ST. PAUL PARISH COUNCIL

MEETING MINUTES

September 10, 2007 – 6:30 p.m.

 

Present:  Father Romanus, Paul Anderson, Sherry Kaminski, Vince Sciano, Linda Krowsky, Sue Dolkiewicz, Anne Uecker, and Pat Sciano

 

Not Present:  Gerry Burant, Katrin Kempowski, and Dick Kucharski

 

The meeting began with Sherry giving the opening prayer.

 

The minutes from the August meeting were reviewed, amended, and approved.

 

The first order of business was reporting what is occurring with the various parish committees.

 

Christian Formation:  The annual Baptism Anniversary Mass will be held on Sunday, October 7, 2007, after the 10:15 Mass.  Families of babies that were baptized last year will also be invited to attend.   

 

Building and Grounds:  A Building and Grounds meeting will be held on Monday, September 17, 2007, at 6:30 p.m.  A representative from Stemper’s and Hahn’s Badger Carpet Service will be present to discuss a schedule for the remodeling project of the church.  Parish Council members are invited to attend.

 

School Advisory Board:  St. Thomas Aquinas Academy will be going through an accreditation process by both the state and the Archdiocese.

 

Fr. Mark, of St. Veronica’s, has prepared long and short-term goals for the school.  One of these goals is setting up an IT room in the school.  This room, which now houses the school library, will be used for this purpose.  Also, a grant is being worked on for implementing an engineering program entitled “Lead the Way,” which will allow students participating in the program to work in conjunction with Thomas More and Marquette High Schools. 

 

Signage identifying St. Thomas Aquinas Academy is being made with one sign being placed on the school building itself, and one sign being placed on a corner of the school property.   

 

This year representatives from STAA will be present during the Bay View Bash to give out informational material regarding the school, and to be available to answer any questions.  Informational ads are also going to be placed in the Journal Sentinel to increase school exposure.

 

Home and School:  The Home and School has not been doing as much fundraising and project development as in the past.  Home and School is requesting parents become more

involved in fundraising activities and working with students more (i.e. planning picnics, bake sales).

 

Festival Committee:  A Festival Committee meeting is going to be held on Monday, September 24.

 

The next order of business was discussing ways of increasing Mass attendance through Evangelization.  The door hanger project was discussed as to what type of format and material we were going to use, and what information about our parish should be printed on them.  Gerry is going to incorporate the information into the computer, and Sherry is going to get them printed.  We would like them to be ready by the next meeting on October 1. 

 

Paul would like the liaisons to take one initiative from the Mass attendance handout that was given out to their various committees, and work at implementing one idea during the year.

 

The Gather Handout is near completion and the information from this will go into the new Parish Directory.  The directory will be mailed to parishioners and two weeks afterwards, the Time and Talent form will be handed out at all the Masses.  All information received back will be put into a database and tabulated. 

 

Stewardship was discussed next.  The bulletin thank you notes will continue to be written.  We need to think how we communicate stewardship throughout our parish (i.e. parish directory, parish website) and what other ways we might consider implementing. 

 

 Because the parish grounds are not looking as neat as they could, it was suggested we try starting a Garden Club.  Pat is going to write something to be printed in the bulletin asking for interested people to help.

 

Sherry volunteered to find and compile material regarding the history of St. Paul’s to be included in the new Parish Directory.  The color for the cover and print was selected.  The deadline for printing is October 22.  

 

Vince suggested compiling parishioners’ birthday and wedding anniversary information, putting it into a database, and printing up an insert in the bulletin on a monthly basis, as a way of celebrating our parishioners’ special events.

 

UPDATES FROM FATHER ROMANUS

 

Anne Uecker has accepted the position as Trustee Secretary.  The Archdiocese must approve all Trustee appointments, and this approval is pending.

 

A Joint Finance Committee meeting will be held on September 18, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s with the St. Thomas Aquinas Academy Finance Committee and finance committee members from the cluster parishes.

 

The parish budget has been sent to the Archdiocese.

 

Father Romanus wrote a bulletin article informing parishioners about the Archdiocesan Capital Campaign project.  Refinishing of the parking lot could be one of the projects completed during the campaign.

 

The Archdiocese will be holding two Town Hall Meetings at the Cousins Center, one on September 21^st and one on September 26^th from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m.  The topic to be discussed is the state of parishes in the Archdiocese and the future plans that relate to closing/merging.

 

All standing committees intending to spend monies on projects need to submit their costs to the Parish Council, and in turn, this needs to be approved by Father Romanus.

 

The meeting ended at 8:40 p.m.

 

The next Council meeting will be held on Monday, October 1, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. with Pat leading the opening prayer.

 

Respectfully submitted by:  Pat Sciano, Parish Council Secretary