Items of interest included
IV. A. Mike Bruch told the council the budget increase for Cantors were only to make everyone aware of the serious volunteer problem. ...
An interesting alternative to saying what you mean.
IV. B. The collections are up significantly and the gap is closing. ...
Gap? Looks like Fr. Alan is more accustomed to budget problems than he's let on.
IV. C. Focus Group Update - The sessions were not well attended.
But there'll be more meetings.
The older group and high school students are scheduled to meet on March 12th. The Town Hall Meeting will be March 20th. Sandy Harris asked council members to make phone calls to invite parishioners to attend the meeting.
...
It's some personal contact, at least; sometimes that comes too late.
IV. F. Committee Reports
- Gerri Kallas said the Communication Committee had met. ...
This is only one set of minutes, but still, no communication from the Communications Committee?
- Christy reported for Christian Formation. A discussion was held on how to bring families together between the Day School and Sunday School and to create more community spirit.
Get 100% of the kids in the Day School and this problem's solved.
- Sandy Sandvoss said the Human Concerns meeting had to be canceled. ...
...
The poor we will always have with us.
- Prayer and Worship Committee had a meeting and discussed cantors. More volunteers are needed for the Children's Liturgy. The committee would like to have more of the parents of the young children volunteer. Volunteers are needed for most areas.
Did the Town Hall meeting in March immediately reduce the problems of not enough money and not enough volunteers? If so, then I can see why Fr. Alan is so upbeat about them. If I catch some subsequent minutes, maybe we can see what difference it made. The next upcoming meeting was then April 4, 2007.
Do you know someones who can pay the tuition to have all the Catholic children in Catholic day schools? There's only so much money that the collection of cans and the sale of overpriced kitsch and junkfood can manage. Even Bingo has its limits.
ReplyDeleteIf not, then how do we support and improve what we used to call CCD, the faith formation of Catholic children not in Catholic day schools? It doesn't have to be the neglected stepchild, especially when the parents are actually believers. I didn't attend any Catholic day school until Marquette University, and got a very good catechesis. It might have helped that my childhood parish (through sixth grade) was both brand new and eager and had no school, so all its efforts went into faith formation.......
I'm afraid your idea of how parish schools are generally financed comes out another era, back when people used phrases like "neglected stepchild".
ReplyDeleteSince I was talking about St. Monica's specifically, I note it says here that in its zip code the average Adjusted Gross Income on 2004 returns was $126,770. I suspect the problem is something other than inability to pay.
It's often regarded as a strain to run a school and the rest of the parish operations. As a Sunday School teacher and former parish council member at St. Al's, in a crunch I'd lean toward keeping the school open and turning the rest of parish operations over to it.
Mike Bruch's been active in that parish forEVER.
ReplyDeleteAnd he has a law practice, too.
And he's a church musician, too.
Energizer Organist!
OK, you can probably chalk up my attitudes to that I live in a neighborhood with several academically and spiritually flourishing Catholic day schools that hang on financially with kitsch and junkfood, MarketDay and boxtops, and in the case of my nearest one, collecting 1.6 million aluminum cans. In a neighborhood where I an considered wealthy because I have $1100/month income and health insurance.
ReplyDeleteWell, Karen, then let's increase Wisconsin's taxation of its citizens.
ReplyDeleteThat way, they will have even LESS to offer their parishes and for tuition dollars.
dad29: I'm no big expert on taxation; I pay the bill for the anchor hold's property taxes, I file my income taxes on time each spring and get my refunds. I've saved the receipts for the porchlift and the scooter because I'm told they are deductable, just like my $86/month of prescription copays and etc.
ReplyDeleteYes, the $1008.45 that I had to pay to the City Treasurer this year wasn't fun --- but I still like having the garbage picked up, the snow plowed, the potholes repaired, criminals caught by cops, fires put out by firefighters, libraries open, children educated, and all the other stuff that needs done in order to keep a civil society, done. Not even to mention my pension paid. All of which requires money. Which has to come from somewhere, and it could be a lot worse than a well-allotted and fairly collected taxation system.
I'd need to see financial statements to be convinced that kitsch and junk food are the major sources of income for your nearby Catholic schools. The can drive, for example, was for adding a computer lab, not for routine expenses.
ReplyDeleteI believe you're in the 53204 zip code. Says here that Average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) in 2004 was $21,416. Maybe people just want to make you feel wealthy.
Don't forget the tax money for Deep Tunnel, enhanced county employee pensions, and the Milwaukee Public Schools.