St. Mary Parish Council Meeting Minutes – Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 6:30 p.m.
Present: Lynn Cavanagh, Linda Ollinger Sam Peiffer, Scot Wilson, Wendy Kramer, Karen Schmidt, Fr. Scott Foley, Judy Binegar and Darlene Doorenbos.
Not Present: Scott Collings, Shane Hart, Chris Zug, Dennis Phelps, Brain Cranston, Kent Reed, Sharon Mealey, Deacon John Osborne, Kristi Perrin, Jane McFee, Lee McFee.
The meeting was held at the Hazelwood Cemetery in the Calvary section. Klondike ice cream bars and water were provided for refreshments.
Opening Prayer: Scot Wilson
New Business: The Grinnell City Welcoming Event on May 23 went well. Two new Catholics stopped by.
The Sunday Coffee and Rolls will now be coordinated by Carolyn Ashby and Mary Anne Hosch. There is a sign up sheet in the church kitchen to volunteer.
There was a discussion about the parish picnic and welcome event for new college students. Lynn suggested that we could combine the two events and hold it during the September 8 parish breakfast. Current college students could help with the breakfast and be part of welcoming the new students. The event would also be held inside so the weather would not be a concern. The council members felt that this would be a good thing to do. Lynn will get with Jay to work on an announcement for the bulletin.
Two people have volunteered to join the council: John Dayton and Mark Godar. Lynn will take over the President position with Scot Wilson helping. Darlene will be the recording secretary for the meetings. Lynn asked that members brainstorm before the next meeting in August concerning possible future goals for the council.
Physical/Spiritual Component: Members of the council were shown the graves of the four priests and one deacon buried in the cemetery: Fr. Ralph Schneider, Fr. Anthony Farrell, Fr. Michael Moriarty, Fr. John Schmitz (brother of Mary Comerford) and Deacon Bill Olson. There were also a number of graves from the Sisters who had worked at St. Francis Hospital. Fr. Scott explained some of the symbolism on the graves and answered questions.
Commission, Committee, Finance Council and Knights of Columbus submitted reports:
Worship & Spirituality Commission: The commission held a quick meeting on June 13th. Our commission along with Buildings & Grounds committee members are responsible for the August 14th pancake brunch. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation, is August 15th. Mass time is yet to be determined. The prayers before Mass have been inserted in the hymnals in the loft for those that choose to sit up there. Our next meeting will be August 8th.
Social Action Commission: St. Mary Social Action Commission meeting minutes May 2, 2024. The social action commission met for lunch at Los Girsoles Restaurant to celebrate our accomplishments this past year. 8 members were in attendance. Barbara Laplaunt was welcomed as a new member. After our commission prayer, the minutes from the April meeting were read. Next we discussed our successful Saturday April 27th project where 6 commission members cleaned flower beds and planted flowers for a parish family. For a potential project, we have a new food list from MICA. We would like to have a summer food drive if it is approved by Father Scott. We also discussed how we can promote various area nonprofits that help people in need. A list of nonprofits needs to be compiled to help us promote them. Our next meeting will be June 6 if needed. Otherwise we will take a few months off.
Knights of Columbus: There was not a June meeting. Below are items carrying over from May that were provided by Kent Reed.
Held the main meeting at West Side Family Restaurant and it went very well in their rear east room.
Have refined the plan for outside can and bottle collection to just to two containers back between the dumpster and the HVAC unit. Plan to hold monthly collections at the front door before and after masses and store collected items in those containers until have plenty to return.
Several officers remained in positions for the new fiscal year except for Kent Reed in as Grand Knight, Brain Cranston moved to 1st year trustee, Greg Willard in as Deputy Grand Knight, Roy Doorenbos in as Financial Secretary, Mark Godar in as recorder.
Fish Fries went well, average attendance, $2500 donation made to scholarship fund (I believe).
Awards cabinet is still planned at the foot of the stairs, it’s just waiting patiently on our To-Do lists.
Tootsie Roll Drive is upcoming, considering the addition of a “telethon” calling event to store locations to raise more
Happy and proud to mow and trim a parishioner’s lawn for 4 weeks while caring for family
Roy and Kent are facilitating an “Into the Breach” video/discussion series for Catholic men. 3 weeks in with 6 attending
Entered Denny Conway into the K of C perpetual memorial Society (vocations support in his honor).
Community meal, June 13 went very well with several non- K of C member helpers. We hope to continue that in some measure
Adjournment: Next meeting will be on Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 6:30. Opening prayer will be done by Sam Peiffer and Fr. Scott will do the closing prayer. Fr. Scott said the closing prayer and meeting adjourned at 7:30.
Respectfully submitted by Darlene Doorenbos