NOVEMBER 2006 MINUTES

MEETING MINUTES

Genesis Vicariate Pastoral Council Meeting

7 p.m. ~ November 13, 2006

Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish

REPORT FROM VICARS’ MEETING

A letter will be soon be sent to all parishes regarding Eucharistic Ministers ability to purify the vessels. Unofficially, at the direction of Pope Benedict XVI, the EME’s “will no longer be allowed to assist in the purification of the sacred vessels at Masses in the United States”. More information will be provided when it becomes available.

TRACKING COMMITTEE UPDATE

The Tracking Committee reviews the plans for parish clustering and merging. The committee has not completely formed yet and more information will be available at upcoming meetings.

St. Cletus and St. Louise have had a second meeting regarding their upcoming merge. They have decided to cluster instead of merge at this time, in order to have a more comfortable transition. Their deadline for merging is July 1^st, 2007 and they feel they will be unable to merge by this date. Both parishes are viable and without debt, are well supported

by its parishioners.

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.

St. Dorothy, St. Leonard and Ascension Parishes are planning to meet regarding their merge.

Our Lady Queen of Heaven, St. Raymond and Our Lady of Good Counsel are meeting, forming positive relations and working towards a merge.

***Correction: In the October Meeting Minutes it was mistakenly reported that St. Florian sent a letter to Queen of Apostles requesting the two parishes to merge. Actually, Queen of Apostles had sent the letter to St. Florian.

After receiving a letter requesting a meeting to discuss the merge of Queen of Apostles and St. Florian, Queen of Apostles received a response letter from St. Florian stating “nothing would be accomplished at this time” by merging. This issue was forwarded to Bishop Boyea for his assistance.

Our Lady Help of Christians held their last Mass on October 29^th, 2006. The Mass was standing-room only with over 400 attendees.  The ceremony was very emotional and ended with the attendees being allowed to kiss the Altar as well as speak with Father George to offer their best wishes as well as tell him how much the Parish had touched their lives.

The sale of the buildings to the Islamic Center is almost completed but not yet finalized. The sale price was $760,000 and the money received thus far has been placed into a trust fund. The completion of the transaction is expected to be finalized in the Spring of 2007.

The religious artifacts from OLHC have, for the most part, been distributed. As previously reported, the process is overseen by a special committee and each request is thoroughly reviewed to determine the proper recipient. On Friday, November 10th, the pews were packed and shipped to Poland along with religious items and the historic stained glass windows. The new Polish parish had shipping crates custom-made to accommodate the stained glass to ensure a damage-free shipment!

Four of the religious statues went to St. Hubert, one to Transfiguration Parish and one to St. Ladislaus Parish.

Dan McAfee of the AOD is the representative responsible for listing the items available for sale on the Archdiocese website (www.aodonline.org).

A VPC representative inquired whether sacred objects can go to the laity. In the case of OLHC, some of the objects donated by families were returned to them. Also, some items were given to long-time parishioners upon request.

VPC BY-LAWS REVIEW

As the AOD representative was unable to attend the November meeting, the updated by-laws are not yet available. Concern over the issue of the VPC by-laws being referred to as “operating procedures” was brought to the table. After some discussion, it was decided that 3 of the VPC representatives are going to meet separately to determine whether changing “by-laws” to “operating procedures” will have a negative effect. A report will presented at the January meeting.

It was determined that Article 5 of the current by-laws will need to be re-written.

Also the question remains what the role of the chairperson will be and their function within the committee. Further discussion of this issue will be take place at upcoming VPC meetings.

SUPPORT OF VICARIATE SCHOOLS

The issue of assessments sent to the AOD on a weekly/monthly basis by parishes that lease to charter schools was brought up at the meeting. Currently, each parish that has a charter school is required to send 12 – 15 % of the tuition to the AOD as well as 6% of their weekly offertory collection. Some Pastors have gone to the AOD for tax relief, a process that can take between 12 – 16 months.

Most leases with a charter school require that the renter is to pay the utilities. If the building is all one unit and not all areas are used for the school, the utilities are then prorated.

The question was raised regarding where the assessment money goes and if there is an accounting or criteria on how

the money is spent by the Schools Office of AOD. A request was made and approved to contact the AOD and ask for an accounting of where the money is specifically spent.

The cost per student is $7645 per year to educate. If a charter school is assisted or sponsored by a business (i.e. the American Automotive Academy provides extra-curricular activities and free part-time teachers to some schools and serves on their Board of Trustees) the business collects the money for each child from the state. Parochial schools are not eligible to receive state funds.

OPEN FORUM

Trudy was going to “A Friend’s House” on Wednesday, November 15^th to tour the facility. She presented

corrected information that there is a daily charge and screening process for each attendee. She will bring updated information to the January meeting. Since the program is through Macomb County and not Catholic Social Services,

the screening process is necessary and the cost is $6 per hour and is based on ability to pay.

The number to “A Friend’s House” is (586) 759-8700.

The representative from St. Raymond announced their upcoming “True Holiness Church Community Choir’s Gospel Fest 2006” in association with the Regional Ministries of the World. It is taking place at St Raymond’s on December 1st at 7 p.m. Ticket prices are $6 in advance or $7 at the door.

Fr. Andy announced that there has been a change in the January 22^nd combined dinner meeting. The scheduled speaker from the Fisherman’s Fund will be unable to attend and another representative will be speaking in his place.

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.

After the Closing Prayer the meeting adjourned at approximately 8:20 p.m.