Parish Pastoral Council Meeting May 19, 2015

Parish Pastoral Council Meeting – May 19, 2015

Present Council members: Fr. Tony VanderLoop, Dorothy Schillewaert, Mike VanBeek, Char Dalbec, Esther Borgerding, Melissa Anderson, Gene Garman, Teresa Krier, Monica Martin, Paul Germann and Bernie Schmidt Also present: Parish Trustees Les Wilmot and Jan Zaruba and Business Administrator, Dan Dupay.

Absent Council Members: Ben Roberg, Tim Olson and Donna Geisen.

Guests present: Mary Rose, Business Administrator, Holy Spirit Academy.
Dean Flicker – Addressing New Member Mentoring

1)Opening Prayer led by Father Tony.

2)Guests: Holy Spirit Academy. Mary Rose, Business Administrator for the Academy, on behalf of the board of directors and the headmaster, gave an update. As of April 1st they have 24 students registered for the 2015-16 Academic Year. This is double last year’s numbers. As a result they are adding one more full time teacher and one part time. They will have a budget increase of 32%. Fundraising consumes a great deal of their time. They do have a donor willing to match $50K by the end of June.
. The Fit for Life run was successful, they had 82 runners.
. She asked “what does having the school here at Saint Henry mean to you, the council?”
. One member stated that she loved the education in our parish.
. Another stated they were happy the building was being used.

. Another stated “we hardly know they are here.”
Mary stated that they were hoping to have one more room available to them, as full use but would be willing to share a room with locking cabinets. She has been working with Dan andLamont to see if that would be at all possible.

. One of the students just received a National Latin Award.

. May 29th is the end of their year.

. She wanted the council to know that a significant increase in rent, to $24,000 per year from the $12,500 they are currently paying would be a great hardship to the school. Could council consider $15,000 per year? It costs $15,172 to educate each child and the tuition is $6,240 per student. Only 20% of their budget is covered by tuition since 54% receive some sort of tuition assistance.

A council member asked “what can we do to further promote the school within the parish?”

Some comments were that we could be added to their email announcements. Mary agreed to receive email addresses of the council. The bulletin boards can be better used to promote the school. An occasional bulletin article or “stuffer” advertising events such as the “Fit for Life” run and the current art show. Have a current Saint Henry parishioner student write an article regarding her experience with Holy Spirit Academy.

3)Second Guest – Dean Flicker – Regarding a mentoring program for new parishioners.

Deans feels that we need to be more engaging with new members. How can we make them feel more welcome? He suggests we assign a “like” family to each new member/family. Give them a call, ask what Mass they attend, invite them personally to the picnic and fall festival. Take their photos, post them and have greeters seek them out and welcome them. Char wondered if it would work to have mentors present on Registration Sunday so they can be paired from the beginning. Dean plans to contact Pat Markling, head of the welcome ministry, to gain her thoughts. Dean believes that this might be a project that CRHP would be willing to take on since their mission is to “grow the parish.” He will report his findings to Father Tony.

4)Minutes: Are posted on the website.

5)Open Forum – Questions from parishioners.

1. Melissa had a question from a parishioner regarding First Holy Communion. “Why do parishioners have to wait, or should they, until all children have received.” Father Tony responded that First Communion is a procession before God as one body in Christ. He suggested council have further questions addressed directly to Jessica. He may decide to have a formal announcement prior to each service explaining why the procession as a group is important. Perhaps distributers should wait on the altar until Father is finished distributing to the children. Father will discuss with Jessica.
2. Char was asked if it were possible for a bench to be placed outside, halfway down the walk for those who are waiting to be picked up or are dropped off and need to stop and sit, cannot make it into the church down that long walk without a rest. Mike will discuss it with Building and Grounds.
3. Melissa also asked about a cage for pop can recycling. Could call it “Cans for Debt?” She has someone willing to transfer the cans to the recycling point. Not sure where this went, or who is checking into it. KCs have mentioned it in the past but perhaps Kym and the youth could also be asked.

6)Old Business:

a.Capital Campaign - $555K from 111 families. They expect a bump this weekend and the weekend of June 6-7 when there will be another address from the pulpit. Father Tony and Dan will also continue the update in the bulletin. When asked how many families are being approached, Father stated that Andrew had the names of approximately 900 families who gave at least $100 last year. Envelopes will be mailed out at the end of June and will have two lines – one for the campaign contribution and one for Weekly giving. There is also a change in the authorization for direct deposit giving and Dan will be addressing that issue soon.

b.New Parishioner Dinner – Poor attendance, 9 people came of 16 who RSVP’d they would come. It was a very nice event, Jim and Dixie Sidla did an amazing job with decorations and the food was also very good. Some thoughts/ideas were: A Sunday night; connect it with the parish picnic; winter is better, how about a luncheon after Mass.

c.Parish Council Nominations: There are 10 nominations. Father Tony asked for volunteers to come in on Thursday night to help with the nomination process.

d.Discernment: All members are asked to attend a Discernment Meeting here on June 6th.

7)Budget Presentation – Father Tony and Dan: Please find attached a copy of the “Statement of Activities as of June 2015. Message was that there will be a $30K budget gap for the coming year. Income will be flat, same as this year. Some discussion about the Holy Spirit Academy space rent. Father asked with no increase in space usage and no report from Dan of noticeable increases in expenses to Saint Henry, do we double the rent. Further discussion with Finance Council. Father expressed a potential for miracles. Let us all pray.

Father Tony asked “Do you agree with the spirit of the Budget? Char Dalbec made a motion to formalize to proceed to Finance Committee, Gene seconded that motion. All were in favor.

8)Liaison Reports: Dorothy tabled the Liaison Reports until next month due to the lateness of the evening. Char did state that Margaret Keller wants to retire as leader of the Cross Bearer group. Char was asked to ask Margaret to seek a replacement within the Cross Bearers.

9)New Business:

a.Crucifix in the Social Hall – Bernie Schmidt has carved a beautiful cross and corpus that Father Tony wants to hang in the Social Hall. Council was asked to come to the Social Hall to voice thoughts about placement. It was decided that the Cross would be placed above the door to the kitchen.

10)Closing Prayer by Dorothy Schillewaert.

11)Next Meeting – June 23, 2015

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Holmes, Secretary