Fr. Raj led prayer at 5:30.

Present:  Fr. Raj, Terry Brennan, Anne Welborn, Eileen Grant, Bill Jacobs, Dan Putschoegl, Yvonne Napolitano, Brad DeSaye

Absent:                       

Guests Present:  Jim Wren, Donna Maneely

  1. Capital Campaign Report: figures as of December 18, 2019
  • Pledges and donations paid to Capital Campaign: $2,539,877

      Completing the Mission Report: figures as of December 18, 2019

  • Pledges Made: $441,597
  • Total Contributed: $420,834

 

  • Balance on Reserve Fund Loan $45,000
  • We paid $8,000 toward the reserve fund loan

 

  1. Minutes Approval: November 20, 2019 Minutes approved
  • In answer to last month’s minutes, Brad commented that he does intend to stay on the council for a minimum of 3 years or longer
  • Yvonne motioned to approve the November minutes, Dan seconded it; all in favor

 

  1. Financial Statements: November Financials approved
  • Terry asked about the CEA round 1: are we short students that qualify for round 1 or are the parents not filling out applications? Shelly responded by email that all but one family has filled out a CEA/FAIR application. Several families did not make the cut off for round 1. 71 students received some amount of funding in round 1; 37 students will be receiving round 4. She also wrote that currently, individual contributions to the CEA are $207,345 and corporate contributions are $37,500. Shelly is going to St. Catherine’s to speak about CEA on November 24th.
  • Bill asked about having $800k in operating cash; do we need it or can we invest it? We opened the money market last year to earn interest on the money but it is not earning much interest now. Jim stated that we would need a policy to follow. We need to figure out how much we need on hand. Bill will draft a policy for the next meeting. He will meet with Donna.
  • Terry asked for year-to-date income statement and balance sheet in comparison to last year in monthly financials. Bill motioned to include this, Dan seconded it, all in favor

 

  1. Bank Statement Approval:
  • Bill Jacobs reviewed the November Bank reconciliation, no discrepancies noted

 

  1. Pastor’s Report:
  • Raj spoke at all the Masses about the diocesan campaign. We are in last phase which will last 5 years. People from the diocese have responded well- $600k pledged just from priests. Another $107 million has been pledged from the other parishes in the diocese. After Father’s appeal there was a silent phase and the weekend of November 23rd Father made a pulpit announcement. He did not see much enthusiasm the first week which is understandable due to our own building campaign. Many people took pledge cards and we are having a better response now.  Our goal is $1.7 million. Bill suggested pushing this to next year. Father explained that we cannot since we are in the last phase. Some parishioners are giving to our specific causes instead of to the campaign.  People are asking Eileen why we have to give if the diocese has already raised the money. The figures stated are pledges, not cash received. The diocese is expecting a high percentage of bad debt-maybe 20-25%.
  • Bill commented that $4 million is going to seminarians-$40,000 per parish. We are sending our money to support the seminary but we are not benefiting since we have no diocesan priests. Maybe we should ask for some of the money back for our Claretian seminarians. Fr. Raj can ask but he feels that they will say no as there are 40 seminarians and they are buying a home for them and we are part of the diocese. This is for extraordinary expenses compared to the CDA which is ordinary expenses.
  • The new development director, Melissa Cambra, has started.
  • Advent pageant is December 19th.
  • We have added more ministries-bible program for recovery, ecology committee for more awareness and a veterans group.
  • The book ‘Rediscover the Saints’, a gift for our parishioners, will be given out the weekend of November 23rd.
  • The new painting of St. Anthony Marie Claret is finished and has been hung up. It was paid half by us and half by the Claretians.

 

  1. Parish Manager Report:
  • Thirty seven people attended the Diocesan Jubilee from Sacred Heart. Jim and Jimena did the floral offering; Bishop Olmsted commented on how nice it was that so many people came from Sacred Heart.
  • Jim applied for a $4500 grant from the Catholic Community Foundation to pay for the new painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a new modern candle stand with environmentally safer electronic candles, a built in safe, and larger candles. The grant has been accepted and now we need to present before the committee. Jim will make the presentation.
  • The $60K bequest for the school was received; Fr. Raj will decide what to use it for: possibly the school roof and tuition scholarships. We are getting 3 quotes for the new roof right now. Estimate $150k-$175k for the roof.  May be funded by diocesan capital campaign and parishioner donations. If parishioners give a donation for a specific purpose they fill out a restricted form and we send to Fr. Adamson to have approved.
  • Safe Environment Training- need to be compliant by 12/31/19.

 

  1. Old Business:
  • The charitable donation sub-committee (Bill, Dan, and Terry) met to review our current donations. They talked about supporting seminarians who are starting next year. Bill suggested giving our two seminarians some money to show support; Dan says we need to support the program not the individual. Fr Raj would like to see a letter asking for support from them. Fr. Raj feels that we could give to other worthy causes; maybe have a rotation for the 5th Sunday collections—Fr. suggested the preschool or the homeless. The sub-committee will make some recommendations to Fr. Raj.  Bill also mentioned that People Who Care is a worthwhile cause. Brad asked if St. Vincent de Paul relies on us for their budget. If so, we should wait to make any changes. Anne asked about what services St. Vincent de Paul provides. Do we send people there for help? We do send them there and to other places. They do provide a needed service.
  • Meeting dates for 2020- Brad made the motion to accept the meeting dates, Anne seconded it, all in favor

 

  1. New Business:
  • Jim discussed the budget process for the 2020/2021 budget. Jim would like to make sure the reserve budget is done earlier than last year. He drafted a letter and timeline for the department directors with guidelines. Fr. Raj will be away in February for the pilgrimage which may change the timeline a bit.
  • Bill commented that the April 22nd meeting on the budget timeline shows that the capital budget be proposed and approved on the same day. Bill asked that it be sent out a week before for review.
  • Jim will change the wording of zero based budget. Terry’s idea of zero based budget is different.
  • Jim wrote up a credit card usage policy. Brad said it is very thorough and Terry said it is well written. The diocese likes it as well. Raj will sign the policy tomorrow, December 19th.
  • Anne asked why the retirement fund for the Religious is not funded. Was there no foresight? There are not as many nuns and priests now to support the older religious.

 

Fr. Raj led closing prayer at 6:32pm

Respectfully submitted by Donna Maneely