Dean Kick, the Council Chairperson, called the meeting to order at approximately 6:30 p.m.

Present:                      Father Bob Betz, Father Steve Varghese, Joe Amrhein, John Bordak, Joe Dulka, Larry Haskin, Dennis Irwin, Dean Kick, Rich Lussier, Kathy Mattke, Sean Nuyda, Steve Raflik, Elaine Tessmer and Jen Trask

Excused/Absent:        Chris Kujawa (absent) and Matt Lemens (excused)

Guests:                       Judi Backes, Alice Berezinski, Jeanine Kuettel, Gregory Meka and Patty Bollis

Opening Prayer:         Steve Raflik distributed a prepared opening prayer and it was read aloud by all.

Welcome/Review Agenda:

            Dean Kick welcomed the council members to the meeting and briefly reviewed the topics on the agenda. 

Open Forum/Welcome of Guests/Visitors:

The above guests were welcomed to the meeting by Dean Kick.  In the open forum, Alice Berezinski stated that she had requested that a short announcement regarding a local organization’s upcoming event be placed in the parish bulletin on a particular weekend, and the secretary to whom she had given that written note promised that it would be inserted – “no problem;” there was no mention of it in the bulletin.  Although there may not have been room for that announcement in the bulletin, during the discussion that followed it was suggested that our parish be more community friendly/oriented.  Father Bob advised that the format of our bulletin will change about the beginning of January 2009, a contract with a new company must be negotiated, and courtesy announcements will be included in the bulletins, depending upon space availability. 

Approval of Minutes of the October 2008 Meeting:  

            There are two corrections.  1) On p. 1, first paragraph under Pastors’ Reports, the age of Agnes Kouba should have been 96 years rather than 98 years.  2) On p. 4, second last paragraph, the sentence “Elaine Tessmer will call Pyramid Bank and the Tri City Bank for advertising privileges and fee, if any” is deleted, and in its place should be “Elaine Tessmer will call the Journal/Sentinel Company for charges for advertising in the Saturday newspaper and the weekly NOW section of the newspaper.”

There being no further additions, corrections or deletions to the proposed minutes, upon motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the meeting of October 16, 2008, with the foregoing corrections, were approved.

Pastors’ Reports:

Father Steve reported that he had been away from the parish for two weeks after being invited to a meeting with members of his religious order in Rome, and afterwards then the entire group of priests and nuns went to the Holy Land.  He said he is looking forward to Thanksgiving and the season of Advent which is a time for spiritual renewal.  He reported on a staff meeting held today, and one of the topics talked about was the time and talent surveys of parishioners included in the bulletin; they hope to receive many responses from the parishioners. He also said a Thanksgiving dinner for people who are alone or have no one else to celebrate with will be held at the Parish Life Center the day before Thanksgiving, and a Thanksgiving Mass will follow in the early evening.

            Father Steve also said Bishop Callahan will have regional meetings on December 1, 2 and 3, 2008 at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. with the closest location in our area being at St Jude’s Parish in Wauwatosa on December 1^st, and council members were urged to attend.  Also, once a year the archbishop has a state of the union meeting with different groups, on different days, at the Cousins Center; the meeting with council members and trustees of parishes is set for January 20, 2009 from 6 – 8 p.m.  At this meeting the archbishop will inform everyone of what is happening in the archdiocese.

            A few other things, Father Steve reported on, were that a few more people have signed up for the RCIA program; the Christmas Giving Tree will be placed in the back of church this weekend, with the gifts to be returned to the same area by December 7^th; the Widows’ Group meetings continue; for the Grief Support Ministry, the parish nurse is organizing with St. Luke’s South Shore Hospital a grief support system for everyone from this area.

            Father Bob stated that since November is the month when we pray specially for the faithful departed, a special prayer service was incorporated in the Sunday Masses when the names of the 113 parishioners who died within the past year were read, and many favorable comments were received following that celebration.

            Father Bob thanked Rich Lussier and the rest of his committee for the fine Fall Festival.  While he saw many councilors there, he believes the festival that is always held on the Packers’ bi-week, should be talked up more by the council members to the other parishioners since we are the leaders of the parish.  Referring to the Council Announcements which should have been delivered by council members the first weekend in November, they were read at only two of the five Masses, with Father Bob reading them at the last Mass, because no members were there.  This should be a priority for communication to the parishioners.

            Father Bob then referred to the recent forum to inform parishioners of the direction and plans for the church remodeling; the presentations were given and then questions were taken from the audience.  He believes the atmosphere created by the questioners was uncharitable; at the following meeting with the advisory group, the atmosphere was much more positive.  Father Bob believes when a meeting gets to the angry stage, we should stop it; we should have some procedure in place to combat that type of occurrence.

            Father Bob said that Deacon Jim Leggett announced today that he would be transferring to St. Alphonsus Parish.  He has been here for twenty years, his contract is up for renewal; he began his deaconate ministry at St. Alphonsus and will return there after January 1, 2009.  We are now looking for another deacon.

Contemplative Break: 

The question of the week appearing in the current parish bulletin was: “What gifts has God given you?  How do you use them to build the kingdom?”  The discussion was led by Steve Raflik.

Committee Reports/Updates:  

            Copies of minutes of the following committees were provided to all council members prior to this meeting:  Building Committee #2 of 9/30/08; Building Our Future, first parish forum of 10/21/08; Human Concerns Committee of 11/6/08; Life Long Formation Committee of 11/6/08; and Prayer and Worship Committee of 11/6/08.  Also provided were the Weekly Collection Report for the months of October 2008, and the Holy Day and first two weeks of November, as well as the Parish Pledge Report of Faith in Our Future as of 10/31/08.

Life Long Formation.    Steve Raflik mentioned that they were looking at the minutes from the last council meeting about evangelization, that they have a new lady on the committee, and that they will have a brainstorming session of young adults of the parish around the Lenten season to learn what their needs are and what they are looking for to keep them involved in the parish.  They will contact Nativity of the Lord and St. Matthew’s Parishes and invite them to their meetings, although nothing is definite as yet.

Prayer and Worship Committee.  Elaine Tessmer remarked that this committee is composed of quite a few ministries.  They are asking for volunteers to light the advent wreath at the Masses, and that is one of their main concerns right now.  They are also preparing for the Thanksgiving liturgy. 

Finance Committee.  Joe Dulka reported that the income is down from last year by about $14,700, and he is hoping that we will make up that amount during the Christmas season.  He mentioned that a new procedure has been implemented in the office by paying various bills on-line; that will save money on postage.  About fifty to sixty checks are written per week, and they hope to cut that in half.  It was stated that there would be a printout of checks that are paid on-line.  Because of the economic situation, a council member asked about our projections and will we be down.  Joe replied that because our expenses are down, he does not think we will have a deficit, but he doesn’t think we will have a gain either; it may come down to Zero.  Father Bob indicated our assessment from the archdiocese is down, and the increase in utilities this year is about 4% as opposed to the budgeted 12% increase.  Father Steve said we are one of the few parishes in the archdiocese where there is not a deficit budget, and we should be thankful for that.

OLD BUSINESS:

Faith in Our Future Capital Campaign – Current Campaign Status.  Joe Dulka said he couldn’t give any further information than what’s on the report of 10/31/08.  Father Bob said the archbishop is confident we will make our goals; our parish was in the first phase of the campaign.  The report indicates 17% of the whole parish has participated but only about one-third of the parish normally gives to the church. 

Fall Festival Review.  Rich Lussier said the numbers were down in almost every category – dinners served were down from last year, raffles were down to $15,000 from $21,000 last year, donations were about the same, silent auctions were good.  They took in about $32,000 and the expenses were about $14,000, leaving a net of about $18,000, which is still a very good sum for only one day.  The committee is thinking of trying different things next year.  One member suggested that the drive-through dinners as had been offered at Fun Fest seemed to attract many people, and the envelopes with the raffle tickets did not have parishioners’ names on them.  Following his report, Rich added that there are a couple bingo games at the 16^th Avenue site which could be sold, and if anyone knows of an interested party they should call him.

Father Bob reported that some time after the festival, someone stole the amplification system, and the other day the poor boxes were broken into and the vigil light stand money was stolen; there was no forcible entry to get into the building.  He indicated we must be more conscious of closing doors behind us. 

            .

Evangelization/Marketing Topics:

List of Non-Catholic Parishioners.  Father Bob reported that Dianne Angst said when the parishes were merged, not all of them had accurate records of non-Catholics, and so the figures are off.  Out of the total 7218 persons, 380 are not Catholic.  Eventually the archdiocese will have us do a new survey.  Dianne can get the names of those 380 people.  We could send a letter to the families with mixed religions asking if the non-Catholic thought of becoming Catholic.  Another said, as far as the RCIA program is concerned, it might be a good idea to start next summer. 

Signs for the Church.  Dennis Irwin talked to the South Milwaukee City Engineer who referred him to the architect about signs.  That person said some of the signs are grandfathered into the City, and also said there are some new laws on which he isn’t up to speed.  He also said some of the signs on the poles are part of the utilities and Dennis would have to check with them.  He said if we would put a sign up, e.g., on Milwaukee Avenue, everyone else would want to do the same.  Discussion by other council members suggested owners of private properties might be contacted for erecting signs; another questioned whether the northeast corner of the 16^th Avenue site could be used to advertise an event at a different site.

Local Paper Advertising.  Elaine Tessmer obtained charges for advertising in the Journal/Sentinel’s Saturday paper in its religious services section, as well as the Thursday’s NOW section; the charge for the Saturday advertising is $20 per week for 5 lines or a total of $1040 for one year; the charge for the NOW section advertising is $9 per week for10 lines or an annual charge of $468.  Discussion by all council members noted that the NOW section is different for the South Milwaukee and Cudahy areas from that of the Oak Creek area; not all residents of these communities subscribe to the Journal/Sentinel; it has been proven that readership of newspapers is down because of Internet access by many.  This advertising is very expensive and would not reach everyone.

Some of the other suggestions from various members was to send out a mailer to all residents in the nearest communities two or three times a year.  A further suggestion was a flyer to be hung by parishioners on the doors of homes in their neighborhood.  Another suggestion was that of having billboard advertising.  Still another said the best possible way of advertising is one-on-one advertising.  Another mentioned the Christmas Parade on November 30^th and suggested members of Divine Mercy take part in it with a type of handout. 

Reporting on the pictures of council members being displayed in the church lobby, Elaine Tessmer reported that a parishioner, John Rapant, constructed a curio-type cabinet with unbreakable glass in the double doors for less than $200.  It could also be used in some other part of the building.  The pictures will be inserted the first part of December.

Scrolling Marquee Advertising.  The suggested location would be on the southwest corner of Highway 32 and Marquette Avenue, and it could use the words Divine Mercy – 2 blocks east or something to that effect.  The owner of the Sunrise Shopping Center would have to be contacted.  Elaine Tessmer will check into that.

Better Use of Our Website W/Paul Neuberger.  Larry Haskin talked to Paul who is the Director of Development at St. Thomas More High School.  He has put together a report called Divine Intervention and it is about getting young people back into the Church.  Much of it contains copies of studies done around the country and is focused on getting young people back and reenergized and involved with the Church.  There are very good ideas contained in the report.  Larry gave the lengthy report to Steve Raflik of the Life Long Formation Committee.

NEW BUSINESS: 

            Next Steps to Take With Evangelization and Marketing Ideas.  Dennis will continue to check on the signs and the newer laws; Elaine will check on the scrolling marquee advertising at Sunrise Shopping Center; and, we will hold off on the list of non-Catholic parishioners until we start advertising for the RCIA. 

Review Procedures for Building Renovation and Construction (Proxy Process).  Dean suggested that everyone read over the proxy process which he had e-mailed to them   

OTHER NEWS, NOTES, COMMENTS AND/OR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

            A sign-up sheet for presentation of the Council’s report to be given at all Masses the first weekend in December was circulated before and during the meeting.

            John Bordak said any council member who wishes to join in the Christmas Parade on November 30^th is most welcome, and suggested that to have some positive exposure we have something with the name of  Divine Mercy.  Another council member suggested candy canes with the parish name on them.  Kathy Mattke inquired if any council member was opposed to her getting 500 candy canes with the name of the parish on them; there was no objection.

Give Thanks.

Closing Prayer:  Steve Raflik led the Council in reading the closing prayer that had previously been distributed. 

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m.   

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Marcy Gramza, Recording Secretary