St. James Parish Council Minutes
November 12, 2001

 

OPENING PRAYER:  Father Ron

 

PRESENT: Ed Barlett, Steve Gregoire, Anita Holt, Roger Holyfield, Mike Klamm, Jerome Schieder, Annette Talbot, Chris Venditti, Father Ron, and Father Dien

 

ABSENT:   Doris Cadd and Lou Carey

 

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Steve Gregoire.  The September minutes and November agenda were approved. 

 

PROGRAM:  Dawn Claxton was present to update the council on maintenance and janitorial needs for our parish and school.  She handles scheduling of events and oversees the janitorial duties.  Danny Claxton is in charge of maintenance.  Dawn expressed regrets she has not been available as much as necessary to fulfill the needs of cleaning the church and school due to personal commitments.  She said there is a need for a part-time person at school during the day.  She told the council they don’t anticipate any major expenses just some maintenance items such as motor for the social hall furnace, a garbage disposal for the social hall, painting and replacement of partitions in boys/men’s bathrooms, and a couple of backup sweepers.  One of her major time consuming tasks is cleaning up after the ministry groups who use the social hall.  The ministry heads have been notified of this long-standing problem, but the situation has not corrected itself.  Discussion was held on how to get cooperation from ministries using the social hall so restrictions or revoking of privileges does not have to be enforced.  Everyone just needs to clean up after themselves to assist Dawn with keeping our parish clean. 

 

AGENDA

1)      Council members who attended the October 6 Day for Councils shared highlights from their groups on serving a larger community through social justice and programs for the poor, how to replace and recruit council members, dealing with different diversities in parishes, and letting your parish be itself by deciding what we want to be and doing it well.

 

2)      Father Ron thanked council members for their feedback on the State of the Parish Report which overall was well received.  

 

3)      St. James has been invited to join a collaborative discussion/study group with the Liberty Methodist Church on a document called “Yearning to Be One.”  Their goal is to understand and appreciate each other’s theology.  Council members are to e-mail parishioner’s names who might be interested in participating to Father so six can be chosen for the group.

 

4)      Father Ron attended the Renew 2000 training held November 7.  He said there are 12 in the CORE group, and feels they are off to a good start.

 

5)      The council discussed the need for additional handicapped parking spaces.  There are six  spaces at present, and it was decided to add four more.  Father will see about additional handicapped parking signs.

 

6)      A suggestion for better and more central wheelchair spaces in our church was made.  Some options were discussed.  Father Ron will get ideas from wheelchair parishioners for a better seating arrangement during Mass.

 

7)      Focusing on 2010 Strategies, a number of the goals have been accomplished and many others are in process.  There is a need for a new point of contact for the Mass greeter ministry to replace Dave Porter.  Annette Talbot suggested we focus on a day care center at next month’s meeting.  She will research and bring ideas to next months meeting for this strategy.  Lou Carey will assist Jerome Schieder with Strategy 1 due to the vacancy created by David Porter who has resigned from the council.

 

Ministry Reports:

Youth –Jerome Schieder                                  

Jerome expressed compliments to Father Dien for the outstanding job he is doing with the youth  Masses, and the Religious Ed program for the Masses planned by the youth are going well.  The youth lockout is this Friday.  A trip to the City Union Mission is planned for the youth this Saturday.  There are 60 to 80 youth attending youth group on Wednesday nights.

 

Liturgy – Ed Barlett

Ed reported the Parish Retreat Saturday, December 1st  9:00 AM to 3:00 PM  fulfills Strategy #2, Goal B, Action #1 to hold parish retreats at least yearly. Also, a new point of contact was needed for Action #4 to Host a Eucharistic Congress at St. James by July, 2002, since Cindy Rogers and Judy Deggendorf have stepped down.  Ed said there is a shortage of Eucharistic Ministers, and the comment was made sometimes it is difficult getting parishioners to attend the training sessions.

 

Christian Formation – Chris Venditti

No Report. 

 

Catholic Organizations – Roger Holyfield

No report on 2010 projects, but suggested that in order help Dawn and Danny Claxton he could help compile a list of things that need to be done, and have a workday with several volunteers to assist with the maintenance.

 

School - Anita Holt

Anita reported Channel 9 came to the school on September 11th to see how the children were dealing with the news of the terrorist attacks.  The school growth committee survey was sent out with a goal to expand the middle school attendance.  An open house was held recently to invite families of 3 year olds from neighboring parishes, and there were 25 families attending.  The Spanish program is going well for K-8 with a part-time teacher.  KCEN Channel 18 will be promoting St. James School programs.  The 6th grade has a social justice program. 

 

Human Concerns and Outreach – Annette Talbot

Annette reported the School Auction netted over $80,000 and commented how it wouldn’t be possible to profit this without so many generous parishioners donating their time and services to make the auction possible.

 

Religious Education– Steve Gregoire

No Report

 

Parish & Family Life -  Mike Klamm

No Report

 

Pastor’s Remarks:

1)      Map of St. James Parish boundaries was included with agenda, and commented there is potential for a lot of growth with development of the Shoal Creek area.

2)      Compliments to St. James from Hillcrest Ministries.  Scott Cooper is very appreciative of  all of  Jerome’s efforts on behalf of Hillcrest Ministries.

3)      LOVE, INC., needs volunteer help to answer the phone Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 to 2.

4)      Called by Name selections are needed.  All council members are to return to Father Ron in one week their selections on the list of candidates passed out at this meeting. 

 

 The meeting ended with a prayer by Father Dien.  The next council meeting will be Monday, December 10th at 7:00 p.m. with opening prayer by Anita Holt.  Father Ron will present a parish quiz for the program.

 

 

 

 

Meeting notes courtesy of Dorothy Haynes