Convening Board Minutes 7/09/04

Present: Joe Hornacek, Alan Jurkus, Ken Mich, John Lukaszewicz, Dave Cooper, Steve              

              Amann; and also Allen Sommer

Excused: Brian Mason, Mike Erwin, Bill Burkert

Prayer: John Lukaszewicz gave a reflection on the Good Samaritan Gospel for Sunday

            and told a story about a “neighbor.”  We prayed for the needs of all.

Review of last meeting’s minutes: approved as printed.

Treasurer’s report: approved with appreciation.

            *A special commendation to Brian Mason for the excellent work on minutes, membership          and email lists, documents and reports.  Thank you, Brian!

We had a brief discussion about the invitation for the September 30th General Meeting.  It was agreed that it should go to all the brothers (not only members) and that all appropriate documents being developed or sent to members should also go to the entire presbyterate.  We want to keep the door open to new comers.

#4. Follow-up on proposal from Steve Avella regarding the withholding of Eucharist

      from politicians who do not vote in accord with the Church’s teaching on abortion.

            Ken Mich led the discussion.  Since we do not yet have a refined document in

            hand, we agreed that work should continue on the document and that it must come to the           Convening Board for further action.  Thanks to Frs. Steve Avella, Chuck

            Schramm, Ken Mich, Bill Burkert, (and Brian Mason).

#5. Salary Statement for consideration by membership – Alan Jurkus

           We decided that the important element here is for the Alliance to affirm and

            commend the work of the Faith and Organizational Structures Committee who

            will be meeting on  July 19th.  Alan Jurkus will attend this meeting.  The committee is in agreement with the concept of Alan’s document.  A full 5% must be the base for next year’s            salary computation.  Future criteria must be determined and ratified.  At the September        General meeting we need to have the whole body approve our support for the F&OS                   Committee. 

            *Please get any modifications on Alan’s document to him before our next meeting.

#6. Follow-up on incardination issue – Alan Jurkus

            10% of the priests currently in active ministry in Archdiocese are foreign-born. 

            There are many different facets to this issue.  We are most concerned about the

            ideological implications because they impact the ecclesiology issue.  This should

            be an issue for the September General Meeting.  What we are most interested in is

            asking the Archbishop to give presbyterate a broad consultative voice before

            groups or individuals are brought in.  There must also be a real need demonstrated

            before outside priests are brought in.  Should we ask Bill Kohler to be part of a

            focus group for this issue?  Alan Jurkus will prepare a rough draft for our next

            meeting.  This issue needs a lot of clarification and careful consideration.

#7. Statement to commission studying the future of St. Francis Seminary – Ken Mich

            Ken brought a well-written one page statement of this issue to the meeting.  We

            liked it very much and all agreed that it should be part of the September General

            Meeting.  Please submit any corrections or thoughts directly to Ken Mich.  After

            the September General Meeting it should go to Fr. Dan Pakenham’s Commission.

#8. Statement on Communion/Reconciliation sequence – Ken Mich

            There are multiple issues here that impact on other concerns and trends.  We are

            concerned about any issue that is appropriate for the Alliance.  The immediate

            concern here is that there has not been any opportunity for the presbyterate to

            dialogue about this.  Even before the Archbishop’s letter texts had been ordered

            and catechists have been prepared; and there is the impact on lay professional

            staff.  No input from priests was requested.  Joe Hornacek will prepare a draft of

            the central issue for next meeting.  We felt this item should be part of the

            September General Meeting. 

 #9. Planning for September 30th General Meeting

            We decided that we did not need a professional facilitator.  We also felt that it

            would be helpful for priest attendees to do some small group process (perhaps

            three groups).  We agreed that the following items should be included in the

            General Meeting: #4, #5, #6 (after Sept. Mtg.), #7, #8.  We still need to plan out

            the exact format of the meeting.  We need time references, tasks assigned, etc.

            This should be a major focus of our next meeting. 

We did not discuss focus groups.  We know that Priests’ Rights Group met.  We know that Priests’ Morale and Voices for the Voiceless did not meet.  We need to put Focus Groups back on the agenda for next meeting.

Next Meetings: August 5th at 1:30 PM in St. Matthias Parish Center

                           August 27th at 1:30 PM, St. Roman Church Office

Respectfully submitted,

David E. Cooper