Terry opened the meeting at 5:00 pm.

Fr. Chris began the meeting with a prayer.

Present: Terry Brennan, Eileen Grant, Brad DeSaye, Bob Dressler, Keoni Murphy, Anne Welborn, Bill Jacobs

Absent: none

Staff:  Fr. Chris, Jim Wren, Donna Maneely, Shelly Cooper

  Minutes Approval:

  • Brad motioned to approve the January meeting minutes; Bill seconded it; approved.

  Financial Statements:

  • Bill asked if the endowment needs to be recorded in the financials. The diocese requires it.
  • Anne motioned to approve the January Financials; Eileen seconded the motion; motion approved.

  Bank Statement Approval:

  • Anne reviewed the December bank reconciliation; no discrepancies noted
  • Keoni reviewed the January bank reconciliation; no discrepancies noted
    • Keoni noted that the remaining 2 outstanding checks written from the PNC bank account were voided and reissued from Notre Dame FCU. PNC Bank accounts will be closed tomorrow.

Pastor’s Report:

  • Fr. Chris sent a letter to SVD requesting another priest. He is hopeful that someone will be assigned in June. He will call the Bishop in Chicago; maybe a retired priest can be assigned here.
  • Fr. Chris is concerned that the concrete patio outside the rectory has been neglected and needs to be replaced before there is a flood in the rectory hallway. Anne asked if the concrete is there for water retention as there is a spring that runs under the church. We need to have a concrete specialist come out to inspect it. Items in the reserve budget may need to be moved around to take care of this.
  • The rectory kitchen was renovated 8 years ago but Fr. Chris feels it was done cheaply and needs to be redone.

Parish Manager Report:

  • February Collection plate: $87k and online giving: $33k
  • A committee has been formed to plan Jubilee Year events. The first event was a Mass honoring our Deacons. Many Jubilee Year visitors are coming to our parish.
  • Ash Wednesday is on March 5th. Starting on March 6th we will have an additional Mass Monday-Thursday at 5:30pm during Lent.
  • The Spanish Lenten Mission will take place on March 10th and 11th. The English Mission will be March 23rd -25th with Karlo Broussard from Catholic Answers.
  • Stations of the Cross will take place each Friday during Lent. English stations start at 6pm and Spanish stations at 7pm.
  • Our Advent mission this year will be with a Word on Fire speaker. We will pay travel expenses and take up a good-will offering instead of paying by invoice.
  • We are working on a design plan for our new website. Lino Ramirez, a parishioner and website designer, is helping with the design.
  • The Council is meeting with Mary Brunson from IFA on February 28th at 1:30pm to get her recommendations as to how best to invest the money transferred from the BOK sweep account.
  • The Charity and Development Appeal kicked off on the February 15th So far we have 121 donors and $50k donated.
  • The diocese has sent out a survey to all employees. They also sent out a survey to parish managers asking if all parishes should be using the same financial and administrative systems. Jim thinks that the parishes should be using the same financial system, but not administrative.
  • The St. Anthony Claret painting in the church will be replaced with an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is being printed and framed.

  Old Business: 

  • 25/26 Budget: the only changes made were to the reserve budget as we do not have any new information on salaries and benefits.
    • The diocese is changing health insurance providers from Blue Cross Blue Shield to Cigna as of July 1st. Switching health insurance carriers is usually done to save money. Jim asked the diocese for more information, but he has not heard back yet.
  • The funds in the BOK Financial sweep account have been transferred to IFA at a 60/40 allocation per last month’s motion.

    New Business: none

Fr. Chris led the closing prayer.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:28pm

Respectfully submitted by Donna Maneely