Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes
02/17/2020

 
The February pastoral council meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Father Raul Perez-Cobo.  In attendance were Danielle Holmes, Sharon Jorschumb, Shari Lee, Kelli Simonson, Deacon Dean Roberts, and Sr. Lucy Perez-Calixto.  Absent were Beverly Arey, Stefan Arey, Francisco Valenzuela and Brian Geffre.

It was brought to the council’s attention that Bev and Stefan Arey have decided to resign their positions on the council.  After a brief discussion it was decided to hold elections to fill these two vacancies.

In response to the need for volunteers at every parish event, function and ministry, the council discussed ways to get volunteer information and reminders to parishioners.  The first method will be to update and reinstate the parish time, talent and treasure survey.  The tentative date for updating forms and starting the survey is May 2020.

The council listened to committee meeting updates from committee liaisons:
The Social Concerns Committee reported that on Giving Hearts day, St. Francis de Sales pledged $500 to Elim Care in Fargo.

The Liturgy Committee reported that interviews for the new liturgist will begin soon.

The Adult Faith Formation Committee reported that everyone is welcome and should attend the Parish Mission in March.

The meeting was adjourned at 8 pm.
 

Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes
01/20/2020

 
The January pastoral council meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Father Raul Perez-Cobo.  In attendance were Danielle Holmes, Shari Lee, Sharon Jorschumb, Traci Steffen, Kelli Simonson, Beverly Arey, Stefan Arey and Brian Geffre.  Absent were Deacon Dean Roberts, Francisco Valenzuela and Sr. Lucy Perez-Calixto.

To continue addressing the needs of the parish through the Parish Vision Survey, the council will place a comment box in the gathering space for the month of February.  Responses will be gathered and shared during the March meeting and concerns will be discussed and addressed accordingly.

It was discussed that we needed a new liaison to Liturgy and Maintenance committees and Brian Geffre volunteered to take over this role.

It was brought to the council’s attention that currently, the parish has only two volunteers for snow removal and for large snowfalls the job becomes quite difficult to complete for just two people.  The council discussed possible solutions.
Shari Lee presented an idea for a “year in review” publication for the parish that she had seen while visiting another church.  The council discussed what could go in such a publication and have tentatively set the date for the first of these in December 2020. 

The council discussed the upcoming end of March health fair to be held in the parish center.  Suggestions were made to have NDSU bring some activities/information for children to better reach out to all ages of parishioners.

The council listened to reports from committee liaisons:
The Stewardship committee has begun discussions on starting a capital campaign.  The final financial report for the recovery of the parish center is being prepared.  It was reported that St. Francis met and exceeded the 2019 DAA goal.  Ideas on how to use the parish center for parish events were brainstormed.

The Christian Mothers held a meeting to discuss the handling of funeral meals for parishioners and the need for a chair person for the salad bar luncheon.

The Social Concerns committee found out that the Dorothy Day House has a new method for supply dispersal and discussed the possibility of a toiletry drive.  Also, on the agenda was discussions on what organization would be the best to financially support as a method of helping those in need.  Part of St. Francis de Sales weekly collections goes to a public partner to whom we can direct non-parishioners in need in the community that call on the church for aid.  The church’s longtime partner recently made some changes in their administration that no longer lined up with the church’s mission in financially supporting this type of entity and explorations were made to partner with another local partner.

The Liturgy Committee announced that Bonnie Lee had resigned her position as Liturgist at the end of December.  A committee was established for hiring a new liturgist with February 15^th as the closing date for position applications.

The Adult Faith Formation committee announced that the parish mission will take place March 8-10^th and the theme will be “Healing”.

The meeting was adjourned at 8 pm.
 

Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes
12/09/2019
Library

The December pastoral council meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Father Raul Perez-Cobo.  In attendance were Danielle Holmes, Deacon Dean Roberts, Shari Lee, Traci Steffen, and Francisco Valenzuela.  Absent were Kelli Simonson, Randy Mertes, Sharon Jorschumb, Beverly and Stefan Arey, and Sr. Lucy Perez-Calixto.
The meeting began with the announcement that Randy Mertes had decided to resign his position with the council.  This leaves one seat open.  The council decided to approach individuals that received multiple nominations at the September election about filling the seat.  If no one is able, the parish will need to hold a winter election to fill the position.

Minutes from the November meeting were approved as submitted.

To continue addressing the needs of the parish, committee chairs will be asked to report back on any ways they have addressed the list of concerns/suggestions they received as part of the Parish Vision project.  The council anticipates the ability to report on progress or changes as a result of this survey throughout the coming year.
In response to a question from a parishioner, Father addressed the situation with the kitchen griddle.  The griddle has been malfunctioning and it has been decided that it will be repaired instead of replaced.  The Knights of Columbus have graciously stepped up and volunteered to help the Parish pay for this repair.  Thank you, Knights of Columbus!

The last new agenda item for the evening was a discussion about the parish committee meeting process.  Father wished to review this section of the “Parish and pastoral council policy and procedure in the Diocese of Crookston” manual to ensure that all members are familiar with the process and the roles and responsibilities that council members have to the council and to committees. 

The meeting was adjourned at 8 pm.

Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes
11/18/2019
Parish Center

The November pastoral council meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Father Raul Perez-Cobo.  In attendance were Kelli Simonson, Danielle Holmes, Randy Mertes, Deacon Dean Roberts, Shari Lee, Sharon Jorschumb, Traci Steffen, Beverly Arey, Sr. Lucy Perez-Calixto, and Francisco Valenzuela. Absent was Stefan Arey.

The council welcomed Swede Steltzer as guest for the meeting.

Minutes from the October meeting were approved as submitted.

The council began the meeting with a report by Swede Steltzer on the Parish Center reconstruction project. Topics covered included the decision making process for reconstruction projects and materials, how insurance coverage was assessed, approved and paid out, insurance company correspondence, as well as items left on the reconstruction to-do list. 

It was discussed that while the parish will use the parish center for church related activities, all outside groups that had previously held longstanding meeting agreements will be put on hold from meeting in the parish center until all flooring passes final punch-list.

After hearing Swede’s full report, the council discussed reasoning behind not appointing a building committee for the reconstruction project.  It was asked if the parish had a standing operating procedure for emergencies of this magnitude.  Currently, there is not.  It was determined that the decisions made were in full disclosure to the insurance company in respect to certain options built into the policy, in the best interest of saving time and money, and by polling parish staff members on choices for some items.  In light of the emergency situation it was agreed that decisions were made in the best interest of the parish to complete reconstruction as quickly as possible.

Swede will continue to put out updates on the project as well making a full report available after all reconstruction projects are complete.
It was reported that the maintenance committee will be discussing and implementing a snow removal plan for the roof for the future.
It was also discussed that an emergency standard operating procedure be developed in the event that an emergency of this magnitude should occur again.
Father Raul reminded everyone that there will be an ecumenical prayer service of thanksgiving on Tuesday November 26^th to celebrate the opening of the parish center.

In response to some recent concerns raised by parishioners, the council discussed ways to be more available in order to hear and address concerns before frustrations build into larger problems.  It was decided to put out council bios to ‘re-introduce’ parishioners to their council to help put faces to names and allow the council to be more recognizable.  This will be put out in the bulletin at the beginning of the new liturgical year.  Suggestion/grievance box placement was also discussed as another option for parishioners to reach the council.  Parishioners can look for this new addition in the gathering space at the beginning of the new liturgical year.
Sr. Lucy announced that the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration will be held on December 12^th and extended a warm invitation for all to attend.

The meeting was led in closing prayer by Deacon Dean and adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes

10/21/2019

The October pastoral council meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Father Raul Perez-Cobo.  In attendance were Kelli Simonson, Danielle Holmes, Randy Mertes, Deacon Dean Roberts, Shari Lee, Sharon Jorschumb, Traci Steffen, Beverly Arey and Stefan Arey. Absent was Francisco Valenzuela and Sr. Lucy Perez-Calixto

The council recognized and welcomed two new members elected by the parish, Beverly and Stefan Arey.  They will serve a three-year term on the council.
For the new year, Danielle Holmes was elected to act as Secretary and Parish Committee liaisons were organized.  This year’s committee liaisons are as follows:
Social Concerns: Stefan Arey
Adult Faith Formation: Sharon Jorschumb and Deacon Dean Roberts
Liturgy: Beverly Arey
Maintenance: Randy Mertes
Youth Faith Formation: Traci Steffen
Stewardship: Shari Lee
Finance: Kelli Simonson
Guadalupe Ministries: Sr. Lucy Perez-Calixto and Francisco Valenzuela

Minutes from the September meeting were read by Shari Lee and approved as read.
The council reflected on the Health Fair provided by NDSU nursing students in the parish center this October.  It was noted that the information and services were great and overall the event was well received by the parish.  Plans to continue this annually or more often were discussed but not finalized.

An update on Fargodome event fundraising was given by Sharon Jorschumb.  The parish earned ~$800 for the three events worked over the summer. Discussion on ways to find new volunteers led to a suggestion to allow workers to designate the parish fund that their “cut” of the money would benefit. A way to organize this was tabled until next meeting.

Parish Vision: Your Voice our Future summaries were passed out to review if any action need be taken to immediately address parish concerns.  It was decided that committee liaisons would bring list to committee meetings to generate discussion and bring any action items from committees back to the council.

The council asked for a summary of the fall festival, but it was too early to have full numbers.  A quick estimation was that we served ~850 people at dinner and netted ~$15,000.

New business brought to the council was proposing fees for Religious Education Programming.  The council discussed dollar amounts, multi-child and catechist discounts as well as the impact, good or bad, the fees may have on our program.  No official actions were voted on and finalizing details were tabled to the next meeting. 
The meeting was closed in prayer led by Deacon Dean Roberts and adjourned at 8:05 pm.