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OCTOBER
2006 MINUTES
MEETING MINUTES
Genesis Vicariate
Pastoral Council Meeting
7 p.m. ~ September 18,
2006
MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
At the meeting, it was decided to
have an election for First and Second Chairperson. This
will take place at the next meeting.
Each member should have a copy of
the bylaws. These will be mailed to each member and
discussed at the next meeting.
TRACKING COMMITTEE
UPDATE
Discussion continued regarding the
merging and clustering of parishes. Our Lady Help of
Christians Parish is in the process of being sold. This
parish has been merged with Transfiguration Parish.
St. Louise and St. Cletus are
sharing some common programs.
St. Leonard, Ascension and St.
Dorothy Parishes are drawing closer together.
St. Raymond, Our Lady of Good
Counsel and Queen of Heaven Parishes have already
submitted a written request and plan for a merger.
A Tracking Committee of the
Archdiocese of Detroit will be working closely with all
of the parishes to ensure that they are continuing to
work on their pastoral plans.
OPEN FORUM
The old convent building at St.
Cletus has been extensively remodeled and will be used
as a day care center (among other services) for senior
citizens who reside in Macomb County. This program will
be run by Catholic Social Services of Macomb. This will
be a great help to many who are caring for aging adults.
For further information, please contact Macomb County
Catholic Social Services.
The next meeting will be held at St.
Ladislaus Parish in October.
OCTOBER
2006 MINUTES
MEETING MINUTES
Genesis Vicariate
Pastoral Council Meeting
7 p.m. ~ October 16,
2006
St. Ladislaus
Parish
REPORT FROM VICAR'S MEETING
After opening the meeting with a
prayer, Fr. Andrew Wesley described the "Fisherman's
Fund" that was established by the Bodman Law Firm to
raise money for people wishing to attend Sacred Heart
Seminary that cannot afford to do so on their own. The
fund is not only intended for future priests, but for
all forms of religious vocations.
The fund was started with a donation
of $16,000 and the representative for our Vicariate
Region is Harry Kemp. Mr. Kemp will be a speaker at the
January 22nd combined meeting at St. Sylvester. This is
a multiple council meeting which begins at 7:00 p.m. and
a complimentary dinner will be served.
For more information about the
Fisherman's Fund, please visit
www.fishermansfund.com or call (313) 883-8779.
TRACKING COMMITTEE
UPDATE
The Tracking Committee tracks and
reviews the plans for parish clustering and merging. The
committee is not yet completely formed and more
information will become available at upcoming meetings.
St. Florian sent a letter to Our
Lady Lady Queen of Apostles (see correction in next
month's meeting minutes) requesting the merge of the two
parishes. So far there has been no response and the
issue will be forwarded to Bishop Earl Boyea requesting
his assistance in this matter.
GENESIS "TOGETHER IN FAITH"
UPDATE
The last Mass at Our Lady Help of
Christians will take place on October 29, 2006. A
banquet will follow and tickets are already sold out.
The sale of the buildings is not yet
finalized, but upon completion it will become and
"Islamic Center", not a Mosque. It is intended to assist
the Islamic Community with its many needs as well as
programs for newly immigrated youth. The religious
artifacts from OLHC are being sold, donated and
distributed. The process is overseen by a special
committee and each request is thoroughly reviewed to
determine the proper recipients.
The deaf community that currently
gathers at Ascension Parish is a key community that
meets 3 times weekly and there are between 140 - 200
worshipers. They may be looking for a new location to
meet. In addition to worship they also have youth and
senior activities.
It was suggested that we should be
looking for any groups with activities that can have a
representative at the VPC meetings. Groups such as the
Capuchins and Catholic Social Services among others
should be approached.
The issue of special education
students was brought to the table. A suggestion was made
that a survey be sent to each parish to determine how
they are handling their special education students'
needs.
VPC BY-LAWS
There was put to the table a
question of quorum on the minimum number of
representatives that need to be present to hold a vote.
After discussion it was decided that the quorum is to be
1/3rd plus one.
The by-laws were reviewed and it was
agreed that instead of being called "by-laws" they will
be referred to as "operating procedures". An updated set
of operating procedures will be sent to VPC
representatives along with an updated meeting schedule
and will be ratified at the November 13th meeting.
OPEN FORUM
The Catholic Alumni Club gives
singles an opportunity to meet. Their representative
offered vocational information for our parishes.
The St. Cletus convent has been
named "A Friend's House". It will be blessed by Bishop
Earl Boyea after 10:30 Mass. They have added ramps and a
deck and it will provide a safe place for caregivers to
take people that need assistance for the day. There is
no charge and no limits to the number of visits (see
corrected information in the November minutes).
The center will be open daily from 8
a.m. until 6 p.m. and caregivers need to call to make a
reservation. The official ribbon cutting ceremony will
take place on October 24, 2006.
There will be a Clothing Drive
October 21st & 22nd at St. Sylvester Parish.
A Coat Drive to assist "Corktown"
will be held on November 4th & 5th.
St. Ladislaus will host a Flea
Market on November 4th from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
After a closing prayer, the meeting
was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
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 1st,
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 29th,
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 15th
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 22nd
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 12th,
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.
DECEMBER 2006 ~ NO MEETING
HELD
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VPC
MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 2006
