No Report

 

Catholic Organizations – Roger Holyfield – Absent

 

School – Anita Holt

Currently have 320 registered for 2002-03.  The middle school has three full classes.  8th grade graduation will be Friday, May 17th at 7 p.m. with Mass and reception following in the Social Hall. There are 13 graduating this year with 10 going on to St. Pius.  The Sign Committee expects to have pricing next week, and will decide on the placement of signs for the school, gym, church, social hall, and church office.  Anita mentioned that the government is considering pulling the Blue Ribbon school program, so they are waiting to see if it will be replaced by another program before we make any decisions regarding our Blue Banner status.  The school auction will be November 2nd with a Jungle theme.

 

Human Concerns and Outreach – Annette Talbot – No Report

 

Religious Education – Steve Gregoire – No Report

 

Parish & Family Life – Mike Klamm – Absent

 

Pastor’s Remarks:

w        Gave each council member a RENEW calendar.  Committees are doing groundwork for kickoff in September.

w        Handout distributed from Jim and Joanna Mooney with positive remarks about the Ministry Fair 2002 held April 27th and 28th.

w        Gave a report on response of the Time and Talent forms.

w        Thanked Steve and Anita for their service the past three years on the Parish Council.

 

The meeting ended with a prayer by Father Dien. The June meeting will be the Parish Council Retreat on June 8th. The next regular business meeting will be Monday, July 8th at 7:00 p.m. with opening prayer by Chris.  Agenda for the July meeting will include Strategy #1 update by Lou and Jerome and discussion on continued financial support for St. James-KC.  Tom and Vicki Vinton will be invited to give a report on a Third World sister parish. 

 

 

 

Meeting notes courtesy of Dorothy Haynes