Terry opened the meeting at 5:00 pm.

Fr. Chris began the meeting with a prayer.

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

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

Other:  Mario Elia, Notre Dame FCU (virtually)

  Minutes Approval:

  • Bill motioned to approve the August meeting minutes; Eileen seconded it; approved.

Notre Dame Federal Credit Union Presentation:

  • Mario Elia, Notre Dame FCU Director of Market Development gave a virtual presentation to the Finance Council. Some of the highlights:
    • waives all fees for nonprofit businesses indefinitely
    • offers a courier service
    • manages investments
    • 17% of net income is given back to community
    • is a Catholic institution
    • earn interest on checking account
  • Jim spoke with a school in the diocese who is pleased with the credit union.
  • Fr. Chris asked council their initial thoughts: the council is optimistic but would like to do more research before a decision is made to switch from our current bank. Jim will ask Mario Elia to provide more detailed information about NDFCU statistics for the council’s review.

  Financial Statements:

  • Terry discussed doing the side-by-side comparison of our BOK and IFA investments that was initially the reason for investing in both. We have had a lot of trouble with receiving accurate information from BOK since July due to the problems with a major system conversion. IFA has been more accommodating compared to BOK and they vet their investments to be Catholic friendly.
  • Brad motioned to approve the August Financials; Anne seconded the motion; motion approved.

  Bank Statement Approval:

  • Bob reviewed the August bank reconciliation; no discrepancies noted.

Pastor’s Report:

  • Bishop Dolan plans to celebrate the 9am Mass at Sacred Heart on January 5th to discuss the Jubilee Year. We will need to prepare for this occasion.
  • The rectory renovation is in progress. Fr. Chris would like to have the kitchen in the rectory renovated as no major work has been done recently.
  • Fr. Chris would like to update the confessionals as well. They are not well ventilated. He suggested when parishioners call asking about end of year donations that we ask for donations for the confessional’s renovation. Fr. Chris asked if we can we let parishioners know the proper way to designate their donations. It was decided that it would not be in our best interest to do this. He suggested putting something in the bulletin to let parishioners know about the projects the church needs money for.

  Parish Manager Report:

  • September Collection plate so far: $79.5k and online giving: $40k
  • The diocese is making major changes to the Charity and Development Appeal. They are increasing the total goal to $10.5 million and now using a formula for parish giving goals. Our parish goal is increasing from $138k to $175k. We did not meet the $138k goal last year. Parishes will get back some of this money but only if the parish goal is exceeded by a defined amount.
  • Two major projects are happening now:
    • Rectory Air Conditioning-there was a huge delay in getting the equipment. The original quote was $46k. This is not in the reserve budget so we will have to revise the reserve budget. The project is almost complete; still need to replace thermostat.
    • Rectory Improvements- the asbestos abatement  is complete. We used diocesan capital campaign funds to pay for this. The estimate for the Rectory improvements is $46k. We will use restricted funds and capital campaign funds, which will cover most of it.
  • The Diocesan Audit: after 3 weeks of prep work and 2 auditors on site for 3 days nothing of any significance was found. Jim challenged some of the findings immediately. We are waiting for the report so we can submit our responses.
  • A new tenant will be moving into 221 Summit next week.
  • October events: October 20th – Heritage Festival, October 17th-new parishioner dinner, October 18th – Living Rosary at the school.

  Old Business:   none

  New Business:

  • Eileen discussed setting up a donation fund for a new organ. The organ is worn out, the pedals do not work well. She offered to make up the difference to buy a new one. A new organ is in the reserve study but not for a few years. We will continue to discuss.

Jim led the closing prayer.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:03pm.

Respectfully submitted by Donna Maneely