Saint Peter’s Parish Council Minutes

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Tuesday, September 4, 2007, at 8:00 p.m. in the conference room.<= /p>

Members Present: Father Chuck, Jim Beck, Mary Brockelsby, Marian Brown, Sheryl Garst, Rebecc= a Gaw,

Members Absent:= Mark Beckman, Dan McGinn.

8:00 = p.m. by Sheryl Garst. Father Chuck said the opening prayer. The members present = read the mission statement. Motion by Mary Brockelsby to app= rove the June 5, 2007<= /st1:date> minutes. Seconded by Anne Rohling. Motion carr= ied.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. in the social hall. Anyone wishing to join a committee is welcome to attend.

Saint Albert School Board- Father Chuck/ John Cool/ Tom Liston. The enrollment for this coming year is two more students than last year. The pl= ans for the addition are being drawn by= the architects. The preschool is full for the four year olds and there are only= two places available for the three year olds. The school year has gotten off to= a great start.

Parish Life-Rebecca Gaw. The committee finalized plans for the parish picnic.. We discussed plans for decorating for Oktoberfest and adding a few more decorations this year. Oktoberfest will be October 14^th.

Coco= a, and Caroling as well as a visit from Santa.

Religious Education- Sheryl Garst. The Women’s Retreat was discussed. Women of Faith will be the topic. “Mary” will be the theme with C= hristine Kuhlman as our special speaker. The date will be Saturday, October 20, 2007, with everyone attending the 4 pm Mass, dinner following= Mass, and a program from 5:4= 5 pm-8:30 pm. The next Generations of Faith will meet Sunday, September 30^th, from 1-4 p.m. in the social ha= ll. Lunch will be served. Steve and Ann Rost will provide music.

Social Concerns- Marian Brown. The committee reviewed the shut-ins list. The school supplies donation proj= ect by parishioners was a great success. Items were delivered to the public school system Tuesday, September = 4, 2007. We discussed switching from Phoenix House to <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Council Bluffs public schools for the Christmas project. We received a check for MOHM’s Place from the Scou= lar Foundation in the amount of $1000 for the MOHM’s Place Christmas Dinn= er. We discussed upcoming projects to prepare for picking up necessary items.

Worship and Spirituality-Mary Brockelsby. The com= mittee planned the liturgy for September 16- October 7, 2007 and the Liturgy Corner for the church bulletin.

Altar Society- Gladys Michalski. Our Oktoberfest quilt has been completed for approximately      6 weeks. The Quilting Committee has since been working on baby quilts to sell at Oktober= fest and have completed 9 of them and hope to complete at least 2 more. We have = four full-time quilters and two part-time. The Oktoberfest Quilt is our biggest fundraiser for the year and all proceeds go towards this. St. Ann’s Altar & Rosary Soci= ety donates the cedar chest and contents to the Oktoberfest raffle to help raise funds for the parish. In 2006 Father Kenkel was lucky enough to win the ced= ar chest. The contents were divided among his sisters and he donated the chest back to us. On August 28^th we were able to reward his kindness by replacing his old television with a new one. The officers of St. Ann’s Altar & Rosary Soci= ety purchased a statue of our Blessed Mother and hope to display it at our meet= ings. We are always in need of additional items for our mini- raffle and craft ta= ble as well as baked and canned goods for our Country Store. These can be broug= ht to the parish offices and marked “St. Ann’s Altar & Rosary Society”. Lil= lian Schechinger has prepared a list of the past years’ purchases and donations. We are discussing including this report in the bulletin.

Youth= Ministry- Father Chuck.<= span style=3D'font-family:"Century Schoolbook","serif"'> One component of our Yo= uth Ministry program is training our students to be Mass ministers at our parish Masses. Last month, 4 high school students were trained as Eucharistic ministers for the parish and 12 elementary students were trained as lectors= for their grade level Masses. Ten high school teens worked at the Red Cross blo= od drive here on August 11^th as part of our first service group project. The Mentor Program ice cream social held on August 22^nd= was very successful. The First Communion students and their parents spent time = with their Confirmation student mentor and their parents. This social event will= be a valuable experience for all those preparing for the sacraments this year.= Our kindergarten students will be honored at a brunch on September 15. The stud= ents and their families will get an opportunity to meet and visit. The kindergar= ten students will decorate treasure boxes for the church items they receive from the children’s bulletin gifts and other parish events. The list of th= eir names will be in the bulletin that weekend along with information on their kindergarten year saint, Gabriel. We will hold a Virtus child sexual abuse prevention training on September 15^th. The September grade level Masses are scheduled for September 23^rd (all elementary grades) = and September 30^th (all high school grades). The students will participate as the Mass ministers at these Masses. The committee selected h= oly cards to give to the children at the children’s collection at Mass one Sunday in September. We have 14 teens signed up to be part of the Points of Light Youth Leadership Institute as part of our high school program.

Knights of Columbus- Father Chuck. We have been awarded the star council for the 8^th consecutive year. There will be a pancake break= fast on Sunday, Septe= mber 23, 2007. We raised over $6,000 at the <= st1:Street w:st=3D"on">Tootsie Roll Drive for the mentally challenged. We will be reviewing the membership roles of o= ur council to reduce membership to only active and participating members. There will be a second, third, and fourth degree initiation for the Knights of Columbus.

Buildings and Grounds- Jim Beck. Trees were cut down alon= g the bank behind the rectory and we have talked with companies to find growth to hold it in place better. The wall will be built a little higher and silt fe= nces will be added to keep mud from clogging the drains. The social hall doors h= ave been painted. The carpet will be replaced after Oktoberfest.

Father’s Report- Father Chuck.

Finance Council: Our yearly financial report was issued. I will review the report for parishione= rs in September.

Bible study is going well. There are about 60 people attending. We are doing this Bible st= udy in conjunction with St. Patrick’s. There is a nice representation from both parishes.

Social hall carpet: I have ordered the social hall carpet. We are going to put the carpet tile in after Oktoberfest.     It should improve= the appearance of the hall.

Oktoberfest: We will be selling tic= kets at the St. Albert football games this year and I hope that the five plasma televisions are a = big seller. I can’t encourage people enough to sell all the tickets they = can. We are dependent on Oktoberfest to balance our budget. We will have a sign = up for Oktoberfest at the September 8^th & 9^th Masses= .

Confirmation and R.C.I.A.: We are having classes on Wednesday evenings. There are nine people in the R.C.I.A. which is the most that we have ever had there. There are twenty students in Confirmation. It looks like it will be another great year.=

Finance: I will be giving the financial rep= ort to the parish this weekend. It will be another great report. I am going to ask for = a three percent increase in the tithing for next year. I am very pleased with the generosity of our parish.

Buildings and Grounds: We are working on planting some new vegetation on the bluff behind the church.

Election of Officers: President: Marian Brown. Vice President: Rebecca Gaw.   Secretary: Mark Beckman.

Respectfully submitted by Jim Beck, secretary