Dennis Irwin called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

Present:                      Father Bob Betz, Father Ron Gramza, Joe Amrhein, Carol Anger, Tracey Borzick, Joe Dulka, Chuck Frey, Gary Hamilton, Dennis Irwin, Jerry Kromraj, Rich Lussier, Sean Nuyda, Dave Spitzenberger and Joe Zolecki

Excused:                     Leslie Henry and Tom Wisniewski

Guest:                         Alice Berezinski, Christine Fleming, Linda Laguna, Gregory Meka, Steve Raflik, Mike Roubik, Marilyn Stewart and Lori Windler

Opening Prayer: Tracey Borzick presented the opening prayer.

Open Forum/Guest & Visitor Comments: 

Dennis welcomed all of the visitors and guests to the meeting and, at his request, they all identified themselves and stated the reasons for their presence.

Review of Agenda: 

The approval of the 2006-07 budget was omitted from the prepared agenda.  Dennis indicated that this topic would be inserted as the first matter of business under NEW BUSINESS.

Approval of Minutes of April 2006 Meeting:  

A council member raised a question regarding the wording of the Pastor’s Report on page 2 referring to the “adult group” section of the family catechesis program.  In response, Father Bob then gave a more detailed synopsis of how the sessions for the children and the adults will be run, and how Mass will be celebrated between the first two sessions and the last two sessions for the benefit of all the children and adults in the program.  However, no correction was made to the Pastor’s Report.  Therefore, there being no additions, corrections or deletions to the proposed minutes, upon motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the meeting of April 20, 2006 were approved as prepared.

Pastors’ Reports:

            Father Ron reported that they have been working on the new pastoral administrator position; they received eleven resumes and a number of them are quite appealing; they are at the point of hiring someone at this time though the name cannot be released yet. 

            Father Ron said the necessary letter of approval regarding the parking lot has been received from the archdiocese, the fencing surrounding the area has been set up, and the work actually began yesterday.  If the weather does not interrupt the plans, the target date of July 1^st could be realized.  Otherwise, there might be some slight delay.

            Father Ron also reported on the First Eucharist and the Confirmation celebrations recently held at the Marquette site, and he specifically thanked all who participated in the preparations for these two events.

            Father Bob reported that they continue to work out the details for the one worship site, and Chris Fleming is entering on the computer the necessary data of the consolidated 600 volunteers from the four sites; this will simplify the scheduling of people for the various ministries.  An additional 75 people have volunteered to serve in the different ministries. 

Contemplative Break: 

Tracey Borzick provided all council members with THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER (Attributed to Pope Clement XI), read the first paragraph, and each member read a succeeding paragraph. 

Committee Report Comments: 

Copies of the following minutes were made available to council members prior to this meeting:  Building & Grounds Committee of May 9, 2006; the Parish Life Committee of “April 27 and March 28, 2006” (combined in one set); and Prayer & Worship Committee of May 4, 2006.

            Building & Grounds Committee: 

In addition to the printed minutes, Tracey stated that this Saturday, May 20^th, is a “workday” beginning at 8:30 a.m. to ready the Marquette site for the one worship site.  One of the projects of this workday will be retrieving the pews from the basement and reinstalling them on the balcony; also help in finishing up the confessionals and the shrine areas.  It was then mentioned that if there are any adults or teens who need service hours, the services at the “workday” would qualify.  The issue of unusually high water bills at the College site was brought up at the April meeting; no leaking pipes were found; someone else suggested that possibly there is a sticking toilet or faucets which turn themselves back on because of a pressure buildup.  The South Milwaukee Water Department made an inspection of all faucets, etc., at the school this past Tuesday, and it will furnish us with a report of its findings.  The water bills can be compared only to the 16^th Avenue School but no other schools;

NEW BUSINESS:

            Approval of 2006-07 Budget.   Joe Dulka of the Finance Committee noted that the proposed budget indicates that the parish will be $23,387 in the black.  He said a good portion of that is from investment income.  When the churches were merged, the investments from the four churches were reinvested.  Money is invested at the M&I and is also invested in Jumbo CDs.  Interest is renegotiated every six months.  Projected revenue in the budget is reduced by $100,000 because of the unknown number of present parishioners who may not continue as parishioners because of the approaching one weekend site.  Projected expenses in the budget have also been reduced, with the approval of all the committees, by $100,000, and Joe believes that, based on this year’s experience, the proposed figures for expenses can be realized.   

            All council members were polled for possible comments or questions.  The consensus of the council members was to approve and accept the proposed 2006-07 budget as presented.  Father Bob then thanked and commended the Finance Committee for all of their efforts to produce the budget.

            K4 Thru 8 Educational Philosophies.  Gary Hamilton stated that at the last school committee meeting there was discussion as to curriculum and philosophy changes at the school.  He said Spanish would now be taught in 5^th through the 8^th grades, and the 5^th grade children will now be requested to rotate to seven different classrooms during the course of the day; some classes and the lunch hour would be cut by a few minutes.  He said discussion at that meeting resulted in most parents being receptive to the ideas, but also said all teachers were not in agreement with the change.  He said the decisions are made by one or two or three people and do not include any member of the school committee, and he believes the parents should have some input.  In addition to being critical of the above changes, he said there is a lack of communication   Mike Roubik, also a parent and guest at the meeting, stated that he doesn’t think the kids would be ready for these changes.  While Judy Kalinowski gave him the impression that the teachers were in agreement with the suggested changes, Mike Roubik discussed them with four teachers who indicated they had no input whatever in the decisions.  Gary said he had called Brother Bob Smith, Archdiocesan Director of Catholic Education, who allegedly said these were very aggressive decisions.  Another council member, while not making judgment on the administrator’s previous decisions, said that Spanish is considered a valuable second language in today’s culture.

            At this point another member of the Council mentioned that the administrator’s viewpoint has not been heard.  It was then determined that Joe Zolecki will contact and arrange a meeting of the administrator, a representative of the school committee, a teacher, and an archdiocesan representative, to discuss the planning and decision-making process relating to the school.

            Marquette Site Renovation.   Dennis said he had a few questions posed to him by parishioners.  1) the carillons - the answer is that they will be redone.   2) the entry doors at Marquette site - this involves a maintenance problem; Tracey will inform the Building & Grounds Committee;  3) the old baptistry - this matter has already been taken care of.   Replying to Joe Dulka’s question regarding payment for removal of asbestos, everything further that must be done is under contract and will be taken care of within twenty-four hours of notification.

`            Archdiocesan Directive on Evangelization:  Dennis said some time ago he asked Sean to revisit our evangelization program because each cluster (Divine Mercy is considered a cluster because of the recent merger of four churches) is encouraged to develop an evangelization program.  The archdiocese does not advise how extensive or short it must be.  Discussion ensued, and it then was mentioned by a council member that the revised or adjusted family catechesis program might be considered part of that evangelization with children and parents going together to church, and that is also part of Christian Formation.  Another member suggested that we wait with this evangelization issue until the new pastoral administrator begins his/her duties on July 1^st because adult formation is part of that person’s responsibilities.  That individual could be invited to the August 2006 meeting for comments on the program.  The matter, therefore, was tabled until the new pastoral administrator is hired.

            Long Range Planning – What’s Next.   Dave Spitzenberger stated that he had talked to Tom Wisniewski of the Long Range Planning Committee because Tom was unable to attend tonight’s meeting.  They talked about waiting until the one-site weekend worship matter is accomplished, and then the committee would resume its meetings in the fall of the year.  The committee, of course, keeps in mind the fifteen-step proposal from Siegel-Gallagher which the company had previously submitted.  In the meantime, people should start thinking of what the next step should be.

OLD BUSINESS:

            Parish Council Discernment Process.  After Rich Lussier of the committee thanked Gary Hamilton for his work in organizing the evening, Rich reported that about 50 parishioners were present to participate in the discernment, but Gary will speak about that later.  The names of the new council members will be reported in the bulletin.  Rich said the position of one of the trustees, Joe Dulka, is up for election this year.  There had been two nominees for that position but one of them withdrew because of the required time involved, and thus Joe is unopposed for reelection.  The archdiocese did not require an election for that position.  When the archdiocese approves of Joe Dulka as trustee, his name will also appear in the bulletin. 

            Referring to the parish council discernment, Gary did not believe Mark Peters, the archdiocesan facilitator, was unbiased or neutral because of some of the comments he made.  Another person stated he did not seem to be an “independent voice.”  Gary also remarked that he was bothered by the gender discussion at the meeting while another disagreed with him and said that the issue should have been brought up and that all the comments made were the Holy Spirit at work. Still another person couldn’t understand why a council member asked a question as to how many of the nominees had children in the grade school.  Again, the question was important to the questioner and the Holy Spirit was at work.  Yet another member was impressed at the questions Mark Peters asked the nominees and how well he kept the meeting moving.  Joe Zolecki opined that young adults should be encouraged to accept positions on the parish council, and, in addition, perhaps a young adult should be requested to attend a council meeting to give the council members an idea of what young adults want in or from the parish.

            Marquette Parking Lot Proposal.   Father Ron stated that a meeting is scheduled for June 13^th to determine whether the lot will be completed on time.  Much depends on the weather.  Father Ron thanked Dave Spitzenberger for all his work involved with the preparations involving the parking lot.

Pastoral Administrator.  This position will be filled by July 1^st.

OTHER NEWS, NOTES, COMMENTS AND/OR ANNOUNCEMENTS.

            Dennis reminded the outgoing council members to bring their binders with council materials either to the parish office or to the June meeting for use by the incoming council members.  The current council members are in office until July1st.  The selection of new officers will be held at the June meeting.  The next meeting is scheduled for June 15^th at 6:30 p.m.

            Father Bob advised that Father Schubert will be celebrating the 50^th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on June 4th, and the parish was requested to submit a written commendation.  Father Bob read the prepared commendation.  It was approved by the council members and signed by council officers and trustees.

                      Closing Prayer:   Tracey read the closing Prayer for Christian Unity.

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Marcy Gramza, Recording Secretary