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Minutes of Parish Council Meeting
Dennis Irwin called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.
Present: Father Bob Betz, Father Ron Gramza, Joe Amrhein, Tracey Borzick, Gary Hamilton, Dennis Irwin, Jerry Kromraj, Rich Lussier, Sean Nuyda, Dave Spitzenberger and Joe Zolecki
Excused: Carol Anger, Joe Dulka, Charles Frey, Leslie Henry and Tom Wisniewski
Guest: Alice Berezinski, Father Byron Haaland and Judy Kromraj
Opening Prayer: Father Bob provided everyone
with a printed copy of the opening prayer, The Energies of the Spirit of
God.
Tracey Borzick introduced Father Byron Haaland who has agreed to facilitate the retreat for the council members on April 8th. He indicated he is presently the director of spirituality at St. Ann’s Center. His past included involvement with the merger of five parishes in Detroit and he is well aware of some of the grieving, the pains, and the dissention connected with a merger. He visited the Council in the hope of gaining some insight as to expectations to be derived from the retreat. Responses included direction as to how to deal with the disenchantment, disillusionment and resistance of old identities; how to deal with the challenge of being a leader in a church with less priests; and energizing the council members as leaders of the parish. His own summarization was the dying and rising concept, the working of the Holy Spirit, and the reflection on the movement of God individually and also as leaders.
Open Forum/Review of Agenda:
Dennis reviewed the agenda and no additional topics were suggested.
Alice Berezinski was welcomed to the meeting, had an inquiry regarding the elevation or grading of the proposed parking lot, but had received an answer prior to this time.
Approval of Minutes of February 2006 Meeting:
There being no additions, corrections or deletions to the proposed minutes, upon motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the meeting of February 16, 2006 were approved as prepared.
Pastors’ Reports:
Father Ron stated administrative things peak at this time of the year including the budget and personnel. Following a recent meeting, Diane Wirhanowicz, the youth minister, will not be returning to her position, and that position will be reevaluated; Mark Sauers, a maintenance person, resigned but a replacement for him may not be required. There will be two less teachers for the next school year because of the enrollment.
Father Bob talked about the Building & Grounds Committee which is very busy with the parking lot and demolition plans as well as the church modifications, but further details can be found in the committee’s minutes.
Father Ron distributed a draft of a letter prepared to be sent to about 450 parishioners who have made no contributions to the parish within the last two years and requested input from the council members. The last paragraph asks for an acknowledgement by March 15th, which of course should be April 15th, and a suggestion was made to indicate not only that they will be put on an inactive list but also that they would be welcomed back at any time.
Committee Report Comments:
Copies of the following minutes were made available to council members prior to this meeting: Building & Grounds Committee of 2/14/06 and 3/14/06; Christian Formation Committee – Family of 3/2/06; Human Concerns Committee of 3/2/06 and its corrected minutes of 1/5/06 and 2/2/06; Parish Life Committee of 3/2/06; and Prayer & Worship Committee of 3/2/06.
Finance Committee. Rich Lussier of this committee reported that for the month of February the income is down by about $40,000 but expenditures are being covered by the income from investments. He also said the requested budgets have been received from all committees, the proposed budget will be presented at the April council meeting, and hopefully will be approved at the May meeting.
Building & Grounds Committee. Referring to the committee’s minutes, Tracey reported that the abatement process is scheduled and will be completed by the end of March, the city’s common council meeting is scheduled for March 27th for final approval, and the demolition will be pushed up one week to May 8th. A question was then asked as to what people will do for parking after the demolition has begun and the present parking lot is unavailable for use for weeks until the new lot is completed. A stated option would be to allow the people to either fend for themselves for parking or possibly move that site’s Saturday and Sunday Masses to one of the other sites.
Dave stated that the various organizations and societies had been given notice to retrieve their stored items from the old school. Jerry Horzewski is coordinating the removal of all items. Anything left in the building when the demolition begins will be considered part of the package and destroyed. Dave also distributed a diagram of an alternate layout of the proposed parking lot that indicates the absence of islands, thus allowing space for a fourth row and about twenty additional parking spaces; this diagram provides for a total of 216 parking stalls. There are about 124 parking spaces in the present lot.
NEW BUSINESS:
School Committee Topics:
Proposal to help maintain the financial viability of our school. Gary Hamilton stated that at the last school committee meeting those members wanted some revisions to the proposed policy talked about at a prior meeting to create a more positive approach. They believe that that document contains some negativity and it will affect the growth of the school. Discussion among the other council members revealed that the so-called policy was a guideline as opposed to a policy, and flexibility of one or two additional students in a class size remains with the principal. Gary will advise the school committee of this information.
Tuition comparison report. The comparison report of tuitions at Divine Mercy, St. Matthew, St. Roman and St. Thomas Aquinas schools presented at the January 2006 meeting was supposed to have been sent out previously to all parents of our day school students but it was not. He also said that at a school committee meeting the parents stated they believe they should be setting the amount for tuition rather than the finance committee. It was agreed during discussion that if the parents are not satisfied with something, they must become more involved and “do something.” Gary then said the school committee members are now becoming more involved with various subcommittees. The Council agreed that the tuition comparison be sent to the parents at this time.
Weekly contribution expectation. Gary talked about the fifty percent increase in expected weekly contribution the Council approved at the January 2006 meeting. He said not everyone was complying with that request and asked about a means of enforcement of that requirement. Gary said the school committee is requesting the Council’s advice as to how it could attempt to collect these amounts. At this time a member of the Council said it would be good to not only monitor the contributions but also attendance at weekend Mass. Discussion followed. Among suggestions made were sending individual letters to parents advising the amounts they had contributed versus the amounts which should have been contributed, or, possibly telephoning individual parents with the same information and encouraging them to make the contributions. Council members were reminded that while charitable contributions are tax deductible, they are not enforceable. Gary said he would talk to the other parents at the school committee and request that they come up with some ideas or solutions, on a parent-to-parent basis, and will report back to the Council.
Tracey mentioned that in her visits to other parishes she often hears about tithing in those churches, but that idea was not received well by the Council.
OLD BUSINESS:
Parish Council Retreat. Tracey will send an e-mail message regarding the exact location of the retreat to all council members. Further information is covered in the first paragraph of these minutes. Marquette Parking Lot Proposal. Covered in Building & Grounds Committee report above. Parish Council Discernment Process. Rich advised that further announcements regarding new council members would be made at this weekend’s Masses. There will be an extension of about one week to receive nominations for the Council. At the request of people who could not hear the entire announcement during Mass, copies of the written announcement will be available after Mass from the member delivering the verbal announcement. Cluster Report Sheet. Dennis said he needs this report for the district meeting by April 1st. Sean Nuyda had completed the first three sections relating to our cluster (the merged Divine Mercy parish), and included: (1) the goals - establish one site for weekend services; (2) the achievements – the successful merger of two schools into one site; analysis of town hall meetings and surveys for the needs of the parish; (3) the on-going processes – the coordination of all ministries for one worship site. Sean then requested input from other council members for the completion of the report, and those suggestions included: (4) for next year – evaluate building usage, and whether to maintain Marquette site as the permanent site or move to College; (5) factors impacting success of collaboration – attitudes and communi- cation – all leadership must be in union; (6) archdiocesan assistance needed – affirmation of progress thus far. [The foregoing are all abbreviated suggestions.] Parish Budget Progress Report. Included in Finance Committee report above. OTHER NEWS, NOTES, COMMENTS AND/OR ANNOUNCEMENTS. Rich reminded everyone about the fish fry on Good Friday, April 14th, from 4 – 7 p.m. at the 16th Avenue site. Help is always needed.
Closing Prayer: The Our Father was recited by all.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Marcy Gramza, Recording Secretary April 12, 2006
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