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MARCH 2007 MINUTES
MEETING MINUTES
Genesis Vicariate
Pastoral Council Meeting
7 p.m. ~ March 13, 2007
St. Louise Parish
AGENDA:
1.
Opening Prayer by Bishop Boyea
2.
Fishermen’s Fund Presentation
3.
Domus Rosa Mystica Presentation
4.
VPC
By-Laws
5.
Discussion of Election of Officers Report
6.
Report From Vicars’ Meeting
7.
Merging & Clustering Progress Report
8.
Vicariate Education Plan
9.
Open
Forum – Announcements & Questions
FISHERMEN’S FUND
PRESENTATION
Harry Kemp of Bodman
Long, LLP gave an enlightening presentation about the
“Fishermen’s Fund” that was formed in 2004. It is a
lay-driven initiative and not a diocesan mandate. Their
mission is to ensure that no vocation to the priesthood,
diaconate or lay ministry in the AOD is hindered due to
financial need. The fund provides financial assistance
to seminarians and lay students at Sacred Heart Seminary
Their first priority is taking care of undergraduates’
needs. Most people don’t realize the costs involved in
going to seminary. The average cost per year is $16,000
and that many priests graduate with outstanding debt.
Mr. Richard Dugas,
President of Pulte Homes, and Mrs. Kathleen B. McCann,
Senior Vice President of Soave Enterprises, and a
committee of nine community leaders have launched this
scholarship initiative. The Fishermen’s Fund is an
operating fund, not an endowment. Up to 50% of cash on
hand may be distributed during each school year. There
has been over $700,000 pledged to-date with over
$235,000 being cash pledges! The fund has distributed
almost $35,000 already to 6 seminarians and 2 lay
students.
To get the message out,
they have established a website –
www.fishermensfund.com - initiated a media campaign
through print, television and radio; sent targeted
mailings and met with the AOD Council of Vicars. Over
half of the Vicariates have seen the presentation thus
far. Their grassroots goals are to address parish
councils, meet with their vocation committees, provide
bulletin inserts, make school visits, have a short
message during the weekly announcements and have a table
in the back of the Church after masses.
They are also looking
for volunteers at the parish level to help educated
parishioners and the community of this wonderful fund.
If you or someone you know would be interested in
participating in this program, please contact the
Fishermen’s Fund by calling (313) 883-8779, visiting
their website at
www.fishermensfund.com or by emailing them at
fishermensfund@shms.edu. Their tagline is
“We’re not asking you to walk on water, just that you
get in the boat!”.
DOMUS ROSA MYSTICA
PRESENTATION
Alejandro
Torres-Antonio, Coordinator of the Ministry to Urban
Youth gave a dynamic and informative presentation The
Ministry is a section of the AOD Office For Youth
Ministry, which has been dedicated to pay special
attention to the urban youth and their needs as well as
those who minister to them.
Their goals are to:
1
Empower
the youth ministry of each urban parish
2
Create a
core group of young leaders and offer leadership
training
3
Reach the
youth who are not normally reached by the Church,
especially the at-risk youth of the streets
4
Create a
strong group network of support and fellowship for the
urban youth
5
Close the
gap between the urban and suburban youth by means of
collaboration
They Ministry is
divided into seven areas of service: Formation,
Evangelization, Apostolate, Integration, Spirituality,
Networking and Parish Assistance. They have many
programs and opportunities, including their core group,
Youth on a Mission. They and are a group of young
African-American, European-Americans and
English-speaking Hispanic Urban Youth Leaders that meet
monthly to plan and lead the Urban Youth Development
Series for other urban youth and young adults. The group
also involves leadership and pastoral formation for the
young leaders.
They are working on a
Youth Leadership Weekend named “Timothy”, which is an
intense weekend retreat for young urban Catholics. The
program trains them in youth ministry leadership and
discipleship formation so that they can be ready to
assist their parish youth ministries or to begin a youth
ministry program. Their office can provide trained
people to help parishes with the process of forming a
program if there is not one already in place. “Timothy”
is part of the Youth on a Mission program; however, any
young person can participate in the retreat without
committing to be part of the group. Any young Catholic
ages 15-35 are welcomed to attend.
Their “School of
Formation” is a 3-year bilingual program of weekly
spiritual, theological and discipleship formation for
young Catholics who want to effectively minister, from a
Catholic perspective, within the diversity of the urban
settings and needs of the current youth and young adult
community. Any young Catholic between the ages of 15-35
are welcomed to apply to the School.
Other programs they
provide are “Hispanic Formation Topics”, “Urban Youth
Development Series”, “Pilot Process Encounters”, the
“Musical Theater Company”, “St. Cecilia Festival of the
Musical Arts”, “Young People Dealing with Addictions
Group”.
Some of their upcoming
events are the “Father Make Us One Concert”, an
ecumenical, bilingual concert for young people done in
collaboration with various Christian communities of
greater Detroit in order to witness and proclaim Jesus’
lordship, evangelize youth, consecrate the youth as
servants of Jesus, intercede for the Christian
communities of greater Detroit, and learn and pray with
other Chrisitian denominations. “Buscando Tu Tesoro:
Treasure Hunt” an annual 1-day conference for young
Hispanics on discernment, listening to God’s voice,
different vocations within the Church, celebration of
Corpus Christi Mass and fellowship in the Treasure Hunt
Rally. There is also “Marantha!” which is a bilingual
annual multicultural advent celebration for urban youth
in preparation for the Nativity of our Lord.
More information
regarding the Ministry to Urban Youth, their programs
and events are available by contacting Mr.
Torres-Antonio at (313) 237-6071 or by emailing him at
urbanyouth@aod.org.
VICARIATE BY-LAWS
Updated versions of the
By-laws were distributed to the VPC members. The By-laws
include:
1
Article I
– Name & Purpose
2
Article
II – Members & Terms of Membership
3
Article
III – Meetings
4
Article
IV – Operating Procedures
5
Article V
– Amendments
They are available by
visiting the “By-laws” section of the VPC website (www.vpc.transfiguration-parish.org)
or by contacting Monica Archibald at (586) 757-0775 or
by email at
monica@instantassistant.com.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
An Ad-Hoc Election
Committee Report was presented at the meeting. The
committee (Joe Campanelli, Trudy Gorski and Tom Lippert)
had discussed several different means to select
Vicariate Officers and the method they thought was the
most meaningful for a religious organization – let God
make the choice! It’s done by drawing a name of the
interested candidates out of a hat.
Their Pastoral Council
selects their new members this way and is also used by
the APC to select their steering committee members and
moderator. Candidates can be nominated by someone or
they may add their own name to the hat. If nominated,
they must agree to serve before their name is added. At
the end of the meeting, the Vicar pulls out 2 names. The
first name pulled is the President and the second is the
Vice President.
The By-laws state that
the secretary and the APC rep are also to be elected.
The committee recommends these two positions be
voluntary and not limited to term limits unless there
are two or more persons volunteering, and then they
would be selected in the same way as the other officers.
They also suggest that the officer election take place
at the May meeting and the new officers begin their
terms at the first fall meeting. The suggestions were
accepted unanimously and passed by the council. We
appreciate the committee’s timely discussions and
report!
REPORT FROM VICAR’S
MEETING
There was a discussion
at the last Vicar’s meeting about the Catholic Social
Services. They have been funded in all 5 counties by The
United Foundations. That is going to be dropped as of
2008 because the United Foundations has decided that
they need to evaluate every program to see if there are
any measurable results from the programs that the
various programs are using.
The CSS are already
anticipating the loss of a large portion of their
funding after the assessments and are looking for a ways
to “re-fund” themselves to keep these programs running.
Right now they have not come up with any particular
program to help them, however, two suggestions were
made; the first being that the parishes that are
“tithing” parishes to put include them as part of their
tithe, or if someone from a parish would like to donate
money to them or include the CSS as part of their will
because the CSS will be in desperate need of funding.
To compound the
problem the United Foundations has not actually
determined the formal evaluation process as of yet. They
have not stated yet what the programs will be measure
upon and what they will consider a ‘successful program’
and so on. Right now the CSS is just preparing for the
loss of money and not knowing if they will be able to be
reimbursed by the United Foundations.
There will be a 3%
suggested increase in salaries across-the-board for
parish employees, but it is just a suggestion. It can be
higher or lower and it is up to the parish to decide
what they’d like to do.As stated in previous meetings,
the Diocese will be sending out packages soon with
calculated tables including the 3% increase for any kind
of teachers, educational staff, maintenance staff,
secretarial staff, musicians, etc. A package with the
standard suggested salaries is available by your Pastor
contacting the AOD to request one.
Another important
issue that was discussed is whether the Vicar’s Council
and Presbyteral Council need to be one council. The
Presbyteral Council is mandated by Cannon law. Its
purpose is to be a board of advisors to the Bishop. For
example, if a parish wants to close, sell or buy
property, that all has to be approved by the consulters
and then ultimately by the Cardinal. The Vicars are
laisons between the Cardinal and the parishes.
Information and opinions flow back and forth. The
Cardinal believes that both councils are necessary at
this time.
It was noted clergy
and VPC members of our Vicariate expressed their
appreciation for the last 2 combined Vicariate meetings
and thought they was quite productive. However because
so much information comes out at these types of
meetings, it is overwhelming and not much seems to be
accomplished. Following the format of the Vicars'
Meetings, our Vicariate meetings will have combined
meetings with a focus item each month. This will allow
us to explore an area in depth and suggest possible
actions to be taken. This format will begin in September
of 2007 since there is only one more Vicariate meeting
before the summer break.
MERGING & CLUSTERING
PROGRESS REPORT
Bishop Boyea graciously
presented the Merging & Clustering Progress Report.
Ascension Parish was
originally going to become cluster partners with St.
Dorothy & St. Leonard Parishes, but after several
meetings it was decided that a better option would be to
merge with St. Clement Parish. Ascension Parish had a
town hall meeting and the choice was made to close
Ascension and merge with St. Clements. They will have a
large celebration on Ascension weekend and the final
Liturgy will take place 2 weeks later on the Holy
Trinity weekend. Bishop Boyea will be the main celebrant
for the closing Mass. Due to Fr. Norbert Maciejewski’s
health, he will retire after Easter) From Easter until
the closing Mass, Fr. Michael Gawlowski, Pastor of St.
Clement will be the Administrator of Ascension. From now
until the relationship with St. Dorothy is established,
Fr. Stan Pachla will be the administrator of St.
Leonard. They should be receiving a new pastor July 1st
to cover both St. Leonard and St. Dorothy. Fr. Puzio may
stay on as the Associate Pastor, but that has not yet
been determined.
Ascension’s property
will put up for sale as soon as possible after the
closing. The sale monies will then go to pay Ascension’s
current debts and the balance will be transferred to St.
Clement Parish. Ascension does have a school building
where the “deaf center” is currently located. But this
group will be moving to St. Leonard’s. The Vicariate
plan is that St. Leonard and St. Dorothy will eventually
merge with 2 worship sites. They are also considering a
new name for the parish once the merger is finalized.
St. Hyacinth & St.
Bartholomew had discussed re-joining the Genesis
Vicariate, but have decided to remain in their current
Vicariates.
As a reminder, each
parish must have a cluster partner and plan, even if
it’s only on paper. The parishes that do not currently
have an official cluster partner are St. Anne, St.
Edmund, St. Florian and Our Lady Queen of Apostles. St.
Mark is unofficially clustered with St. Louise and St.
Cletus. Bishop Boyea stated that it is logical that at
some point St. Florian and Our Lady Queen of Apostles
may become cluster partners. Cooperation is clearly
voluntary at this point. Some parishes may look to other
parishes outside the Genesis Vicariate for a cluster
partner.
VICARIATE EDUCATION
PLAN
The status of St. Anne
and St. Clement schools was brought to the table. St.
Anne provided preliminary report of their finances and
following information it contained shows that they are
doing well and are not in need of support at the present
time.
1.
Enrollment: 2005 – 2006 = 681
2006 – 2007 = 641
8th
Grade Graduates 2005 – 2006 = 88
Kindergarten
(admission) 2006 – 2007 = 43
Currently there are 3
of each class in grades 4 – 8, and 2 each of class
grades 1 – 3.
2.
They
added a developmental Kindergarten in September and have
21 pupils enrolled.
3.
Spiritual
Formation:
a. Weekly Mass
b. Bi-weekly
Benediction
c. Stations of the
Cross during Lent
d. Quarterly
Confessions
4.
Students
score high academically on all standardized tests given
5.
Very
little difficulty in collecting tuition
6.
Currently
searching for a new Principal; Assistant Principal will
be a part-time position
7.
Improvements: New floors in 8 classrooms; Upcoming
Cafeteria remodeling
8.
Students
talked at 12 parishes in the local area on Catholic
Schools’ Week Sunday; passed out literature at 3 more
parishes. Actually did recruitment in 15 local parishes
and were well received at all.
More information is
available by contacting St. Anne’s Religious Education
Department at
(586) 427-2759.
St. Clement has not
provided their report as of yet, but it is believed that
this year they had a balanced budget
The Bishop feels that
our Vicariate should take on the task of helping the
schools, but, more broadly, needs to have a plan to
further all areas Catholic Education. For instance, a
parish might set aside a certain percentage of its
income for scholarships for any of its students who
wanted to go to a Catholic school.
From the proceeds of
the sale of St. Mark’s school, they were able to set
aside $150,000 for an Endowment Fund so that children of
their parish can go to any Catholic school they want
and receive financial aid.
OPEN FORUM
A handout was given
announcing the CSA regional meetings which have not been
held for the last few years.
Notices of upcoming
Vicariate meetings will be sent via email or postal mail
a week before the meeting. Also, at the next meeting,
each VPC representative will receive a copy of the
“Member List” with names, addresses and phone numbers.
St. Raymond’s, Our Lady
of Good Counsel and Our Lady Queen of Heaven had their
first major tri-parish activity which was a pre-Lenten
mission. It was a vary positive event.
The next VPC meeting
will take place on May 14th, 7 p.m. at St.
Dorothy’s Parish which is located on Frazho between
Hoover and Schoenherr.
Father Andy led us in
the closing prayer and the meeting was adjourned at
approximately 8:40 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted
Monica Archibald
Recording Secretary |
VPC
MEETING MINUTES - MARCH 2007
