Terry began the meeting at 5:01pm.

Sr. Anne opened with the Laudato Si Prayer.

Sr. Anne and the Care for the Earth Ministry led a presentation of Care for the Earth.

 

Present: Bill Jacobs, Eileen Grant, Terry Brennan, Dan Putschoegl, Bob Dressler, Brad DeSaye, Anne Welborn

Staff: Fr. Raj and Jim Wren (arrived at 5:30pm),  Donna Maneely, Shelly Cooper, John Gust

There was also an observer present who did not identify himself.

  1. Minutes Approval:
  • Eileen motioned to approve the February meeting minutes; Dan seconded it; approved
  1. Financial Statements:
  • Anne motioned to approve the February Financials; Bill seconded the motion; motion approved
  1. Bank Statement Approval:
  • Anne reviewed the February bank reconciliation; no discrepancies noted
  1. Pastor’s Report:
  • Raj thanked the Council and Staff for all they do.
  • 250 parishioners participated in the Synod. The committee is working on the report to the Diocese now.
  • April Events coming up: Holy Hours for the Lord, Holy Week, Confirmation and Eucharist
  1. Parish Manager Report:
  • The original collection for Ukraine and Poland was $15k and now it is up to $24k.
  • March collections as of 3/29: $75k plate and $45k online giving
  • The Charity and Development Appeal has announced a one million-dollar Match. It starts 4/1 and goes through 5/15. Sacred Heart has given over $100k so far.
  • Fr. John’s Lenten Mission was a success. Universal positive feedback was given about the mission. Many parishioners went to Confession; some who hadn’t gone in over 20 years.
  • Health insurance costs are increasing 9% for 2023 budget year. The Diocese is self-funded and the increase is due to increased claims most likely due to Covid. There haven’t been any significant increases in the past 3 years. This will impact the budget: $7k parish, $5.7k school and $770 preschool. Dental insurance cost remains the same.
  • We do not have the 2023 priest salaries yet; we have included a 3% increase in the budget for now.
  • Jim sent several questions to the Diocese about the new Sage Intracct accounting system that the Diocese would like to implement.  The Diocese sent the questions to Sage. Jim still has not heard back from them. Jim is concerned about checks being auto signed instead of being signed by the Pastor directly. Brad commented that they use Sage at his business and that it has a great audit trail.
  1. Old Business:
  • The biggest change to the Second draft 2023 budget is the salary increase. Jim felt it is important to give a merit based increase this year due to inflation and the very low increases in several previous years. Both the Diocese and Catholic Schools Office recommended a 4% increase.
  • Some suggestions to help with the deficit (we do not want to balance the budget by increasing Collection Income): reduce Depreciation expense as there will not be any huge depreciable items next fiscal year and we are under budget this year, reduce Conference expense since Jim will not be attending the ICSC conference. The changes will be made and brought to the council next month. Jim also commented that RCIA received a large restricted donation that will be used for next year’s RE Conference.
  • Eileen is concerned that Tree of Life income and Interest Income are over stated. Anne asked why Sports income and expense were decreased so much. Wreath sales were taken out of the Sports account and put into fundraising.
  • Jim asked the Diocese about investing in I-Bonds based on Finance Council recommendations. Diocese CFO, Joe Anderson is reviewing.
  • John Gust spoke about the church roof. It is in the Reserve Study for this coming fiscal year to replace it. John  stated that the roof is in exceptional shape. There are no obvious failures. He is having Arrow Roofing come to walk the roof to get their opinion. There was a leak by the Music area during the Advent Concert since the flashing had peeled up, but that was repaired.
  • Repairing the bathroom at the 237 Summit rental house has been added to the Reserve Budget for 2023.
  • We still do not have a maintenance contract for the Chiller. The first quote was too high. We have received another quote. It’s been sent to the Diocese for review but haven’t heard anything back; it’s been 6 weeks.  A multiple year agreement can be put in the Reserve budget.
  • Bill Jacobs spoke about the reserve fund analysis. See the attached analysis done by Bill. We are in very good shape. We will ask Tom Thompson to do further revisions.
  1. New Business: none

Fr. Raj ended the meeting with a prayer at 6:21pm.

Respectfully submitted by Donna Maneely