ST. JOSEPH PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
NOVEMBER 12,2006
Attending: Charles Dolan, Pete Konenkamp, Marty Ledenham, Monica Kucher Mueller, Rosemary Risse, Todd Story, Terry Trotochaud, Hank Wright and Father David McGuinness.
Excused Absences: John Benca, Max Guerrera, Evelyn Tejada and John Timmons.
Father opened with a prayer.
Father’s schedule prevented him from staying for the meeting and he addressed the council with a request that the members attend the meeting in the church tonight organized by the Archdiocese to address issues involving the Hispanic community. He reported that he had a meeting Friday, November 10th with the Hispanic Young Adults group and was pleased with the positive response with cooperative support for the church with both involvement and contributions.
Marty asked Father’s approval for the purchase of benches to be placed in the garden that Jim and Mary Altmiller revitalized. Donations for the memorial are from Catholic Charities as well as the Parish Council. Another donation from the family of a deceased homebound parishioner will be directed towards placing a plaque in the sacristy in memorial to deceased Deacon Bill Lakin for his work in training the altar servers and in organizing and supporting Eucaristic Ministry to the sick. More prayer books for home visitation will be purchased as well.
Before he left Father said that the Ministry to the sick is now being organized and served by Irma Benca and Paul Groesch.
The October minutes were approved as submitted.
Guest speaker Frank Milward gave the council an update on the Capital Campaign. Frank said that the active phase concluded October 2nd at which time the office of Guidance and Giving was closed. To date the pledges total $2,027,970 towards our goal of $3 million. 946 registered parishioners have pledged. The response has been generally a grassroots profile. The reception phase which included 17 different presentations was very successful in informing parishioners of our plans… 363 households attended. Commitment weekend generated $176,000 in pledges. During the visitation phase 19 volunteers visited 46 households gaining $107,000 in pledges. Now we are in the follow-up phase without Guidance and Giving. The top priority is to get pledge redemptions. Pat Mercandante is pursuing stock pledging. This phase involves database matching with all office procedures now established. Father continues to involve the Hispanic community presently with weekly presentations. This phase also includes establishing a system to address all new parishioners and school families and getting funding from corporate agencies. Frank said that Guidance and Giving will return November 15th to give a report of the last mailings. The Guidance and Giving fee for the campaign was $65,000.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Planning/Steering: Pete reported for John. Walt Denero has stepped down and Don Ragogna will assume chairing the Steering Committee. They plan to meet weekly until the end of the year to focus on the property purchase. With the purchase of the property the committee will phase into a ‘Building/Facilities’ committee with several members including two or three new members.
Site/Architect: Pete reported for John Benca saying that the Athens Clarke County Planning Commission met November 2nd and approved our land request with some conditions. One condition was to extend the buffer to 75 feet. This will be presented to the County Commissioners Meeting December 6th. Pete encouraged all to write in support of approval to Commissioner Kathy Hoard.
Communications: Pete said Communications will keep the parish informed of the progress with the land purchase and with the campaign activity and propose various models of giving. Pete shared the rough draft of a press release he wrote including history of the parish.
RE: Pete spoke of events affecting our religious education program. He said that there had been some vandalism in the school two weeks ago. He told us of Benedicte’s new policy of having RE students and teachers ‘assemble’ in the parish hall prior to classes. The school will be locked during the classes. The code on the lock of the Middle School building has been changed after a student was found to have entered using the old code.
Hispanics: Pete spoke for Evelyn thanking Father for coming to the Spanish masses and also for having the immigration meeting tonight. On December 12th the archbishop will celebrate 6:00 pm Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Maintenance: Todd said that the weekly rotation of 3 groups to maintain the grounds is being overseen by the office.
Finance: Terry said that he has not been able to attend the rather inconsistently scheduled meetings. Pete will address this.
Liturgy: Rosemary said that the Elijah Cup is on its second week. The Hispanics will take the third week. She announced the Advent Retreat on December 2nd with church decorating planned for the afternoon activities. She is still looking for men to volunteer to help decorate the outside of the church on November 30th so that the church will be trimmed for the Christmas Parade. Final decorating with the crèche and interior wreaths will be December 19th.
School: Monica said that Tina Bortle, secretary, will be speaking to the school families about the Capital Campaign. Monica will request having campaign info added to the packets of new students. She will see that a letter is added to the Wednesday envelope encouraging all families to contact Commissioner Kathy Hoard or their Commissioner urging approval of our Special Use Land Permit at their December 6th meeting.
Welcoming: No report.
New Business:
Christmas Party: Pete said that the Christmas Party has been scheduled for December 9th and asked Marty to contact Mary Beth Casso to coordinate the plans with the Women’s Council and the Knights. Mary Beth can let the Parish Council know what we can do.
Nominations: A nominating committee was formed with Charles, chair, and Hank and Todd. The nominating process for next year’s elections will begin in January. The council will count the ballots in April.
Pete said our closing prayer and announced that the next meeting will be December 10th at 7:30.
Submitted by Marty Ledenham