Attending: Rose Braun, Connie Girard, Steve Gross, Tim Harmon, Denise Kick, Jerry Koehne, Steve Meinhardt, Claudia Miller, Jane Mueninghoff, Ann Perry, Tim Reed, Bruce Simeone, Barb Utrata, Mary Ann Lampe (Scribe).

Guests: Jerry Kohls, Jack Von Benken, Ron Porter.

Preliminaries: The Council meeting opened with the Pastoral Council prayer at 7:00 pm. The reflection was led by Rose Braun. Claudia Miller will give the reflection at the August, 2007 meeting.

Agenda Items:

1) Approval of minutes from April 16th meeting - all

2) Parishioner Presentation - Jerry Kohls
a) Recap of Jerry & Jeanne's January, 2007 Visit to Wolisso, Ethiopia Medical Mission
Jerry & Jeanne visited Jerry's cousin, Sister Elaine, in Wolisso, Ethiopia in January. Sister Elaine has been serving as a medical missionary in Ghana and Ethiopia for the past 30-40 years. She specializes in Hospital Administration. She started this hospital five years ago and has been running it since. There is, also, a school of nursing there. It is a 130-bed hospital with 120 percent occupancy. Jerry found the country very peaceful, even though neighboring Somalia had an uprising. Ethiopia is about one-half Christian and one-half Muslim. They seem to be able to put their religious differences aside for the benefit of the community. What they do is remarkable with what they have. Their biggest need is clean water. There is no running water in the city. They have springs and wells. The people seem to be very content, but do not have much.

b) Opportunity for "Twinning"
Jerry expressed his gratitude for the Parish's recent donation to Sister Elaine's mission. Jerry spoke with Mark Gable of the Diocesan Mission Office. They are pushing for "twinning" in Africa. Mark Gable is trying to get together a group to go in 2009. If you are interested in "twinning" here is an excellent opportunity. Jerry would like to see the Parish get involved. Bruce - do you want Parish Council to get back to you? Yes, if you are considering a "twinning", I would like you to consider this mission.

Jane - The Archdiocese is just starting the "twinning" concept and the Mission Office is targeting Africa. Ann - We currently divide the Reach Out Collection between Reach Out and Sister Elaine. Steve - The information presented here must be relayed to Father. Any decision to engage in "twinning" must come from Father, with Council's input if he chooses. Council will inform Father of Jerry Kohls' presentation before a response can be given to him.

3) Pastoral Council 2007 Election Update - Rose Braun
Council decided to hold the election before all Masses. A brief announcement will be made that anyone 16 years and older is eligible to vote. Council members volunteered to pass out the ballots before Mass in the gathering space, collect the ballots before Mass, check the pews after Mass and gather all loose ballots, count the ballots following Mass (by three members), and put them in the safe once tallied. Ballots will be available in the gathering space after Mass for those requesting them. Ann Perry will collect on Monday any ballots that are found in the collection baskets and give them to Rose. We need to keep the ballots for a time after the election in case someone challenges it. Past decision was made to not utilize absentee ballots. We have had no requests for absentee ballots.

4) Update on Relief Effort for Hurricane Katrina Impacted Family - Jerry Koehne
Jerry Koehne, along with Ron Porter and Jack Von Benken, who are here tonight, recently visited New Orleans, on trip sponsored by Good Shepherd Parish and Catholic Charities. They visited four sites in 4 days. They got a pretty good look at cleanup and rebuilding that's going on and it isn't much. One out of ten or two out of fifteen homes are occupied or have some activity. The scope of their work was taking down drywall, pulling nails, remove linoleum, spray for mold, lawn work. The group made a side trip to visit the home of the family that St. John's has adopted. There are nine people. The children are ages six to seventeen. Every ninety days FEMA reviews their need for the trailers. Ricky and his family must be out of the trailers in August. Drywall is complete and ready to be primed and trimmed. The sanitary system needs to be hooked up. Tim - they owe $2,000 for drywall. Jack - what they need right now is labor to paint and trim the house. A team from St. John's could accomplish this in a week. One of the things that would help them later is a washer and dryer. Jerry showed some photos of the current conditions throughout the area. The 2nd collection at this weekend's Mass is to assist our adopted family. Jane will help Tim set up a display in the gathering space and Bruce will work on putting pictures on a video to run before Mass.

5) Saints John/Max/Michael?/ Susanna Cluster Meeting Reminder - May 30(?)
Waiting to hear from St. Max if proposed meeting date is firm. Watch for e-mail.

6) Coming Year's Pastoral Council Meeting Dates Requested - Steve Gross
Waiting for confirmation from Dan Evans. Will report on this at next regular meeting, in August. Kathy Guenther will also be presenting in August.

7) Fr. Mark's Comments
Fr. Mark could not be present.

8) Adjournment and Closing Prayer of Thanksgiving
We adjourned at 9:00 pm.

Next meeting: Picnic Social Monday, June 4, 2007 at 7:00 pm. at Rose & Ken Braun's Home. No minutes will be taken. Directions to be sent to Council members via email.