Monday's Meeting

This past Monday, fifty- three parishioners met informally to share information with each other about various topics. The history of Toledo's involvement in the clustering and consolidation of the three parishes, the development of "Charting Our Future", the creation of the Task Force, the staus of Salem's lawsuit, and the parish's present financial operations were discussed in an open forum. I felt that the people who attended the meeting were very open and supportive of each other and the future of the parish.

This meeting was organized because of a growing concern that most people in the parish do not have an opportunty to communicate freely with each other. People were contacted very informally and not with an agenda other than to share what they knew with each other. This was not a 'secret' meeting.

I will be writing my opinions about the night's discussions later. I would really like to hear from others present at the meeting first. Please feel free to relate what you felt about the meeting and what was discussed. Those of you who are new to the blog, please click comments and follow the directions. We would love to hear from you!

cultureofconversation.org

Came upon this site: http://www.cultureofconversation.org . We are not alone.

"Celebrate our Legacy" Questions

I sat in on the “Celebrate our Legacy” final report meeting this past Sunday morning. During the meeting there were questions raised about the purchase of the Youth Ministry house across from the church on 8th Street…Did the money used to buy the house come from the “Celebrate our Legacy” funds and if it did, was that appropriate and consistent with what the campaign funds were set up to be used for? Was it borrowed and to be paid back? At the beginning of the meeting, they played the promotional video they had used during the campaign. I heard it mention a youth minister’s salary and architectural studies, but nothing about paying for the construction or purchase of facilities. Someone read the words from the original literature used for talking to potential donors and it sounded to me like it said the same thing the video explained. The pamphlet handed out at this meeting summarized the results of the campaign and the purchase of the house was listed under the heading, “15% to Youth Ministry/Architectural Studies”. Someone else can comment on the numbers part of it, but I think that looking at the language of the campaign, any major purchase or construction project would not fall under these funds. At the meeting, I didn’t hear anyone oppose the idea of a “Youth House”. That wasn’t the point. I understood the point to be that the way it was purchased was not how it should have been done. If you know more about the campaign and/or the purchase of the house, please comment.

Chinese Proverb.........

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.

'Live it" program at Cardinal Stritch

This is the link to the article in the Blade that ran the same day as the article about Fr. Leyland's parish. If this link doesn't work, you can access it by accessing the page from the other article, and click on religion at the left.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060902/NEWS10/609020353

The article describes the "Live it" program being introduced by Cardinal Stritch to increase the enrollment at their high school. They seek to do this not by adding on a wing, or building a new football stadium, or other means of spending.

Instead, they intend to build enrollment by building the local parishes from which their students come. They intend to make a Catholic education affordable and available to more students by encouraging participation in their local parishes. In encouraging more active participation by parishioners in their local parishes, they hope to encourage more interest in a Catholic secondary education.

As referenced in the article, this has been succesful in theDiocese of Wichita, Kansas, and personally I have seen a similar idea work for another Catholic high school.

Building the spiritual lives of the faithful, allowing them to be a part of the renewal, now isn't that a refreshing outlook?

National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management

http://nlrcm.org/default.htm

NLRCM is an organization of laity, religious and clergy working together to promote excellence and best practices in the management, finances and human resources development of the Catholic Church in the U.S. by greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity.

When I came across this site, and read the reports from conferences in 2004 and 2005, I was encouraged. There ARE people out there trying to get it right.

Almost 30 years ago, many Catholic colleges, universities and hospitals realized that their organizations could benefit from the expertise of laity on their boards, by really listening and putting ideas into practice. This Roundtable seeks to build on that for Diocese and Parish alike.

Explore this site, there's a lot of info here. Conference reports are in PDF format under "publications". There are also many short video talks available under "video". There are panel reports from priests and bishops, sisters and pastoral care personnel, deans of top universities, as well as persons from top business and accounting firms. The reports may appear lengthy, but they are composed of many short articles.

I had quite a few "aha!" moments in reading through them.

You'll find that so much of this just makes sense: utilizing the business training of the laity, encouraging transparency and accountability in finance and management of parishes, restoring trust in financial and other parish matters.

Restoring trust that money donated will be put to its proper designated use.
Restoring trust that funds will be wisely managed, without unnecessary spending.
Restoring trust in open financial documents and discussions that are consistent with the mission of the parish, without hidden agendas.
Restoring trust that advisory boards do serve a purpose in the mission of the parish.

Restoring trust will provide the resources and support for outreach, to do the work that the Church is meant to do.

If it is working elsewhere. . . . . . . .

Reflection

The daily reading book opened today with this quote:

God is One and Christ is One, and one is His Church, and the faith is one, and His people welded together by the glue of concord into a solid unity of body. Unity cannot be rent asunder; nor can the one body of the Church, through the division of its structure, be divided into separate pieces. ----------------------------------------------St. Cyprian of Carthage

(I had to look up concord, it was defined: agreement; harmony; peace.)

News from around the Diocese

Click on the following link to read an interesting article. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060902/NEWS10/609020428

LEGO Our Church???!!!!!