St. Anthony Parish Pastoral Council

St. Anthony Parish Pastoral Council

Thursday, January 19 2017

Present: Delrae Hulm, Janette Volk, Laura Hulm, Dan Imdieke, Charles Pavlicek, Therese Beitelspacher, Derald Gefroh

Staff: Fr. Dave Zimmer, Sue Schumacher, Maria Bichler

Fr. Dave opened the meeting with prayer.

There were no corrections to the minutes. Nov. 17, 2016 minutes unanimously approved.

Stewardship Strategy

Fr. Dave opened by speaking about our parishes’ use of Catholic Stewardship Consultants. Through the consultants’ work, every parishioner would receive a mailed newsletter. The newsletter would contain articles on stewardship and faith, but also personal articles conducted with our parishioners. All work for the newsletter is done by the consultants, and they also provide retreats and give instruction, Fr. Dave said the purpose of the newsletter is to instruct and inform; and to tell our parish stewardship story. Fr. Dave emphasized that stewardship is a way of life, not a short-term trial run. The consultants have worked with Fr. Dave before (10+ year relationship) and are willing to give us a deal on their services. We received a grant through the Bismarck Diocese to help with the funding.

Fr. Dave spoke on the book, “Stewardship, A Disciple's Response,” which was passed out at the last meeting. He asked all members to reflect on the preface: "Once one chooses to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, stewardship is not an option." Fr. Dave said stewardship is a conversion of a way of life and it is to live our Catholic faith. Fr. Dave spoke about the bullet list on page 2 and that the consultants' work will accomplish those things.

Lent and Easter seasons

Sue briefed the group on the Lent and Easter schedule. We are still waiting to hear back from priests on our penance service date. We will be sending a Lenten letter in February with the complete schedule. We will discuss decorating at a later date. Our parish will offer Friday Stations of the Cross, as well as soup and bread suppers. Martha Glatt has agreed to help lead the coordination of the suppers.

Other Items

Sue spoke on the need to gather a Building and Grounds Committee for our parish. She is taking any members who are interested. The carpet is not available yet and painting will be completed at a later date. In the basement, cement is peeling from the wall due to moisture; water has been seeping into the carpet; the interlocking ceiling is falling out in places; the kitchen tiles are lifting and there is asbestos underneath; the lighting has become a hazard and there are wires which need to be dealt with. The rain troughs may also be causing water damage in the church. Milo Kramer has agreed to head the basement project. He plans to dig up around the church in the spring to address the moisture and put plastic down to run water away from the church. We had collected $25,000 last year for these projects. We have $10,000 left to work with. We will send letters to those who gave money to let them know there are larger issues to deal with before we proceed with carpet and painting. We need help in making long term goals in order to raise money.

Sue also informed the committee on our broken elevator. The elevator stopped working the weekend of Dec. 31-Jan. 1. The problem may be an arched wire. We are hoping to have the elevator fixed soon.

Fr. Dave told the group, per our Bishop, our finance council needs to be separated. He plans for our three PPC to be consolidated and to also act as a stewardship committee.

Items to be done

Fr. Dave wants the group to read the introduction of “Stewardship, A Disciple's Response,” and we will discuss the contents at the next meeting.

Fr. Dave closed with prayer at 8:00 AM.

Next meeting is scheduled for February 16 at 7:00 AM.