St. Matthew's Parish Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Feb. 27, 2003, Meeting

Present:  Fr. Steve, K. Goldenstein, L. Sellars, T. Jack, J. Gilberg, B. Montgomery, S. Clarke

Guest:  Steve Schewe from Pax Christi

Absent:  J. Sekevich, D. Kennedy, J. Finnegan, P. Kempe, M. Olson

Selection process of Council Members:  Steve Schewe, Pax Christi Community Council member, discussed his parish’s selection process for pastoral council members. The parish has always had a selection process, rather than elections, and has 9 council members, 3 staggered terms.  Three new members are selected out of a hat each year.  Their role is to watch out for the whole community, not to be representative of groups within the parish, to be “keepers of the vision”.

 The discernment process occurs over 3-4 weeks and includes:  

a.       Information meeting, tied to Sermon on the Mount.  Includes guidelines, how council makes decisions, mission and goals, ask if those attending are willing to give the time to council.  This helps people attending decide if they want to stay in the process.

b.       Members chosen on Pentecost, half women, half men.

c.       Retreat 3^rd week in June, away if possible, 1 ½ days.  Talk about own spiritual journey, how to be more spiritual people.

d.       Orientation session for new members.

Two third-year council members are co-moderators (chairs), one man, one woman.  They attend a class on conflict management and managing meetings.  The co-moderators use email to throw ideas out to members and give them time to think before meetings. Other roles:  determine if a quorum is present (7), if consensus is required concerning an issue, what the decision-making steps and time frame are, set agenda and set time for each item, decide if a vote is necessary (7/9 must agree if no consensus is reached and need immediate decision).  Quakers’ consensus type of decision-making was mentioned; Fr. Stever suggested inviting a clerk from a Quaker group to come to a Council meeting to describe this. 

The first half hour of council meetings at Pax is “open mike” time, listening time.  Council members may respond to the issues or direct them to the parish’s six additional councils:  pastoral ministry, liturgy, justice, finance, community life, and faith formation.  Each council has 9 members. The hope is that this structure will produce a group of people who may want to be Pastoral Council members in the future.  About 85 parishioners are in leadership positions at any time.  The parish has 4,000 families, 35 staff.

Steve was asked how the talents of those not chosen are used.  They may replace members who move or decide to leave the council, and they are asked to be involved in other parish activities.  Steve also shared a chart on “Council Leadership:  Selection vs. Election” which included advantages of the selection process as well as concerns to watch for.  Members present thanked Steve for spending so much time with us and sharing his parish’s valuable experience,  and he left documents for our reference with Kathy. 

It was suggested that more Council members need to be present for a full discussion of  how St. Matt’s will choose council members.  It was also suggested that the 3 members whose terms end this year remain on Council another year as we work through this process; there would be no election this spring if this is decided.  The topic will be on the March agenda.

Related topic:  Suzanne shared information from Feb. 26 Archdiocesan Parish Pastoral Council Workshop she and Doug Kennedy attended.  She heard Bob Burke (director of the Archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Planning) speak about the role of pastoral councils in a time of increasing numbers of Catholics and decreasing number of priests.  Most parishes use a form of discernment process to choose council members.  His office has additional information on the process.

Director of Development Job Description:  It was suggested that candidates for the position be asked how they would structure payment for this position.  No action was taken as there was not a quorum present.

Parish Enrichment Lenten Series:  Theme will be “In the Footsteps of John XXIII”.  Activities include Wed. potlucks with discussions (copies of Pacem in Terris encyclical will be available), March 30 event “Remembering the Spirit of Vatican II” with Jim Shannon and others who attended Vatican II.  This is a parish-wide theme which will touch the school, religious education, Father Steve’s homilies, prayer groups.  The March 30 event will be publicized in the community.  Council members asked to host event and to write reflections on peace for bulletin.

Child Care Collaboration Update:  Kathy reported that the group is in the process of developing goals and seeing how they match with those of Neighborhood House.  Next meeting is March 7.  Should know mid-March about St. Paul Foundation grant.  Question was asked about “drop-in” slots at the Child Care Center.  Currently there are 2-3 slots.  It was suggested that we advertise these available slots downtown.  However, they would have to be paid for so staff could be hired ahead of time.

Listening Sunday:  Suggestion that Stewardship section in bulletin include figures showing contributions year-to-date, not just previous Sunday’s, along with budgeted amount to date so parishioners can see how close to/far from goal we are.

Other:  Elevator dedication will be at 5 p.m. Mass, Saturday, March 15.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Suzanne Clarke

Parish Council member