JANUARY 2007 MINUTES

MEETING MINUTES

Genesis Vicariate Pastoral Council Combined Meeting

7 p.m. ~ January 22, 2007

St. Sylvester Parish

 AGENDA:

1.     Prayer

2.     Report From Vicars’ Meeting

3.     Tracking Committee Update

4.     “Priests for Life” Presentation

5.     Open Forum – Announcements & Questions

NOTE: This was a combined meeting of the VPC (Vicariate Pastor Council lay- members) and the clergy of the Vicariate. 

REPORT FROM VICARS’ MEETING

Father Andy reported that at the January 17, 2007 Vicars' Meeting a presentation was made by the Tracking Committee.  They have begun to discuss the various plans parishes have sent in for review and acceptance.  The Vicars wondered if they could be involved in this review process when parishes in their vicariate were being discussed.

The committee will be continuing to contact Parishes (that aren’t already working with another parish) to consider a cluster or merging with another local parish.

The Office of Parish Life gave a presentation on Lay Ministry. The Archdiocese of Detroit is one of the few in the country that offers degrees in ministries. Some funds are available for certification or degree programs. No one is turned down due to their financial situation. A quote was shared that accurately described a vocation “A vocation is where deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”.

There are new wage compensation packages available for the 2007-2008 employee and staff increases with a list of norms and suggested increases.

Several parishes have not submitted in their Annual Financial Report. The Archdiocese has made the decision that they will automatically add 20% assessment to the parish’s yearly CSA goal if they have not received this Report.

PARISH MERGING AND CLUSTERING UPDATE

The last Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians on October 29^th, 2006 was discussed. The ceremony was very emotional and ended with the attendees being allowed to kiss the Altar as well as speak with Father George offering him their best wishes and telling him how much the Parish had touched their lives. Everybody felt that the liturgy went very well. Pam Beach mentioned that she spoke with the oldest member of the parish who said to her “you did the right thing”.

Fr. Philip Briffa, Pastor of St. Cletus Parish has been approved for retirement, but as of this date a new Pastor has not yet been named. According to their plan, St. Cletus and St. Louise will cluster under Fr. Rice. They are hoping to get another priest to assist in the interim.

St. Leonard, Ascension and St. Dorothy parishes have begun the clustering process since the pastor of St. Dorothy is retiring in June. Although it will be a difficult transition, there were a lot of positive comments regarding clustering.

The merging of Our Lady Help of Christians and Transfiguration and clustering with St. Lads was reviewed. The three parishes may merge in the future, but nothing is planned at this time. St. Louis the King may eventually become a “cluster partner” with Transfiguration - Our Lady Help of Christians.

It was brought to the table that each parish is to at least have a “cluster partner”. A few parishes have not identified such a partner at this time

***Correction – In the November meeting minutes that St. Raymond, Our Lady of Good Counsel and Our Lady Queen of Heaven was meeting to discuss a merger. They are clustering, not merging. Each one wants to remain open with its own identity. The three parishes have been discussing a clergy exchange and common missions including encouraging parishioners to attend each other’s social events.

“PRIESTS FOR LIFE” PRESENTATION

Dr. Barkay gave an excellent, moving presentation for the “Priests For Life” right-to-life organization. He stated that there were 47 million abortions performed since the Roe vs. Wade legislation was passed.

Using ultrasound, modern medicine has proven that the baby’s presence can be detected 4 weeks after conception and a heartbeat can be heard at 6 weeks. Dr. Barkay then played a tape of a 6 week old baby in the womb. At 6 weeks the DNA is already formed and an EEG can detect brain waves. At 8 weeks the baby can move its head, arms and legs.

Dr. Barkay made an extremely generous offer when he announced that parish pastors can call to request as many copies of the brochure that they wish free of charge, and that he will send the parish a check for $100 to cover the costs of inserting them into the parish’s bulletin. To take advantage of this opportunity, first call “Priests for Life” at (888) 735-3448, then to receive the check, call Dr. Barkay at (586) 751-7836.

The brochure is very informative including right-to-life resources as well as information about the “Priests for Life” organization. He stated that pastors need to speak on this subject and also distributed videotapes that contain growing, active ultrasound images. More information is available on their website at http://www.priestsforlife.org or by calling

(888) 735-3448.

OPEN FORUM

Bishop Boyea discussed Stem Cell Research and the Church’s view on the subject. He informed the representatives that there is a distinction between stem cells derived from embryos and those taken from adults (which is a procedure that is approved by the Church unlike embryo cells). Seventy two uses for these adult stem cells have already been found, while research thus far has proven that nothing therapeutic can be done with the embryonic cells.  Evidence also indicates that these cells cause tumors. The Bishop also noted that our governor is one of those promoting stem cell research.

Monica from Transfiguration – Our Lady Help of Christians announced the launch of the new Genesis VPC website. It contains the names and contact information for all of the parishes in our Vicariate as well as a meeting schedule, parish resources, meeting minutes, AOD clustering guidelines and minutes from past meetings. The new website’s address is www.vpc.transfiguration-parish.org. She also requested that anyone that wishes to be added as a contact to their listing on the website contact her by phone at (586) 757-0775 or by email at monica@instantassistant.com.

The Vicariate by-laws have been updated. They will be reviewed and voted upon at the next meeting.

Pam Beach from the AOD restated the need for every parish to have one or more “cluster partners” and said that it doesn’t necessarily mean that parishes must merge, but, the plan will be in place should the need arise. She also said that all parishes need to be more “strategically economical”.

Father Andy wondered if the Vicariate Councils can help parishes identify a cluster partner if they have not done so up to this point.  Ms. Beach replied that she has a handout available for Parish Councils to review and to help them start a dialogue with other parishes. There are also facilitators available from her office that can come to the meetings to help with the process. Bishop Boyea can also be of assistance.

It was mentioned that we need to contact parishes within our Vicariate who do not have representation at our monthly meetings and invite them to attend future meetings.

St. Bartholomew may want to rejoin our Vicariate but nothing has been decided at this time.

It was also brought up that we need to know the status of religious education within the parishes and maybe even form a committee to gather information on this topic. We also need to know how many of the parishes have Charter Schools and if they do, how the tax money is is being used. Reminder: Each parish is responsible for any of their school’s debt.

St. Anne and St. Clement schoolchildren have a program they perform at local churches. Father Wesley asked if it would be important to have St. Anne & St. Clement can give a presentation of about their schools.  Ms. Beach agreed it would.

Bishop Boyea reminded the group that scholarships are available for children attending Catholic schools.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

The St. Sylvester representatives distributed a flier entitled: “2007 Listen, Learn and Live”. This information should

be presented to each Parish Council. It contains a class schedule and registration form. These sessions are designed

to help participants learn more about other faiths, particularly Islam, the Chaldean Catholic Church, Judaism, and the Missionary Baptist Church. Each module is $25.For more information, please contact Rev. Michail Curro, ICRJ Director,

at (586) 751-4292.

St. Martin De Porres provided handouts for their “Biblical Portrays” presentation titled “In Their Own Words”. These presentations are given by the popular speaker Mark Price and are Bible-based theatrical presentations where key figures of history ‘come alive’ and speak to you about their life and experiences with Jesus. These portrayals will take place at St. Martin De Porres Church and the schedule is: Doubting Thomas, March 16th at 3 p.m.; St. Joseph, March 19th at 7 p.m. and Mark Price, March 20th at 7 p.m.  More information is available by calling (586) 264-7515.

St. Raymond, Our Lady Queen of Heaven and Our Lady of Good Counsel announced their upcoming “Dare to be Holy” program. Both a.m. and p.m. sessions will take place on the following dates: St. Raymond’s on February 18th; OLQH on February 19th; OLGC on February 29th and St. Raymond’s again on February 21st.

The Monday, February 12^th, 2007 meeting will not be held at St. Cletus, but will be held at St. Mark’s in order to view the newly remodeled Church. The Fishermen's Fund's representative will be at this meeting to discuss their program. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and the meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

After a Closing Prayer by Bishop Boyea, the meeting adjourned at approximately 8:15 p.m.