ST. MARY CATHOLIC CHURCH, Lanesville, IN
Council Members Present:
Regrets:
PASTORAL COUNCIL MINUTES – October 21, 2015
Lynn Harbeson, Michael Clark, Charles Ringle, Melissa Schellenberger,
David Henke, Barbara Murray
Eileen Timberlake, Lisa Thomas, Meg Hiser
Others Present:
Fr. Bob St. Martin, Brandon Bigam, Lisa Reed, Steve Smith
Opening Prayer
Lynn Harbeson called the meeting to order at 7:00. Father Bob introduced Brandon Bigam, a seminary student at St.
Meinrad. Fr. Bob had those present recite the "Canticle of the Sun." Fr. Bob shared that "Laudato Si," the Encyclical by
Pope Francis, is about the importance of the Earth.
Approval of Minutes
The September minutes were attached to the agenda. David Henke made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded
by Melissa Schellenberger. The September minutes were approved by a unanimous vote.
Lynn Harbeson noted that Rena Phillips will correct the July minutes online (to change the amount transferred to GL to
$33,000).
Lynn Harbeson shared that he is going to requested more information on all policies and where to find them.
Committee Reports
Buildings and Grounds
There was no representative.
Lynn Harbeson asked if Tim is still the representative. He will call him.
Faith Formation
Lisa Reed was present to deliver the report from the Faith Formation Committee.
Lisa Reed handed out a summary of Faith Formation highlights from their October 14th meeting, a summary of the
Sacramental Preparation description that the committee had written, and a code of conduct from the Archdiocese. The
summary of Sacramental Preparation will be on the website. She said it is fairly lengthy, and it's what we agreed on. It's
a description of the policies in place right now, to hand out to people who ask.
Melissa Schellenberger asked if Angela De Krieger was aware of the Archdiocese Code of Conduct, since Angela had
been working on a code of conduct. Melissa also asked if Angela had her volunteers do the "Safe and Sacred" program.
Lynn asked if Angela has a master list of all volunteers. Father Bob will talk to Angela about these three items.
Michael Clark asked about adult Confirmation. Father Bob said if a person is a baptized catholic, then they do not need
to go through RCIA necessarily. If in an invalid marriage a person cannot receive the sacraments except at death.
Barbara Murray asked whether 8th graders can be Confirmed, since the Faith Formation's Sacramental Preparation
states that students must be 9th-12th graders. Father Bob said that a decision had not been made.
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Finance Committee
Steve Smith delivered the report from the Finance Committee.
Steve gave the committee a spreadsheet of the "actual," "budget" and "variance" of income and expenses from
September and year to date through September. The spreadsheet also included a balance sheet of funds from the last
two years.
Steve said that we are running about $8,000 short for the month from collections. We are running about 80% of what is
budgeted. Last year we were running about 87%.
Steve said that picnic funds will be transferred over to the general fund account (cash) once one last bill gets paid.
Steve said that Rena Phillips and Janet Philpot attended an online class over direct deposit of weekly donations. Steven
said that Rena and Janet feel that the fees charged by banks could be pretty high. Rena will talk to St. Mary's of the
Knobs to see if they have direct deposit and what their fees are. Michael Clark asked if Rena and Janet had talked to our
bank, First Harrison Bank, directly. Steve will talk to Rena about that. Steve said about 7 people send donations from
their own banks to the church. Charles Ringle asked if we should promote people sending donations electronically from
their own banks more.
Liturgy Committee
There was no representative from the Liturgy committee.
St. Anne’s
There was no representative from St. Anne’s.
Youth Committee
There was no representative from the Youth Committee.
The Facilities Committee was temporary. It is now disbanded. Barbara Murray asked about the stained glass window
repairs. Fr. Bob said that we still need to get that estimate, and the stained glass window responsibility will fall to this
committee, not the Building and Grounds Committee.
Lynn Harbeson said that we should look into having a representative from the Cemetery Committee and the Archives
Committee attend our meetings.
Old Business
Any questions or comments on parish organization chart?
No one had any questions or comments.
New Business
Parish Stewardship Packet - Pastoral Council Letter
A sample of the list of actions taken by the Pastoral Council in the last fiscal year was passed around. It will be included
in the stewardship packet to be passed out at Mass this weekend. No one had any questions or comments.
Discuss "rule" regarding participation on more than one committee/commission
Lynn said that he asked Rena Phillips where that rule was listed. Rena could not find it. It apparently is not written down
anywhere. Lynn shared that, in a smaller parish such as ours, this rule is too limiting of participation. Lynn said that
finding new committees members for this committee was limiting because of the rule. Lynn asked for feedback. Charles
looked in the Parish Council Constitution and found no mention of the rule. Michael Clark made a motion to
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get rid of the rule, but Fr. Bob wants to look into it more before we vote. Fr Bob said he is neither for it or against it.
Lynn tabled it for now.
The meeting was adjourned by Lynn Harbeson.
Father Bob closed the meeting by having everyone recite the Lord's Prayer.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 18th at 7:00 pm.
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