Pastoral Council Minutes

March 2, 2009

Attendees:  Tate Cooper, Chris Gebhart, Jerry Koehne, Kevin Kohls, Debbie Meinhardt, Cindy Muron, Jane Mueninghoff, Ray Sousa, Barb Utrata, Fr. Mark Burger, Fr. Don West, and Mary Ann Lampe (scribe).

Preliminaries:  The Council Meeting opened with the Pastoral Council prayer at

7:00 pm.  The reflection was led by Barb Utrata.

Agenda Items:

1)  Approval of minutes from February meeting – all  The minutes were approved as written.

2)  Tanzania Project Update – Joan   Joan was unable to attend this meeting and sent a printout.

3)  2009 Council Election Schedule – Cindy  Election will be Mothers’ Day weekend.  Nominations will be March 21 & 22.  Cindy provided a signup sheet for Council members to volunteer to make announcements before Masses and also to stand by the ballot boxes after Mass.  It was suggested that occasionally a member of council invite parish members to PC meetings to see what they are about.  The election went very smooth last year, so we will repeat the same procedure.  People appreciated the pictures and bios in the bulletin two weekends prior to election of candidates.

4)  April 3 Stations of the Cross – all  Council decided on a version of the Stations of the Cross given to people going to the holy land.  Will assign stations to members at next meeting.  Jane – has anyone done research on Parish Congress?  Couldn’t find anything.  Fr. Mark – it is a program in process. 

5)  Report on most recent CRHP Weekend – Tate  We had a great weekend, about 20 people attended with a receiving team of 25.  The lay spiritual directors give presentations on a father’s loving care.  I focused on Fr. Ray and centered on him.  It was very powerful.  All five lay spiritual directors were there and it turned out to be a good send off for Fr. Ray.  Thanks to the parish and Fr. Don for their support.  Ray – I am on the receiving committee; the sheer logistics of it is difficult (getting all together).  The first night we did some history sharing, there was some trepidation at first, but it turned into a good meeting.  Right now there are at least 15 regulars and 20 that will continue on an occasional basis.  We are moving forward now and the group is now coming together.  Jerry – how many have gone through CRHP?  At least 300, possibly more.  Cindy – I was speaking with someone who is a member of Life in the Spirit Process at St. Max.  Could the evangelization committee bring it to St. John’s?  Fr. Mark – it must be discerned by the Pastor before we bring it to the parish.

6)  Fr. Mark’s Comments  I have been meeting with the mega pastors in the diocese.  We are talking about raising up leaders who are representative of the whole parish.  There is a meeting on March 31st with Archbishop Schnurr on youth ministry.  Another thing brought to that group is getting a committee together to meet with the new Archbishop to familiarize him with our diocese.

Kevin – we just wrapped up the youth basketball rec league.  We had 12 teams this year, including kindergarten and are looking for ways to expand.  It is a good program and leads into CYO.  Am going to meet with St. Max to see what we could do together.

Debbie – two people came forward to help Matt with the electricity for the festival.

7)  Adjournment and Closing Prayer of Thanksgiving – Debbie Meinhardt   

Debbie led the closing prayer and we adjourned at 8:00 pm.

Next Meeting:  Monday, March 30, 2009 – this is our April meeting

     - Reflection by Ray Sousa

     - Prayer of Thanksgiving by Jerry Koehne