St. James Parish Council Minutes
September 9, 2002

 

OPENING PRAYER:  Doris Cadd

 

PRESENT: John Alvey, Ed Barlett, Doris Cadd, Lou Carey, Roger Holyfield, Mike Klamm, Chuck Koesterer, Kim Lay, Annette Talbot, Chris Venditti, and Father Ron

 

ABSENT:   Jerome Schieder

 

GUESTS:  Tom and Vicki Vinton, Matthew Link, and Ken Oyen

 

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Annette Talbot.  John Alvey made a motion to approve the July minutes, and Roger Holyfield seconded with all approving.  Chris Venditti noted the ministry assignments need correcting on the Agenda. The Agenda was then approved after Doris Cadd then made a motion to approve with Chris seconding the motion.

 

Father Ron introduced Matthew Link who recently moved here from Chicago.  He has been at St. James two weeks and is from the Missionary Society of the Precious Blood. He is helping out at the school and assisting with various other ministries.

 

AGENDA:

1)      Discussion about developing a Third World Sister Parish: Tom and Vicki Vinton each spoke regarding the rewarding experiences they have encountered the past six years they have gone to Haiti for medical mission trips, and ideas on how they think we could assist a Third World Sister Parish as one of our goals in Project 2010.   Tom said financial support is wonderful and definitely needed, however, it would be great to have mission trips there for our youth or adult parishioners for the spiritual reward of missionary work.  Vicki contacted the diocese about other programs and expects to have more information soon on areas of need in the Third World.  She said other possibilities for a Sister Parish would be Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvadore, or Mexico.  After discussion on what the council wanted them to proceed with, it was decided that Vicki would put an article in the bulletin in hope of getting ideas from the parish on missions they have experienced.  Tom and Vicki will return to give an update on this project at the October meeting.

 

2)      Presentation and Approval of the 2002-2003 parish budget: Ken Oyen distributed the 2002-2003 parish budget to council members, and answered questions.  He was pleased that by using $10,000 from the contingency fund we have paid $48,000 to $49,000 on the parish debt as of August 31st.  He stated that an average of $34,692.00 revenue is needed each week to meet the budget.  He also noted that overall last year we were pretty close to the budget.  Mike Klamm made a motion to approve the budget.  Lou Carey seconded with all in favor.

 

3)      Request from Bishop Sullivan Center and St. James Place:  Father Ron said that Bishop Sullivan Center sent a “Thank You” for our continued generosity for their food pantry, “St. James Place”.  He said they also made a personal plea for Social Services support since we no longer assist St. James-KC.  He said they need financial support as well as manpower to help with the food pantry.  Matt goes to the food pantry every Friday to help serve.  Father Ron suggested giving $1,000 a month to St. James Place and to provide manpower to help serve and cleanup. 

 

4)      Registration for October 5 Diocesan Day for Pastoral Councils:  Council members that will be able to attend the Diocesan Day for Pastoral Councils chose which session they plan to attend.  Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. here at St. James.

 

5)      Unhappy parishioner issue:  A short discussion was held on a letter recently addressed to the parish council stating their dissatisfaction with many aspects of St. James.  Several council members voiced their opinion that they do not agree with many of the statements contained in the letter, and they felt it is hard for the council to take any action on an anonymous letter since it wasn’t signed. 

 

6)      Parish Work Day on October 19:  Roger and Lou are organizing the fall Parish Work Day, and will contact workers to assist with painting, etc.  They are compiling a list of needed repairs.

 

7)      Review 2010 Strategy #2:  Ed and Doris stated they have no changes in Strategy #2.  It was mentioned that a Eucharistic Retreat date was set for April 26, 2003. 

 

8)      Ministry Reports:

Administration & Stewardship – Lou Carey reported the cost to finish the gas line was $20,000.  A proposal to put a bird observatory on the second grade classroom has been submitted.  She also reported work has begun on a bell tower for the large bell we have for the Prayer Garden.  Since bids to repair the parking lot have been $10,000 to $20,000, we are going to try to get by until school is out to do repairs.

 

Liturgy -  Chris Venditti reported that choir practice is resuming with a list of about 30 interested.  She also said suggestions had been made by Mike Kromeich on flowering trees to line the entrance to the parking lot which is a goal of Strategy #3 to improve our green space with abundant trees and flowers.

 

Christian Formation/Religious Ed – Kim Lay said Fran Riley had reported they had a good response at the first meeting for the Play Group.  There were 18 adults with 30 children.  The Baptism preparation program is changing, and will be more personal with meetings to start in the homes. 

 

Parish Organizations – John Alvey reported the Previous Blood Companions added four new members to the covenant.  The Alter Society will have a guest speaker at the October 1st meeting at 7 p.m.  Fr. Gary Richmeyer will speak on the “Role of Spirituality in Mental Health.”  Chaplain Steve Smith will speak at the November 5th meeting on “Laughter in Healing.”  Dinners for 8 resumes this Saturday with several new couples, with a total of 27 couples.  They will provide refreshments for the Parish Mission and Habitat for Humanity.

 

School – Chuck Koesterer reported there are 22 more students than last year making a total of 322.  They are very pleased that the middle school has one full class of 8th graders.  The Knights of Columbus pie auction at the spaghetti dinner netted $2,000.00.  They also collected $800.00 for Father Dien’s mission.

 

Human Concerns and Outreach-Internal – Annette Talbot contacted several ministry heads but had not heard back from some so she asked that we postpone her report until next month.

 

Prayer – Ed Barlett reported the Prayer Garden tour event went well and was a fundraiser for the Northland Pregnancy Center.  He also said that Renew is to start September 15th.     He said they are hoping to have 250 involved, and forming small Christian groups.

 

Parish & Family Life – Mike Klamm – No Report

 

Father Ron’s Remarks:

Interesting statistics given: 1366 households in the parish with 1,452 below age 19 indicating we have a large young population in our parish.

 

The meeting ended with a prayer by Matt Link.  The next meeting will be October 14th at 7 p.m. Items on the agenda will be an update on progress for a Sister Parish in the Third World by Tom and Vicki Vinton.  Ed and Mary Ann Hughes representing the Boy Scouts will also attend.  Replacement for Father Dien’s duties will also be reassigned, and a report from the Election Process Committee (Ed, Chris, and Doris).  Annette will give the opening prayer.

Meeting notes courtesy of Dorothy Haynes