Communications
Parish Council Meeting Minutes - 8/12/2003

Meeting called to order by Tim Pilat at 7:05pm.
Song/Pray: Gather Us In/Parish Mission statement
Guests: Fr. Tom Sweetser, Sr. Peg Bishop, S. Josephe Marie, Catherine Kearn, Joyce Roesler, and Bob Hollman

Presentation - Structure Of Parish - Fr. Tom Sweetser / Sr. Peg Bishop

Father Tom Sweetser and Sister Peg Bishop gave a presentation on Parish Assessment and Renewal. They described how to get the Parish to the next level and "Wire St. Mary Parish up". This included a six months of oversight orientation and staff orientation. Four months of assembling data, doing self-assessments and surveying attitudes. Then for two weeks including three weekends, there would be staff and leadership meetings. They would observe liturgies and activities, do interviews, and hold town hall meetings. From this data they would prepare recommendations to help us set goals and prepare action plans. The next six months would be used to implement the parish plans and work on action steps to help St. Mary Parish get "wired up" to grow. Plans to do evaluations check the progress and fine-tune the plans and recommendations would complete this program.

It was agreed to have a discussion of this plan as an agenda item next month and respond to Father Tom Sweetser and Sister Peg Bishop after this meeting.

Revitalization Ad Hoc Committee Reports

Communications Committee Report: Sister Josephe Marie reported that the Marian window design is the new St. Mary's logo. The new communication center will function as that, limiting its use as a kitchen. Input is being sought for the vehicles of communication. The St. Mary's web site is growing and Webmaster Scott Jentsch deserves large thanks for all the time he has contributed to the development of the site. The newsletter "The Voice" has a new format thanks to Patricia Lynch. The format will be used to communicate topics of current interest to the parish. The September issue will be on our parish theme, "New Beginnings". Patricia Lynch has helped design new tri-folds to be used as a communication vehicle rather than a handbook to make it easier to keep the information current. The Christian Formation Booklet has been designed and distributed to 400 families.

Visioning Document: The core committee has developed a draft document in outline form of the 17-page document. This committee plans on meeting two more times and send the results to Parish Council by the September meeting. Revitalization/Dedication: Finger food will be served at the various Masses on dedication Saturday and Sunday. Afternoon activities are also being planned. Children's activities, ice cream social, Church tours and picture taking are some of the events planned. Several forms of Publicity are also planned, such as bulletin flyers and announcements, posters, press release and Red folders. Future events are being planned and the communication center will be open for welcoming and information. Most of the event supplies are being donated. 25% of the money raised by sponsoring Father Art will supplement the costs.

Report from Latiboliere: Pam Lownik reports that our Haiti Project is alive and well. Just listening to her talk about her recent trip, you can tell that a vital relationship has been established between the two cultures. There is a very warm relationship being developed and the people of St. Mary's are growing in the true values of life and how to live it to the full. The people of Haiti are finding that there are people that are concerned about their plights. Some of the ways St Mary's has helped is the water project, medical missions, trade schools, Woman's Cooperative and Mission Sunday donations.

Stock Box Program: Bob Hollman came to the meeting to update the council on the results of the festival booth for the "Stock Box". Qualified people (60 years or older) can receive a full box of healthy food once a month. There were 20 people who signed up as being interested in this program. Of these 8 recipients were supplied with the Stock box at the festival. Bob is using the Knights of Columbus as his home site at this time. There is still concern on Bob's part as to a permanent pick-up and delivery point. The Parish Council is in support of this "Stock Box" program. Father Art said that as soon as we get this place organized we would try to accommodate this program.

Prayer and Reflection
We read and discussed John: 6: 51 - 58. We are truly fed by the Body of Christ.

Review & approval of the minutes
The minutes for the Parish Council meeting on June 10, 2003 were reviewed and approved as is.

Liaison assignments
The Building committee has been disbanded by unanimous approval. Any further updates will be reported on in the pastor's report by Father Art. Ray Moon assumed the Human Concerns committee and Victor Boey was assigned to the Building & Grounds committee because Victor could not meet in the evenings. Theresa Illingworth is the School Committee Liaison. Pam Lownik is the Athletics committee Liaison. Tim Welch is the Pastoral Care committee Liaison. Ray Moon is the Stewardship Committee Liaison.

Pastors report - Fr Art Heinze
The pews are being installed today. The carpets are also being installed. There was a smoke fire in the new church. The contractors worked overtime so as to keep the completion date at August 22, 2003.

The Youth Group is going to the Indian Reservation again next year.

Father Art and Mary Matestic attended the Pastoral Summit to look at effective parishes. The Island of Hope tape is a sample of what they heard.

The new principal has started July 1, 2003. She is very good at her job. The number signed up right now is around 413 to 414 with a goal of 421. The financial report is much better than first predicted, however we are still in the hole. The exact number is not calculated yet.

The roof on the old church needed repair before the remodeling was done. This was not in the budget, however it was planned for the near future with some monies set aside for this. The teacher slots have been filled and all the hiring for the year is complete before the start of school. There is a possibility of before and after day care being offered for the school year by the YMCA.

The final numbers for the Parish Festival are not in yet, but it looks good.

The Voice - Tom Grinker
A letter was received from Eddie Benoit Jr. in response to a request from The Voice. The Voice had asked for input as to the theme to be used for the quarter. The letter was well written and was another demonstration that the youth of the church need to be nourished and supported.

Next Meeting Date: September 9, 2003 7:00 PM

Meeting Adjourned at 10:15 PM

Prayer: Our Father

Respectfully Submitted by: Tom Grinker