St. James the Greater Pastoral Council Agenda Wednesday May 11, 2016 @ 7:45 pm

1.Opening Prayer – Erica Bledsoe

2.Roll Call Attendance Msgr. John Kasza Father Greg Piatt Deacon Glenn Melenyk Gene Bigi Angela Esteban Ed Roney Ron Hartmus Robin Reilly Aaron Klenke Ken Krause Larry Moriarty Mary (Liz) Oras

Absent Erica Bledsoe Ed Hart Wendy Wilber Paul O’Connor

3.Approval of Minutes from March 19, 2016 meeting

4.Commission reports

a. Youth 1. Last Faith and Fun Night of the year will be in May. 2. 8th Graders can join youth group starting this month. 3. New twice a week meetings for the spring and summer. 4. Mission Trip and Cedar Point are up coming. 5. Mass for Graduates: Sunday May 22, 11:30 am.

b. Education 1. Vacation Bible School is full. 150 children have enrolled. 2. Registration is open for next fall’s Religious Education.

c. Christian Service 1. Letter Carrier Food Drive Saturday May 14th. 2. Farewell Weekend for Father Greg planned during donut weekend June 4/5. 3. Reverse Collection June 4/5. 4. 115 Baskets given out at Easter for the children. 5. Rebuilding of America April - 40 St James volunteers attended. 6. Food delivery continues for up to 40 families. 7. October 1 - AOD is planning a Mercy Day of Action. 8. Funding discussed for “Brother Al’s Mission” – this is not one of ministries that Fr John wants to support as it is a duplication of many other organization. Fr John mentioned a number of other charitable organizations that are established and specific. Include is Fr Dan Trapp’s project to rehabilitation house in the inner city and contributing directly to St

1 Aloysius. 9. The May Golf outing if they so choose may donate money/goods collected during the event to a charity of their choice.

d. Finance 1. Month to year collections currently exceed the budgeted collection goal 2. It was noted that our CSA goals are set by a formula created by the AOD and that there have been revisions resulting in a decrease of our 2016 goal.

e. Stewardship 1. Under new business the creation of “Volunteer Central Office/Department” was discussed. The thought is that since the basis for the stewardship commission is “time and talent” volunteer coordination and recruitment should come under this commission. Members of this commission would also be in charge of contacting person who express interest in any volunteer opportunity here at St James

f. Worship 1. The purchasing of new choir robes is in the 2016/17 budget. 2. Looking for funeral coordinators from within the parish.

g. Evangelization 1. 60 people attended the “Living the Eucharist” program. 2. The Synod Parish Dialog meeting had 12 persons in attendance which as disappointingly low. 3. Development the welcome committee is underway.

h. Activities Committee 1. Ice cream social (in place of the 11:30 donut Sunday) is planned for June 5 beginning at 12:30 pm. This will also be in conjunction with Father Greg departure celebration. 2. Preparing to welcome the new Father Greg in September.

5.Old Business / Ongoing Business a. Election/Drawing of those who place submitted their name to be new pastoral parish council members will take place Sunday May 22 during the 11:30 Mass

b. Budget (2016/2017) 1. Budget was reviewed. 2. A question was raise about the status on the church brick replacement – finance council and the pastor decided to repair on an as need basis citing that cost of new brick we upwards of on $1 Million whereas annual brick repair is running $10 – $50 Thousand 3. Budget consideration is given to parking lot rehabilitation, roofing needs and possible HVA replacement. 4. The church floor will be refinished in early June and at that time the seating in the church will be modified with a slight decrease in the total number of seats in the church 5. Current AOD standard would require if we wanted to replace all the chair pews would be required instead of free standing chairs

2 6. Possibility of cleaning the chairs was discussed. 7. Budget was approved by the council.

c. Parish Mission Statement Revision 1. Consensus - Leave the Statement as is.

d. Update on Amazing Parish Conference April 18-20 - report 1. 1000 people attended. 2. Speakers discussed suggestions to improve the parish experience. 3. Possible focus is to draw back non-active members. 4. APC is a prelude to some of what in part may be explored at the Synod. 5. Those who attended for St James include: Msgr John, Gretchen Hennen (DRE), Kevin Szawala (Youth Minister), Parish members Heather Krill and Gene Bigi, were very impressed with the conference, finding it very challenging. 6. Materials from the conference including videos will be available to council members and the parish at large.

e. Update on AOD Synod Nov 18-20, Book Cadillac Hotel, Detroit 1. Parish Dialog – Saturday April 23 – discuss in evangelization report 2. Lay representatives from all parishes, priests from each vicariate, the vicars , various representatives from religious orders and 12 deacons – approximately 400 people are expected to attend . 4. More information to come in the upcoming months.

6.New Business a. Role of Stewardship Commission – refer to Commission Report. b. Meeting Reports and Lead Roles 1. President will be charged with developing the agenda, gathering reports, sending reminding and starting next September. 2. Reports from each commission will be mandatory and will be briefly summarized and not read at the meeting.

7.Open Forum / New issues or concerns a. Suggestion made to place tabs or ribbons in the Missals – pages are very thin for tabs. b. Discussed the possibility of having screens and cameras in the church.

8.Closing Comments a. None

9.Next meeting on Social/Picnic Saturday June 18, 2016, 6:30 pm.

10. First meeting of new term – Wednesday September 14, 7:45 pm a. Opening prayer - Ed Hart b. Closing prayer - Gene Bigi

11. Closing Prayer - Father Greg

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