Council of Ministries Meeting

May 18, 2006

 

 

Meeting began at 7:10 with prayer and scripture reflection by Barbara Rohmer.

 

Previous Minutes were reviewed and accepted by 7:25.

·                    There was a question posed about the Keeping Children Safe workshop for adults on May 24th. It was noted that if you are teaching Vacation Bible School, working with youth ministry over the summer, or are a new volunteer you need to attend. There will be a new and revised Keeping Children Safe workshop in the fall for those needing to “renew” (you must take a class once every three years).

·                    There will be a Keeping Children Safe Workshop for teens on May 30th. It was suggested/asked if parents could preview the materials ahead of time, and Barbara will be looking into that through the Diocese.

 

Committee Reports

 

Liturgical Committee – Theresa Mae (7:25)

·                    Passed out a calendar for June, July, and August. Important items of note include

o       June 23rd – Feast of Sacred Heart: 7pm Mass, procession to the football field, living rosary presented by the youth, and a homemade ice cream social for all. NOTE:

§        EACH COUNCIL OF MINISTRIES MEMBER MUST CALL 3 PEOPLE TO BRING HOMEMADE ICE CREAM! *** ALL MEN ON ACTS RETREAT, DON’T FORGET!

o       Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is August 15th = Monday evening mass at 7pm; Tuesday morning at 8am.

 

Religious Education – Barbara Rohmer (7:30)

·                    Echoes of Faith sessions begin in June.

·                    The last Religious Education class was May 10th; over 50 students had perfect attendance this year.

·                    Pass out a calendar for 2006-2007. There will be Religious Education mass 1 time per month.

o       March/April is difficult to plan a mass during with Spring Break and Easter.

o       Homecoming Mass is in September.

o       August 23rd will be the start for Religious Education

 

Stewardship – Barbara Rohmer (7:35)

·                    Regular meetings will be held the 2nd Monday of every month – calendar passed out to accommodate that.

·                    Currently revising the ministry booklets for next year.

·                    Festival of Ministries will be moved to the last week of February (to help with the budget process).

·                    250 people filled in commitment forms, which included people who signed up at the festival… this is a pleasing number!

o       Letters have been sent out to people who have not yet filled out their forms to do so. Projections for pledge amounts looks promising.

 

Sacred Heart School – Chad Riley was out due to a Keeping Children Safe Workshop in Wichita Falls. No report

 

Outreach – Kathy Vogel (7:45)

·                    Don’t have a set calendar – work on projects as they arise

·                    Looking to take up a food collection/drive the first week of November.

·                    Have been working on Sally’s house and Rose Black’s house quite a bit. Would like to have a workday party in early June for Sally, and then have a house blessing.

·                    Food pantry is going strong.

·                    Not taking a lot of meals to families right now. Focusing on obtaining odds and ends for people (ie: refrigerator).

·                    Wanting to get with both principals to talk about who needs meals during the summer. If you know of a family in need of assistance, please contact Kathy or anyone on Outreach.

 

Spiritual Growth and Education – Angela Hennigan (7:45)

·                    If you have questions for the bulletin, please submit them to Angela or Don at any time. (Theresa Mae reminded us about the question posed – differentiating among the different levels of KC’s and their purposes).

·                    Family movie night is on June 4th – showing the Rookie. Would like to have a family movie night every 3-4 months, on a seasonal basis.

·                    Vacation Bible School is June 5th – June 9th

·                    ACTS retreat for Women is in June. Goal is to have 2 ACTS retreats a year.

·                    In July there is a tentative parish mission. Barbara found out that there is much paperwork involved in getting this priest. There is a chain of command through the Diocese that every committee must follow to obtain a speaker.

·                    Beginning in August there will be “Second Sunday”, which will be a time of fellowship, prayer, and gathering between the Masses. Looking at babysitters – would need to go through Keeping Children Safe and most likely CPR training before they could baby-sit within our parish. There will be a note in the bulletin soon asking for volunteers.

*** Respect Life – Martha Sicking (8:00)****

·                    Yay! Respect life has found a home within Spiritual Growth!

·                    The weekend of Germanfest, there was a first-time meeting with all the Respect Life coordinators in the diocese. There are now Respect Life Coordinators at St. Peter’s and St. Mary’s! This meeting was very informative and exciting for all involved.

·                    Would like to have a meeting in June with all the people who signed up to help at the Festival of Ministries, following the set pastoral plan for Pro-life activity.

·                    October is Respect Life Month, and the 1st Sunday of the October is Respect Life Sunday. Looking for help planning on this.

o       National Life Chain will be that Sunday; from 2-3pm. will gather for 1 hour in prayer in Lindsay (HWY 82), Gainesville (Grand Ave.), and Muenster (along 82). Trying to find a good place to have the Respect Life Cemetery. If anyone has good ideas/land, please let Martha know.

·                    Rachel’s Vineyards will be having a retreat in June for men and women dealing with post-aborted issues/emotions. This retreat will be June 9th – 11th in Fort Worth.

o       Would like to have representatives from Rachel’s Vineyards to speak at the masses the first weekend in October.

·                    ABBA hired a new director and assistant director. They are looking for people to train to be counselors, and to work at the 2nd Chance store.

·                    National Pro-Life t-shirt day was a success – 260 t-shirts sold within Cooke County.

 

Unity – Betty Flusche and Toni Deweber (8:15)

·                    Trying to reorganize. Had their first meeting on May 9th and had one new member join. Looking for new members!

·                    Meetings will be every 2nd Tuesday at 7:30pm.

·                    Will be helping with the Feast of the Sacred Heart on June 23rd.

·                    Wanting to have a welcoming of new members of the parish. Will get with St. Anne’s Society to work on this.

o       Would like office staff to call when a new member joins, or work out some type of system to alert us of new members.

 

Youth – Dana Dittlinger (8:35)

·                    Calendar passed out for 2006-2007, and a separate calendar given for Summer dates.

o       Last SHY and SHY Jr. will be in May – summer programming has been set to give the youth some exciting adventures, and ready for the new curriculum this fall.

o       Camp Fort Worth, a service workweek camp, will be June 18th – 23rd. 10 students, Dana, and 1 adult chaperone will be attending. Very exciting.

o       DCYC – Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference is July 7th – 9th at the Hyatt Regency @ DFW. Any adults and youth 6th – 12th grade may attend (and many are!).

·                    We had a very successful bridging over ceremony in May, and now have 55 active new youth members. The seniors are sad to go, but would like to stay involved on youth council, and in other parish ministries. Long-term goal of the youth council is to form a young adult group for the 18-30 year-olds.

 

Vocations – Debbie Cochran (8:50)

·                    The Vocation Box for families under way. There will be 2 boxes as to not miss a family.

·                    Would like the prayer for vocations to be said at every Mass.

·                    Working with the Eucharistic Adoration Committee and Spiritual Growth to bring speakers to talk with both adults and children.

·                    Would like to get materials at the back of the Church on vocations/

 

Old Business: (9:00)

·                    Calendar – is on the website under schedules. Would like to see it have not only have the rooms scheduled for use at the parish, but also see each individual committee’s calendars on there as well.

·                    If you have committees underneath you, please get their calendar and minutes to put on the web.

o       Would like to have an ALL EVENTS calendar, but difficult to do. If you have ideas contact Angela.

·                    Follow up from Strategic Planning committee – you have until June 8th to get in all your long-range, 1, 3, and 5 year goals. They want more – do not think about money as an issue. Email them to Kathy at Kathy_a_vogel@yahoo.com

·                    Budget follow-up – not sure, looking good, we will learn more about this at our next meeting.

New Business (9:05)

·                    We need to set policies or guidelines, or possibly develop some type of request form for our events so that we are all on the same page, and go through the right “hierarchy” to get things accomplished. We need to start inviting Father to meetings and getting his input – we need to alert him about everything going on in the parish.

o       Think about a game plan/procedural system and bring your ideas to the table next time.

·                    Request for an updated prayer chain. It was decided that this falls under Spiritual Growth. Would be easy to have an e-mail chain, and then make phone calls to those without e-mail. Need volunteers to help in organizing this – there will be an announcement in the bulletin soon.

·                    Revamping the bulletin has hit a snag due to the 5-year contract not running out until September of 2007.

·                    Next Meeting Date – July 20th at 7pm tentatively in the meeting room of Muenster Library. Dana will find out for sure about using this room and get back to everyone. Bring your new calendars and agenda items.