ST. JOSEPH PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES
JANUARY 14, 2007
Attending: John Benca, Charles Dolan, Max Guerrera, Pete Konenkamp, Marty Ledenham, Rosemary Risse, Todd Story, Hank Wright and Father McGuinness.
Excused Absences: Terry Trotochaud, John Timmons, Evelyn Tejada
Absent: Monica Kucher Mueller.
The meeting was opened with a ‘Prayer for the Parish Council’ read by Pete. The minutes were reviewed and approved.
Planning/Steering: Steering has not met since December. There will be a preliminary re-organizational meeting to downsize the committee for its duties after the property is purchased.
Site/Architect: No meeting since December. Meetings to be resumed after purchase.
Capital Campaign: The latest report on pledges is $2.75 million.
Finance: No meeting since November 15, although they have worked on the financial application of the land purchase for the Archdiocese. .
Communications: Pete announced that there are two new members of the committee: Amanda Wilson and Paula McIntosh. Amanda will replace Tim Lilly as editor of the newsletter.
Nominations: Charles reported that since the first weekend of January there have been bulletin and pulpit announcements in English and Spanish soliciting nominees for the parish council. These will continue through January. Nominations will be accepted until February 28th.
Maintenance: Father said that the basement has once again been flooded during our last bout of extended rains and wondered if there might be a simple remedy to channel the flow away from the basement door. John Benca agreed to further review the situation and will make recommendations next month. He informed us that Athens Clarke Co. does not have adequate draining in this area of the city. It was agreed that an on-site remedy would be our first line of action.
Liturgy: Rosemary expressed concern that the vacuum Kurt is using is in disrepair. Max volunteered to donate her mother’s Kirby. She will take it to have it re-serviced and Hank will negotiate pickup and payment. Rosemary wanted to know if Father was interested in purchasing new needed white vestments from an outfit in Mexico. Father has some contacts for purchasing these in Peru but will meet with Rosemary to determine who to order from. Rosemary announced that the Mass for the Unborn and the Silent Memorial Walk will take place in Atlanta January 22cd (the 34th Anniversary of the Legalization of Abortion). She encouraged all to attend this wonderful affirmation of life that is ecumenical and includes guest speakers, former Georgia Statesman Zell Miller, the Archbishop and Governor Purdue, on the Capitol Steps.
Welcoming: Max was happy to report that the Welcoming Pamphlets are now complete including history of the parish, a registration form, a school and RE brochure, Capital Campaign information, a ‘who’s who’ directory as well as a description of what is it to be a parishioner. Max and Father will contact Diocesan Publications that does the advertising on the back of our bulletin who may, now that it is ready, agree to printing the pamphlet.
Hispanics: Evelyn not present; no report.
School: Monica not present; no report.
Pete announced that due to the 30 day postponement of the closing of the purchase of the property required by the Archdiocese in the last few weeks (regarding the bridge option), one of our sellers, the Henry Daniels family, has cancelled their sale. Although this has dire repercussions, Father said that there will be further meetings in this next week that may resolve the issue.
John Benca continues to work on finalizing the “ Strategic Plan”.
Father was pleased with the Christmas attendance to the Masses but due to the overflow he’s considering adding additional Christmas Eve Masses and possibly canceling the 8:30 am Mass due to lack of full attendance.
Father announced that Father Jacques Fabre from Haiti plans to come to the parish as Parochial Assistant on Jan 18th. He hopes to meet with him before that time.
Father announced that he will be meeting with the Archdiocesan Superintendant regarding our temporary principal, Ms Bankston with whom all are well pleased. Per protocol, we will advertise for the position.
Max asked Pete to discuss with the Capital Campaign Committee whether there might be more efficient means of mailing in pledges to ensure that they are designated as such.
The meeting was closed with a prayer led by Father. Pete announced the next meeting will be February 11th at 7:30.
Submitted by Marty Ledenham