Attending: Fr. Patrick Ebner, Marilyn Bowen, Judy Comeaux, Cecil Duke, Marian Hendrick, Dennis Macha, Mark Riley (Chairperson), Sabrina Saladino (Vice Chairperson), and Martin Zimmermann (Recorder).

Judy opened the meeting with a prayer at 6:35p.m.

The meeting began with Cecil giving an overview of the Stewardship Committee’s work to promote the church’s 40-42 ministries, not all of which are active. He explained that the Committee is made up of 15 parishioners and will have all new members within a year. Cecil remarked that engaging new people in ministries is a challenge and the Committee has tried different things over the years to recruit new people, including stewardship fairs, an all ministry meeting and a blood drive. He added that the Committee’s main focus has become to utilize parishioners that are already active in ministries. Dennis suggested “grouping” ministries where possible to avoid people spreading themselves too thin. Cecil is confident that the new Committee will find innovative ways to attract new people to the church’s ministries.

Cecil then provided an overview of the Prison Ministry at the federal women’s prison and at the juvenile detention center. On Thursday nights, members from all denomination can visit with prisoners for bible study, to answer questions about our faith or just to visit. Cecil conceded that it can be a challenging ministry and that there is a lot of despair and a lot of fear and that backsliding is common. He added, however, that it can be a very fulfilling ministry with really good conversations with people that want to turn their life around. Volunteers for this ministry need to go through training and background checks as the prisons are very specific about rules and conduct, for example, you cannot contact former inmates after they are released. Those interested in this ministry should contact Deacons Bill or Andy.

The Council then discussed the possibility of a day mission sometime in the spring with speaker Marcel LeJeune. Mark reminded that the parish survey suggested that parishioners wanted more social interaction. Recalling the success of the potluck in November, Sabrina suggested a potluck with a theme. Several topics were suggested including the Eucharist; having a family; what does it mean being Catholic? how to stay strong as a Catholic on a day-to-day basis. Fr. Patrick reminded of the mission with the Fathers of Mercy in December 2009. The group decided to think about a day retreat a little more and bring the item up again during a future meeting.

Fr. Patrick announced that he hopes to make a selection regarding the Youth Minister position before Christmas.

Fr. Patrick then distributed a letter from Bishop Aymond dated December 3 detailing a special assessment from the Diocese of $4,378 during for Christmas and for Easter ($2,189 respectively). The Diocese of Austin is running a deficit in their budget. The main reason for this deficit this that the Catholic Services Appeal has not been meeting its goal and that there are over 40 seminarians (the largest number of seminarians in the history of the diocese). The educational cost for each seminarian is nearly $40,000.

The Council then discussed ways to enhance communication with the parish. An anonymous suggestion box and email to the Council on the website was suggested. Sabrina will look into having an email address created for the Council.

Judy remarked that the heater at St. Salvador Mission is broken.