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Stewardship Commission Meeting

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Gay Ann Christy, Jay Bukalski, Linda Bukalski, Amy Fowler, Brandy Hutzler, Vicki Irsik, Jennifer Otto, Susan Ziegler

Opening Prayer:

STEWARDSHIP PRAYER

Heavenly Father, 

My parish is composed of people like me; I make it what it is. 

It will be friendly if I am friendly.

Its pews will be filled if I help fill them.

It will do great work, if I work.

It will make generous gifts to many causes if I am a generous giver.

It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship if I invite and bring them.

It will be a parish of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, and a parish with a noble spirit, if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these same things. 

Therefore, with Your help, O God, I shall dedicate myself to growing our faith by being all things that I want my parish to be.

Amen.

The Stewardship Commission welcomes Linda Bukalski as the newest member of our commission. Linda brings a passion for evangelization and a heart for stewardship to the commission. We are grateful for her commitment to helping us develop the Stewardship Commission.

1. Reminder: The diocesan Stewardship Conference will take place on April 13

2. Set Meeting Schedule for 2024: to start 2024, our commission will meet monthly until we complete the CSR activities, Commission Charter is developed, and parish website page for the Stewardship Commission is complete. Next meeting is Monday, February 19, 5:30 pm.

3. CSR Packets Update: 38 packets were received as of 1/23/2024. 

• The Parish Office will continue to forward additional packets as they are received. Gay Ann will make copies of the packets received and distribute copies to Parish Commission Chairs and Stewardship Partners by 1/30/2024. 

• Commission Chairs will contact parishioners to align their interests and talents with ministries to serve our parish and communities.

• Key reminder: It is never too late to submit CSR packets. To continue to foster stewardship, Gay Ann will get approval from Joan and Fr. Penn to put Time and Talent forms at all church entrances. 

• Gay Ann will also discuss other opportunities to reach parishioners, i.e., parish communication center, distribution to parents of FFF, etc. We will decide next steps once feedback is received from Joan and Fr. Penn.

4. Thank You Note Discussion: The office is doing an outstanding job mailing Thank You notes as CSR packets are received and many parishioners have expressed their appreciation for the Thank You notes. Our Stewardship Commission has purchased Thank You notes to distribute when parishioners support commission activities. Gay Ann distributed the first notes to the parish office for their assistance with CSR activities.

5. Stewardship Partners for Parish Commissions/Councils:

• Stewardship partners have been established with the primary purpose of giving each commission/council a single point of contact they can work with to support their needs, make suggestions, and assist with developing stewardship in our parish and community.

• Stewardship partners are encouraged to reach out to their commission/council contacts to let them know they are their partner and available if they need assistance from the Stewardship Commission.Just a reminder that our role as stewardship partners is not to direct how commissions/councils lead their commissions/councils, rather to assist them with building the bridge between parishioners and our community.

6. Development of Our Commission Charter: Jay Bukalski has accepted the role as Stewardship Commission Co-Chair with key responsibilities to develop our commission charter and share his extensive knowledge of stewardship as we continue to develop are Stewardship Commission at Our Lady of the Lake.

7. Development of Our Parish Website Stewardship Page and future communication from the commission: Amy Fowler and Brandy Hutzler have accepted the role of Stewardship Commission Communications Coordinators. They will work with Joan Wolf and Marilee Poulter.

8. Additional Discussion Topics As Required: No additional topics to discuss. 

Closing Prayer

As we close this meeting, Lord, we want to give honor to You.
Thank You, God, for the time we had together today.
May You bless each person who took the time to gather here today.
May Your hand of protection be on them throughout the rest of the week.
Let the work done here tonight be fruitful and let it all be for Your glory.
Help us each to do our part to bring the plans discussed to life.
Amen.