Council of Women Religious

Raleigh Council of Women Religious

Minutes for Meeting on February 18th

Opening Prayer … Sr. Chris Gellings
Attendance: Srs. Mary Ann, Echo, Carol, Theresine, Maxine, Angie, Maureen, Janet, Renee, Ruth, Mary Jean. Excused; Msgr. Sherba, Sr. Chris.
Communications: Thanks You’s from Bishop Burbidge and Sara Edwards for Christmas presents.
Evaluation of “Celebration of Consecrated Life and Jubilee Celebration:

All seemed to go well. Thank you’s extended to Srs. Janet, Renee, Maureen, and Ruth for their assistance.
New ideas of reserving table for the Jubilarians and their guests seemed to be a good idea and will be repeated next year.
Sr. Janet informed us that two approvals are NOW required for the Mass: A. Sanders at the Office of Divine Worship and the Diocesan Musician at Cathedral for the music.

2017 Celebration … we begin our search for Jubilarians. Sr. Theresine will celebrate 60.
Election update: Nomination Ballots sent out…31 Sisters responded; 24 Sisters were nominated; 7 Sisters said “Yes” to membership. Reasons for saying “no” included: too busy at this time, still getting used to being “new”, other Sisters from community on Council, care of elderly Sisters and/or parents. We will send out an Election Ballot this week and will elect 6 members and 1 alternate.
Dates of importance for 2016-17: Sept. 16-17, 2016 *Overnight and Appreciation Day; Feb. 4, 2017 *Celebration of Consecrated Life and Jubilee; Sept. 22-23. 2017 *Overnight and Appreciation Day.
Some topics we discussed…..

Sisters Stipend for 2-16-17 – Russ told Sr. Mary Ann that he thought there would be a 3% increase. We discussed the fact that “we have no input”(Sr. Carol raised this since she is new to Council). We assured her that we have raised this issue every year for at least the past 20 and the “old way of doing it” which means that the Priests’ Council approves our stipend still prevails.
Help to our Sisters in the diocese who are sick and their caregivers. We will continue to call them and send cards of prayerful support, and invite all Sisters to do so.
Do we want to look for a way for the Congregations of Women Religious who have/are serving in the Diocese to be remembered in the new Cathedral? We concluded that this is an important part of the history of the Diocese and should be included in some way. Sr. Mary Jean agreed to contact Msgr. Lewis for a complete list and the Diocesan Gift Office for any ideas they may have. She will send her findings to the members of the Council in time for reflection before we meet with Bishop Burbidge in May.