St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Parish Pastoral Council Minutes

For May 24, 2011

Opening Prayer:John Opheim

Attendance: Fr. Frank Dvorak, Allen Stow, Patty Buser,Russ Mandel, Jeanne Brown, Jay Cann, John Opheim, Michael Vech,Walt Slobotski,Miah Richards and Jason Rief. Also introduced as present was upcoming PPC member Marilou Lonergan.

Absent: Nick Bachman, Shelly Gray,Fr. Bernard Starman,Deacon David Klein

Approval of Minutes: The minutes from theApril 26, 2011 meeting were approved.

Committee Reports Review:

Finance Committee:Allen Stow

--General contributions for the year remain lower than expected which is a concern.

--The committee reviewed the final draft of the 2011-12 parish budget and will approve it at its next meeting.

--Discussed funds raised for the debt campaign

Spiritual / Evangelization:provided by Nick Bachman and John Opheim

--Work continues on the new website but it has slowed down. We really need more digital pictures from the parish (weddings, first communion, confirmations, baptisms, ordination,parish picnic, pancake feed, fish fry, Sunday school, VBS, golf, soccer, retreats, small groups). A request was sent out in the May SEA BREEZE but we have not received any pictures.Please send photos to Nick by the end of May.

--Please go out to the test site and check the content for your respective subcommittees. If your subcommittee’s page is blank or lacking information we need the parish council’s help.

Vocation Committee: provided by Shelly Gray

--We have two seminarians graduating from college this year. Matt Niggemeyer will continue his studies in Rome for theology college. Joe Sund will be going to KenrickGlennonSeminarianCollege. Jim Netusil will be ordained as a transitional Deacon on Friday, May 27 at the Cathedral.

--We discussed the "College Connection for Catholics”. The West Omaha Serra Club asked if all the vocation committees from the various parishes could look into the task of contacting the high school seniors in hopes thatthis contact would help the students to stay rooted in their faith while in college. Father Frank gave his okay to contact the parents of these students.We had sixty six graduates from our parish. Thirty five of them went to a Catholic high school. Of these thirty-five, some of the parents were contacted. The parents were told about the different Catholic organizations that are available at the colleges.

--We also discussed what to do for the World Day Of Prayer For Vocations. Officially, that was scheduled for May 1. Since it is too late to plan anything for that particular day, we will be putting the Serra Prayer for Vocation cards in all the Church pews this weekend. Father will also add a petition invoking prayers for an increase of holy vocations that will be prayed at all of our weekend parish Masses.

--In October when we hold our volunteer sign up for all parish functions and committees, our vocations committee will have two separate possibilities our parishioners can sign up for. People will be able to sign up for either our vocations icon, or for membership on the vocations committee or for both.

Pro-Life Committeeprovided by Patty Buser

A total of 192 roses were sold for the EPS Rose Donation drive and $1030.75 was collected. The committee is collecting donations for the Nebraska United for Life Mother's Day Billboard Campaign which will last throughout May. This will pay for seven pro-life billboards in Omaha, Council Bluffs,Grand Island and Norfolk.

Old Business:

Results from the Parish Pastoral Council elections were announced. Congratulations go to Marilou Lonergan, Linda Lytle, Bruce Prenosil, and Tim Brust who will serve from 2011-14.

Father Frank provided an update on the debt elimination campaign. So far, 237 pledge responses have been received (18.2% of the parish). The pledges to date total $238,840 which is 21.7% of the $1.1 million goal. The pledge amount collected to date totals $153,048 (13.9% of goal). Father noted that parishioners who made an annual contribution in 2010 of $100 or less have pledged a total of almost 16% more than they gave in 2010. Father Frank will check the terms of our current mortgage to see if there is a penalty for prepayment and if not begin paying down the debt. He will also look into transferring the debt to a 4.25% loan available from the Archdiocese. Our current interest rate is 5.5%.

Families who have kindergarten aged children who did not elect to send them to SJS will be contacted to find out why.

A suggestion was made to invite graduating high school seniors that attended SJS back to visit on a day they are finished with classes but SJS is still in session. They can visit with current students and teachers and each other. This might reconnect them to SJS for future development.

New Business:

Discussion was held regarding the proposed 2011-12 SEA budget:

--Allen Stow commented that the finance committee trimmed the budget as much as possible and the expense numbers were based on actual 2010-11 numbers.

--The budget reflects our new associate pastor’s salary(Fr. Chi).

--The interest expense might go down if we pay off or restructure the debt

--New windows and parking lot repavement are included in the budget

--New Missals and pew cards reflecting the new liturgy beginning this Advent are included in the budget

--Projected 2011-12 revenue is $1,453,900. Expenses are $1,349,944. Net ordinary income is $103,956. With repayment of the mortgage principal of $103,720 total net income will be $237.

The June 28 PPC meeting will be a 6:30 potluck introducing new members and saying goodbye to those who have fulfilled their term on the council. Allen Stow will email everyone an invitation and assign what to bring. Patty and Jeanne will get older children for babysitting younger children.

A farewell reception for Fr. Starman will be held June 12 in the parish center from noon until 2:00 PM. His last day at SEA will be June 23. Allen will ask the Knights of Columbus to serve wings (one of Fr. Starman’s favorites) and chips. Patty will ask the Daughters of Seton of they will serve cake, punch and coffee.

A welcome reception for Fr. Chi, our new associate pastor, will be July 3 from noon until 2:00 PM in the parish center. Patty will again ask the Daughters of Seton to serve cake, punch and coffee.

A question was brought to a PPC member regarding permanent display of statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph that had been donated earlier in the year. Fr. Frank commented that the statues that were privately purchased and donated were not intended to be placed permanently in the church. The original architecture of the church was not designed for this type of display on a permanent basis. During the month of May,Mary’s statue will be on display in the sanctuary and on appropriate Feast Days the statues will be displayed.

Pastor’s Comments:

Fr. Frank provided an update on the Lighthouse CDs available to parishioners. Our cost per CD is $2.46 and we are now averaging $2.07 per CD receipts. So far 295 CDs have been taken.

Fr. Frank announced the final numbers for the Mass attendance program. The SJS homeroom with the highest percentage of returned Mass attendance sheets was room 101 at 75.88%. Second place was room 502 at 67.22%. Third was room 803 at 66.32%. Six students with 100% participation will receive a voucher for $100 of next year’s tuition. Ten students who missed one sheet will receive $50 off next year’s tuition and six students missing two sheets will receive a $25 tuition voucher. He has not decided whether the reward of tuition assistance will continue next year or not.

Closing Prayer/Adjournment:Fr. Frank

Next Meeting - June 28 potluck. August 23 is our next business meeting.