St. Mary Parish Council Meeting, Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 7:00 p.m.
Present: Fr. Dominic Nguyen, Karen Schmidt, Sharon Mealey, Linda Ollinger, Sam Peiffer, Patti Cline, Michelle Otto, John Dayton, Mark Godar, Lee McFee, Greg Willard and Darlene Doorenbos. Absent: Lynn Cavanagh and Grace Soriano. Guest: Maxwell Dietrich. Opening Prayer: Karen Schmidt
Welcome: Maxwell Dietrich, a St. Mary Intern, has wrapped up the new logo project and all logo formats were given to Jay with hopes to use them soon. Maxwell was thanked for his efforts and received a stipend for his work.
Continuing Business: April meeting minutes were approved. Lynn Cavanagh, along with Sam Peiffer, John Dayton and Grace Soriano, will work on ideas/ suggestions on what might be done for the 100-year celebration of St. Mary Church. This will occur in the spring or summer of 2027. Once the date is finalized, Bishop Walsh will be invited to attend.
Monessa Cummins and Jay have been investigating possible ways of how the updating of the church directory may occur. They have submitted 3 possible ways/companies. Linda, Karen, Michelle and Sharon will look through the information and make a recommendation to the parish council at the August meeting.
Linda reported that the luncheon for the bishop and those attending the Eucharistic Procession on Sunday, June 7, went very well with an estimated 120-140 people served. Linda reported that the Chicken and Waffle meal served about 60 people.
Karen reminded members that the Vice President position of the council is still vacant and asked members to consider filling the position.
On Sunday, August 23, Fr. Dominic will be installed as pastor to St. Mary and St. Patrick churches. The Building and Grounds Committee and the Worship & Spirituality Commission will host a meal, which will take the place of the usual parish breakfast originally scheduled for August 9. Bishop Walsh will be in attendance as well as possibly members from the Vietnamese community in Iowa City. The Installation will be held at St. Mary Church with St. Patrick representatives present.
There have been no funeral luncheons since the last council meeting.
No New Business
Worship & Spirituality Commission: The commission met May 14th and June 11th. New mass parts are scheduled to be implemented on June 14. Members of the schola and others attended rehearsals to learn them ahead of time. The Eucharistic Procession on Corpus Christi was well received. The commission expressed thanks for the volunteers that took part as well as those that participated in the procession. Masses for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be offered at St. Mary on August 14th at 5:30 p.m. and at St. Patrick on August 15th at 9:00 a.m. Since the holy day falls on Saturday, it is not obligatory.
Social Action Commission: May 7 – The commission had 2 guest speakers. Kent Reed talked to us about his non-profit American Brawn and talked about mental health. Angelina Willard talked about the faith formation baby shower that was going to be May 31. Both Kent and Angelina gave us ideas for future social action projects.
June 11 – It was decided to have the summer food drive for 3 weeks. It will be from July 19 to August 2. The commission will help promote the Mary’s Meals concert on August 8 and help with the pre-concert meal. Fr. Dominic approved our commission to present short educational programs during the 3rd. Sunday coffee and rolls. The first presentation will be in September. Homebound visits are going well, and we always need more volunteers to visit our homebound parishioners. Mother Teresa’s Helping Hands is continuing to help parishioners. Al Ricks and John Ashby will be coming to the July 2 commission meeting to talk about COSI, Community Support for Immigrants. Fall and winter projects were discussed. Next meeting is July 2.
Stewardship Commission: Karen continues to work on getting this commission active.
Grinnell College Student Representative: No report.
Finance Council: Lee shared a Rolling Income Expense Net graph. Consistent income is mainly due to the weekly automatic payments from parishioners. The stained glass window frames and the boiler are outstanding potential larger expenses. Fr. Dominic and the Finance Council are exploring options for providing funds and a timeline for the work to be accomplished.
Building & Grounds: A company from Rockford, IL was consulted for the tile repair on the bell tower. The company used a drone to assess any other damage and found a couple of tiles that need to be replaced on the roof as well as the tiles on the bell tower. Work on the tiles is expected to start at the end of June, first of July.
Some work has been done on the stained glass windows: removing the plexiglass windows, soldering, plus some repair and painting on the window frames. Continued repair is on hold, and the commission is working on what the process will be to continue to repair the windows.
Near the rectory is a flower/vegetable patch that has sunk, which has caused some water to leak into the foundation. The patch will be removed and repaired this Saturday as well as putting in a sidewalk from the rear of the rectory to the parking lot.
Knights of Columbus: $500 was donated to ASAP (Aid & Support After Pregnancy) program of which the state K of C will add $100 matching funds. ASAP can drive collection –Rick plans to stop the monthly collections in boxes by the front door and opt for offering pick up at parishioners’ houses. They had 4 volunteers help at the Grinnell Special Olympics competition at Grinnell College field house on April 25. Brain C. got second place in softball throw. Brian announced his retirement from Special Olympics. Nomination/election of officers: Grand Knight, Greg Willard; Deputy Grand Knight is TBD. Remaing officers and program directors remain the same. The Baby Bottle Drive in May/June for ASAP collection—bottles were to be turned in on June 14th. (Greg reported that $625 was collected). Thank you to volunteers for Eucharistic Procession: Roy, Jourdan, Lee, Brian Diaz, and 4th. Degree Colorguard: Rick, Mark, Kent, Pat Fitzgerald. Good of the Order Awards/Certificates: April Family of the Month, Dave and Francesca; April Knight of the Month, Larry Van Ersvelde; May Family of the Month, Dennis and Renny Crawford; May Knight of the Month, Deacon John Osborne.
Staff Reports: No report.
Pastor’s Report: The parish mission will be on Saturday, August 8, 2026. The evening will start with a potluck at 5:45 p.m., then a concert with Steve Angrisano at 6:15 followed by a presentation by Ellen Miller, a representative of Mary’s Meals. This is a public event, and Diane Volkman is the coordinator.
Bishop Walsh’s visit on June 6 & 7 went very smoothly from start to finish. The Bishop seemed to enjoy the event. An article about the Eucharistic Procession will be on the front page of this week’s Catholic Messenger.
St. Mary’s new logo will be used beginning August 15.
Adjournment: Next meeting is August 20, 2026, 6:30 at the parish hall. Michelle Otto will provide the opening prayer, and Fr. Dominic will provide the closing prayer. Closing prayer was provided by Sam Peiffer. Meeting adjourned at 8:00.