Members Present: 

Fr. Paul, Lisa Brackmann, John Hadden, Fran Vanarsdall-Schwartz, Jane Browe, Dave Nichols, Mary Ellen Smith, Teresa Besl, Paul Hess, Dave Lennert, Star Vondrell

I. The meeting opened with the recitation of the Prayer for Vocations.

II. Dave Nichols moved, seconded by John Hadden to approve the minutes of the 01/23/06 meeting with one correction.

III. Old Business 

A. Survey Update

The program and software are ready for loading the data from the surveys.  Of the 998 original surveys, 500 were picked up after Masses and 77 were sent home through the school.  240 have been returned to date with more coming in daily. 

B. Commission Reports

1) Education:  Mary Ellen summarized the recent meeting of the Education Commission which included ongoing registration for the School and reports of the recent Terra Nova scores.

2) Temporal Affairs:  Did not meet

3) Worship Commission:  Jerry Michaud, chairman was in attendance to give their report.  They have been discussing their goals and desire to grow in their presence within the parish and bring in more involvement from the community.

C. Katrina Relief

The council discussed the information obtained through the website “Our Mission is America”, the Catholic Extension Society which provides information on how we can become involved in partnering with a parish that was affected by the recent hurricanes in the South.  $20,000 is available through “reserve funds” that could be donated.  We would also like to investigate ways to partner in a more personal way and also involve the school children.  Teresa, Dave Lennert, Mary Ellen and Jane volunteered to work with Fr. Paul in gathering further information.  

IV. New Business

A. New Mass Hymnals

Jack Treinen presented the information gathered by the Worship commission regarding the purchase of a new Hymnal that will replace the three books now in our pews. Their very thorough study was summarized and shared with the Council. Suggestions were also presented for soliciting donations to help cover the cost.  Envelopes will be placed in the pews like we do at Easter and Christmas and donations can be made in memory or in honor of an individual.  $20/per book was the suggested donation.  To help offset costs, music ministers will be asked to purchase their musical instrument sets if they wish to have a practice set at home.  Our current Hymnals will be donated to parishes affected by hurricane Katrina.  A motion was made and passed to accept the commission’s recommendation to purchase The Gather Comprehensive 2nd Edition, (GIA Publications). The estimated package total cost would be $9,906.50.  The expected life of this Hymnal is 10 to 12 years.  The target date for the new Hymnals to be in the pews is the First Sunday of Advent.  The committee was commended for their hard work and diligence in this project. 

B.    Discernment Sunday

Sunday, March 5, 2006 will be Discernment Sunday for Parish Pastoral Council and the Education Commission.

V. Suggestion Box

Both were empty

VI. Adjournment

Dave Nichols moved, seconded by Lisa Brackmann to adjourn the meeting.  Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 following a closing prayer.