Parish Pastoral Council Minutes – October 20, 2009
Present Were: Father Comer, Deacon Meier, Bob Bertke, Emily
Walters, Mark Krzywonos, Minda Michels,
Tom Stewart, Greg Cecil and Dina Gledhill
Absent: None.
Guests Present:
Jamie Burns and Gwen Wolf of
the Finance Council
The meeting opened with
prayer at 7:05 p.m.
I.
Finance Council’s Report
Jamie Burns reported that
weekly collection amounts are dropping. We are down $22,000 from what we
budgeted and $10,000 down from the weekly collection amount this time last
year. The budget is already tight. If this trend continues, we could be
under-funded by $100,000.
Father Comer stated that the
Offertory Program starts next month and once that presentation is given at all
the masses, we can expect an increase in donations. If that increase materializes, we would not
be under-funded by such a large amount as projected.
Jamie presented some
statistics about parish giving. We have
1903 registered families at IHM. More
than 32% of registered parishioners give zero to the church per year. More than 47% of registered parishioners give
$100 or less per year. There are many in
the parish who are technically registered and “on our books” but who do not
contribute anything. Some of these
families may be school families.
One solution would be to ask
school families to submit at least one envelope per month, even if the envelope
is empty, to show that they are active members of the parish. Otherwise, it may be appropriate to charge “out
of parish” tuition for families who do not attend mass and who do not submit
even an empty envelope once per month.
In addition to the school families, the entire membership’s help is
needed to help with the recent down-turn in collections. Jamie raised the idea of fundraisers such as
chicken dinners. While this is one idea,
the simplest solution is to increase collections.
Father reiterated that
financial problems have a spiritual core.
If we have a large number of parishioners who do not contribute to the
support of the parish, then we must ask:
“How do we help families to become spiritually invested in the parish so
that it is a priority for them to contribute to it?” Once that question is addressed, collections
will fall where they should. The group
agreed that evangelization, outreach to friends and neighbors to attend church
regularly, and continuing commitment to our mission would accomplish this goal.
Our parish is debt free, but
our reserves are currently not high enough to make up for the shortage of
collections. The weekly collection
budget is $24,000. There are other
indicators of economic hardship among parish families. For example, the tuition assistance fund is
$14,000 over budget. Our parish expenses
have been cut to the bone, so there are no other areas in which to
economize. An appeal to the parishioners
next month is therefore the one way to insure the continued financial health of
the parish.
Jaime Burns and Gwen Wolf
then excused themselves from the meeting at the end of the financial
discussion.
II.
Pastor’s Report
Diocesan Census of Boone
County: The
diocesan census shows that there are many families in Boone County
who identify themselves as Catholic, but who put there children in Catholic
schools, but who do not actively practice their faith. This census information will help with
identifying evangelization needs.
Parish Goals: Our plan is to not become fear driven. If we continue to “seek first the kingdom of God” and address the spiritual issues of
our parish family first, then the other issues will be solved.
Website: The website is being updated. Some have reported issues with registering
on-line for the parish directory photos, but others have been able to sign up
on line with no problem.
Next Meeting: Monday, November 23, 2009 at 7:00 pm. The Monday meeting is scheduled because Father
Comer will be out of the country on the third Tuesday of the month of
November. Father will ask Sister Armella
to join us at the November meeting to discuss spiritual formation. We will not meet during the month of December
2009.
Closing: The meeting closed with prayer at 8:10 p.m.
