Council of Religious
Minutes
Nov. 16, 2005
A. Opening
Prayer lead by Sr. Barbara Marie
B. Present:
Srs. Barbara Marie, Mary Ann, Mary Therese, Joan,
Margaret, Marilyn, and Mary Jean
Absent:
Sr. Joanna
** Sr.
Marilyn believes that she will probably be leaving the diocese
by the
end of January to begin in new ministry.
C.
Communications …
Thank
you from Sr. Mary Alice Mooney, SU for gift as she left
the
diocese to become the new superior of her community
Response
from Leo Tapler to our request to be part of the
stipend process.(see end of minutes)
Response
from Russ Elmayan to our disappointment over the
closing of the Media Center(see end of minutes)
D. Planning
for Jubilee….
Date:
Feb. 25th … Sacred Heart Cathedral
Jubilarians: Sr. Mary Zeno McGuirk, SP 65 years
Sr. Margaret Gallagher, IHM 50 years
Sr. Janet Schemmel, SND 40 years
Sr. Susan Armbruster, IHM 25 years
Celebrant …. Bishop Gossman if available; or Msgr. Shugrue,
or Fr. Jerry Sherba(Rector of the
Cathedral)
because of the uncertainty, the name of the
celebrant
will not be included in the invitation
Invitations and program cover …. Sr. Mary Jean
Liturgy
planning …. Sr. Margaret and Sr. Marilyn
Music …
Tom McGinnes and Cathedral Choir
Assembly
of programs … Sr. Mary Ann
Gifts
for Jubilarians … Sr. Barbara Marie
NC
Catholics article … Sr. Mary Therese
Publicity … Sr. Joan
Flowers
… Sr. Mary Ann
Reception …. Leslie Malinowski(Cathedral)
E. Prayer
Request … Sr. Joan Coyne, who was in the diocese for several
years,
is dying of cancer
F. Our
“thank you” to Bishop Gossman remains on the agenda until
the
official announcement of his leaving his ministry as bishop
G. Visit of
Archbishop Wilton Gregory … Archbishop of the Atlanta
Region to which we belong
….
letter of welcome written by Sr. Barbara Marie
….
present at Liturgy …Sr. Mary Jean
….
present at Tuesday meeting … Sr. Joan and Sr. Mary Therese
H.
Announcement was made of the coming of Joyce Rupp to our state.
She is
scheduled to give a 2 days presentation at Lake Janaluska(Maggie
Valley) on October 5 and 6. For more information go to her website;
or contact the host .. Christian Education Fellowship National
Conference at ..Chedfel@cs.com
>>>Letter and
response …Stipend Process
Dear Mr.
Tapler,
On
behalf of the Council of Religious, I would like to take this
opportunity to request that we be invited to participate next year
in the formation of our stipend package.
As a
Diocesan Collegial Body, we ask to have input into this process and
know the final results prior to their publication.
Thank
you for your assistance in helping to broaden communication among
the many and varied Bodies, Ministries and offices within our
Diocese.
……
Leo left a phone
message - he will pass the info on to the committee responsible for
budgets. He apologized for the fact that we have been out of the
loop.
>>>>>>>>
Dear Mr.
Elmayan,
On behalf
of the Council of Religious, I would like to take this opportunity
to share our sadness at the recent closing of the Media Center. We
feel strongly that an important resource to parishes and schools has
been eliminated.
What is
also very concerning is the lack of communication prior to the
decision. Schools and parishes were not asked for input. One
important diocesan service to parishes has ended – and people at the
local level were not part of the process.
We ask
that, in the future, key decisions such as this will be open for
discussion, communication and creative problem-solving.
…..
“Dear Sr.
Barbara Marie,
Thank you
for your letter of Oct. 6th in which you expressed concern and
sadness regarding the closing of the Media Center. I share your
sadness over the closing of the Media Center. Closing an office is
never an easy thing to do, and anyone with a heart would be reticent
to take such an action in a capricious manner.
I
disagree with your statement that “local level” was not part of the
consultative process in the decision about the Media Center. After
providing some backup information on usage and costs, I asked the
Deans, as representatives for the parishes and schools in their
deaneries, for their input on whether or not the media center needed
to stay open. Not one dean came back to me and recommended that the
Media Center be kept open, and several deans said to go ahead and
close it, saying their parishes did not use it or made little use of
it. The usage of the Media Center, measured by volume of materials
sent out to parishes, dropped by 67% over the past three years. All
materials in the Media Center were offered free of charge to small
parishes when the decision was made to close the Media Center.
Over the
past three years, the Diocese has cut approximately $1million out of
its previously planned budgets, in response to our current
environment of rising expenses over which we have no control at the
same time revenues are not increasing as fast as expenses. We have
cut all of the expenses out of the budget that we could cut without
causing some obvious impact to ministry. Now, as we have seen with
the closing of the Media Center, future budget cuts will indeed
impact ministry to some extent. As new or differing priorities com
to light, I think we may have further redeployment of resources in
order to fund new ministries.
I
realize that some of our smaller parishes were users of the Media
Center. The Diocese continues to provide significant funding for
small parishes, including providing approximately $100,000 per year
in parish assistance grants and over $60,000 in grants to help
support pastoral administrators, most of whom are religious women.
Often
times, people of good will can look at the same set of facts and
come to different conclusion, and perhaps this is one of those
times. I do respect the sentiments expressed in your letter, and I
agree that we should strive to operate in a mode where key decisions
are made in a consultative and hopefully collaborative mode.” |
