St. Mary Parish Council Meeting, Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.

Present: Fr. Dominic Nguyen, Lynn Cavanagh, John Dayton, Karen Schmidt, Scot Wilson, Sharon Mealey, Deacon John Osborne, Mark Godar, Hays Marionneaux, Lee McFee Absent: Linda Ollinger, Sam Peiffer Opening Prayer: Karen Schmidt

Welcome:

  • Max Dietrich – St. Mary Internship: Max is a GHS graduate and a DMACC student studying graphic design. He gave a presentation of some of his work. He will be spending time during this semester sharing his talent with St. Mary Church as an unpaid intern.
  • Hays Marionneaux – Grinnell College Student Representative: Hays is a 2nd year Grinnell College student from Louisiana studying economics & history. He is a co-leader of the Grinnell College Catholic Student Association (CSA). Some of their activities include praying the Liturgy of the Hours and Rosary, Bible Study, and participating in events at St. Mary Church.

Continuing Business:

  • Time & Talent- update-Lynn & Karen: Over 120 surveys were completed. The survey was completed in November, Fr. Dominic provided time at the end of Mass for parishioners to fill out their survey. Social Action Commission members and others compiled the information by the first week in December. Jay made up packets for each commission/committee that have been distributed to each. The recommendation is for the survey to be completed every two to three years. Suggestions for improvement are to add an on-line option using a QR code, include a check-box indicating if the person filling out the form is a Grinnell College student, and for those filling out the survey on paper to print neatly. In summary, the survey was considered a success.
  • Stewardship Committee update-Karen: Working with new leadership to revive this committee.
  • Big 10 List/Church Cleanup Day-status update-Linda, Scot and John:
    • Parish Council will facilitate Big Ten List yearly. Building & Grounds to arrange yearly Church clean-up day(s) as needed. The Big Ten sign-up is currently in progress.
  • Parish Council hosts Pancake Breakfast in June and December 2026
  • Funeral Luncheon – one since last report-Cindy Kriegel
  • Cards to Parishioners-Karen: This is proving to be more challenging than anticipated. She isn’t always getting information and sometimes the information is received late, making her wonder if she should still send a card. The original idea was to send cards from the council to those suffering a loss. Karen is considering how to go forward with this ministry.
  • New Parish Council Members- Discussion: Karen provided a worksheet with instructions to facilitate the discussion. After much discussion the consensus was to try to have nine “elected” members that will agree to serve at least one year. Five parishioners signed up as interested in serving on the Time & Talent survey. Those individuals will be contacted to verify their continued interest. We will advertise for any others to submit their names. After a Sunday Mass in April, Fr. Dominic will randomly draw names to fill the open seats. Karen and Deacon John will work on this project.

New Business: none

Reports:

Worship & Spirituality Commission: The commission met on January 15th and February 12th.  Events during Lent: Friday Adoration 9am-5pm followed by Benediction and Stations of the Cross at 5pm. Thank you to Karen Schmidt and Barb McCulley for leading Stations of the Cross. Time & Talent survey results were distributed, and new volunteers have been contacted. An updated Sacristan guide has been published. A list of liturgical role volunteers has been distributed to current volunteers to be utilized when a substitute is needed. The Holy Week schedule will be finalized by Father Dominic soon. Our next meeting will be March 12th.  

Social Action Commission:  The SA Commission met February 5, 2026, in the upper gathering space at St. Mary. Visits to the Homebound continue with a few new volunteer names obtained from the Time and Talent Survey. If you are interested in this ministry, please contact Jay in the office. No Room at the Inn, an ecumenical event, was held in December, and it was successful with many churches participating. Music from local musicians added to the event. $1,218 was collected and donated to the St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter in Des Moines, MICA Food Bank and the Grinnell Ministerial Association. Members of the Commission along with other parish volunteers collected and tallied the Time and Talent Surveys in early December and the information was distributed to Commission Chairs and interested parties. Zoom session from the diocese about Catholic Relief Services was viewed in the church hall in early February. Details for the Lenten Food Drive for MICA were discussed. The drive will be held for four weekends in March with the food delivered to the MICA food bank on Monday, March 29th.

Stewardship Committee: see item under continuing business

Grinnell College Student Representative: The Grinnell College Community Outreach Club has reached out to Hays about performing a service project at St. Mary. The suggestion was to put them in touch with the KC’s and Jay. Hays also offered to have the CSA collect donations at the college for the Lenten Food Drive.

Financial Council Report: Lee provided a report on parish income and expenses. All showed to be performing as expected. Fr. Dominic thanked the Finance Council for helping him to manage parish finances.

Building & Grounds: Minutes from Jan. 13th meeting were distributed to council members prior to this meeting. Notable items include: Bids have been received to address issues with wood trim around the stained-glass windows. A recent drone examination of the bell tower revealed some missing tiles. The committed is in the process of finding someone to perform the repairs. Concrete in the prayer garden walkway was raised to eliminate a tripping hazard. Addition of a sidewalk from the sidewalk behind the rectory to the north parking lot is being considered, this will prevent the sausage grillers from having to walk in the grass or snow.

Knights of Columbus: Fish fries start tomorrow. A new drive-up option has been added.

Pastor’s Report: Fr. Dominic has been helping at Sacred Heart in Newton when Fr. Bill Reynolds is unavailable. By managing his time, he has been making this work. He has offered an invitation to Bishop Walsh to visit our parish. He will need to consult his schedule but welcomed the invitation.

Adjournment:

  • Next Meeting: April 16th, 2026, 6:30 pm, Parish Hall
  • Choose Opening/Closing Prayer Leaders: Opening John Dayton, Closing Lynn Cavanagh
  • Closing Prayer – Mark Godar