St. Mary of
Planning Advisory Committee
Minutes of
The meeting was called to order by Gary Loertscher at 7:05 p.m. Members present were: Gary Loertscher, Carol Eberhardy, Mike Warmuth, Ray & Ann Legris, Tim Blair, Teri Nolden, Torey Schauff, Jerry Ziegler, Jerry Jansen, John Buscemi (liturgical consultant), Tim Stadelman, Doug Waelti, Kay Parish, Jerry Remy, Bob Hoffman, Barb Wachter,. Carla Wolf, Joe Donlin, Joe Stadelman (architect), Jerry Rabas, Gary Ziegler, Ken Klink.
Minutes of the
Each committee member introduced themselves and presented a short overview of the significance of the planning initiative to Joe Stadelman, architect; and John Buscemi, liturgical consultant.
Joe Stadelman introduced his role in the process. At this time it is primarily that of a listener.
John Buscemi presented an overview of his role and initiated discussion by focusing on the major concepts of the planning process:
- need to look at who we are as a faith community
- need to envision our image of what a new church will be
- focus on “why now” as the basis for action
- need to be proactive in addressing needs relating to growth of our faith community and the realities of clustering/priest allocation
- work toward parish consensus about building by “enlarging the circle of folks involved” in an ongoing, organized fashion
John Buscemi led a discussion of “what the faith community needs to know” at this stage of the process:
- a visual presentation of the proposed church and a summary of its cost
- an understanding of the future impact of the priest shortage and the clustering plans for our diocese
- the process of St. James and St. Mary’s becoming a united family
- the demographics and geographic pattern of our faith community
- knowledge of the active role played by St. Mary’s in the community (senior citizens, scouts, 4-H, daycare, etc.)
-
future projections of growth
for
- the vibrancy and spirit of our faith community
John Buscemi initiated discussion focusing on key elements of the new church. Major points cited were:
- a place with an uplifting feeling
- welcoming atmosphere
- sense of intimacy
- small town atmosphere
- retain art treasures of St. James and St. Mary’s
- atmosphere of solitude and reverence
- provide “socializing spaces(s)”
Plans were discussed for a parish meeting in January to focus on three questions:
- What do we think we need?
- What are our treasures?
- What are our values?
Discussion of facts/information to be presented at the January parish meeting included:
- overview of demographics
- overview of clustering/priest numbers
- growth patterns
- family orientation of St. James/St. Mary’s
- healthy and viable status of our faith community
- summation of planning process
- proposed site/land donation
- status/proposed future use of existing facilities
Themes to emphasize include:
- we are blessed with growth and energy
- St. Mary’s/St. James is one family of faithful
- we are in a time of growth and need to look to the future
- come join us and build a new church
- we are challenged by our needs and ready to move forward
- reaffirm what the planning committee is doing and the direction we are going
Strategies and plans leading up to and for the January parish meeting included:
-
schedule for
following Sunday as a snow date.
-
food/refreshments prepared by CCW to be served in
parish hall immediately following
-
start meeting (in church) at
- provide babysitting service
- meeting facilitated by John Buscemi
- start meeting with short, factual presentations focusing on (demographics, clustering, summation of planning process, timeline)
- prepare fact sheet(s)
- short, factual inclusions in bulletin in weeks leading up to parish meeting
- possible letter to all parishoners
- invitations to key individuals who have leadership roles in; parish council, liturgy, music, religious ed., at St. James and St. Mary’s
- generate a sense of obligation to attend the parish meeting
The next Planning Advisory Committee meeting will be on
The meeting was adjourned at