WHO IS OUR HOPE.
Liturgy Committee — Ron McComas & Peg Connell
The Liturgy Planning Committee continually evaluates our liturgical practices to ensure that they conform to liturgical norms and are appropriate to the Community of St. Malachi. This past year the committee focused on implementing procedures which resulted in smoother execution of the Liturgy itself. The committee is actually an aggregation of many sub-committees and dedicated volunteers. In the past year the planning committee was comprised of Ron McComas, Peggy Connell, Kay Vine, Tina
Valencik, Michele Gehring, Fr. Tony Schuerger and Charlene McEllwee.
In her first full year as Music Minister, Charlene McEllwee has assimilated nicely into the Malachi culture. Music continues to be a focal point of our liturgy.
A sub-committee of Liturgy Planning coordinates the recruitment, training and scheduling of Eucharistic Ministers to assist in the distribution of the hosts and precious blood at Sunday and seasonal celebrations. This Liturgy Sub-committee has been capably coordinated by Michele
Gehring. During the past year, Michele has concentrated on improving the reliability of assigned ministers to show up on assigned Sundays. She has also made subtle changes to Sunday procedures to minimize confusion on the altar and improve coordination during Communion.
Lectors proclaim the 1st and 2nd readings and the Petitions at the 11a.m. Mass. Mike Pettit has coordinated the scheduling and training of Lectors for the past several years. Mike has recently implemented procedures to allow more forward scheduling of lectors so as to minimize uncertainties regarding assignments at 11 am liturgy.
Sacristans function as "coordinators" for Sunday and Holy Day liturgy ensuring that our celebration is conducted in a reverent and effective manner. The five sacristans during the past year were Jan
Galo, Kay Vine, Ron McComas, Jane Smith, Joe Wegrzynowski and Peggy Connell.
Kay Vine has been the driving force behind this subcommittee. Taking their cue from the deceased's family members, they provide coordination of wake activities to whatever degree the family of the deceased desires. Kay hopes to enlarge this committee in the coming year and elevate awareness of its existence.
A group of Community members are formed on an as-needed basis to
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coordinate our holyday and other special liturgical celebrations in cooperation with the Parish. They work to ensure our seasonal celebrations create a unique experience for our members/parishioners in keeping with the joy or solemnity of the season. Although the participants vary from celebration to celebration, the Community of St. Malachi can always depend on efforts of Kay Vine and Peggy Connell,
This year both Ron McComas and Peggy Connell will rotate out as co-chairs of the Liturgy Committee. Ed and Janet Shemo have agreed to lead the Liturgy Committee this coming year. Hopefully they will find as much enjoyment and enrichment from leading this committee as we have.
Christian Formation Christian Formation Christian Formation -- Mary Carol Lucic
Mary Carol Lucic -- Mary Carol Lucic
CHRISTIAN FORMATION CLASSES: There are 112 students enrolled in the program, ranging from 3 to 18 years of age. 15 teachers and 4 teaching assistants volunteer their time and talents to teach these students. A teacher in-service as well as a parent orientation and question-answering session was held at the beginning of the year.
SERVICE PROJECTS: Classes have been involved in numerous projects throughout the year, including: preparing and delivering gift boxes for battered women at Templum House, adopting 3 family's Christmas wish-lists from Urban Community School, gathering and delivering wish-list items for Malachi House, Malachi Center, the back door ministry and Monday Night Meals
(MNM), and Christmas caroling at Malachi House.
FAMILY ACTIVITIES: Families met for the very successful, second annual, First Sunday of Advent craft day. Together each family made an Advent wreath, Advent waiting chain, centerpieces for Monday Night Meal, cards for community members who were shut-ins, and wrote a letter to Jesus. Also, group ticket sales to a Beck Center performance went well. Families were invited to attend 'The Living Nativity' at Euclid Avenue Christian Church and a family potluck meal is planned for the end of the school year.
SACRAMENTS; First Reconciliation: 7 students prepared for and received this sacrament on Dec. 7, 1999. First Eucharist: 11 students are being prepared and will receive this sacrament on May 21, 2000. Baptism:DRE Karen Duffy has provided sacramental preparation for 4 families of children who have been baptized.
SENIOR HIGH RETREAT: 10 students and 4 adults attended the weekend of January 28, 2000 at Cedar Hills Retreat Center in
Painesville. The theme was 'gifts'.
MIDDLE SCHOOL RETREAT: Also at Cedar Hills on March 4th and 5th
2000. There were 19 students, 4 adults & a team of 8 high school students who planned & executed the theme of 'light'. Both retreats were tremendously successful.
STUDENT SOCIAL EVENTS: The middle school students went bowling together. An end of the year prayer service/social is being planned for senior and junior high students.
PARENT EDUCATION GROUP: It meets during CF classes on Sunday mornings and discusses a variety of topics (e.g. 'From Jesus to Christ! Early Christianity' and a PBS presentation of 'Apocalyptic literature'). This group is attended by 15-20 parents each week and is facilitated by Luis Gutierrez and Kim Langley.
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LITURGY: CF program worked with Liturgy committee to participate in
Catechetical Sunday and the Thanksgiving Eve Mass.
D.R.E.(Director of Religious Education) Karen Duffy continues to do a terrific
job in planning, organizing, leading and running this program. Many thanks to
Karen for her devotion and dedication.
Membership Committee — Jocelyn Heaney
Our committee continued its four major activities, with the help of
coordinators and volunteers, as follows:
SUNDAY INFORMATION TABLE: This operated weekly under the direction of
Coordinator Mary Piar. We are now using the counter just inside the hail
entrance from the kitchen, rather than a table. Set-up, coordination with
"Council Corner", and accessibility to interested persons are easier
using the counter. The table continues to be an effective way to reach out to
prospective members.
PROSPECTIVE MEMBER MEETINGS: These are held monthly under the direction of Rose
Homing, usually the first Sunday of the month after the 11:00 a.m. Liturgy at
the St. Malachi Center. These sessions last 45 minutes. They are a
convenient way to provide information about the Community to new and prospective
members on a regular basis.
WELCOME SERIES: The coordinator is Jocelyn Heaney. We put on the fall Welcome
Series, with the two evening meetings held at Jocelyn's home. The 13 new members
who attended were welcomed into the Community on New Member Sunday in November
1999. The spring Welcome Series is planned for May 2, 7, and 9. This was
postponed because of our April 25th Anniversary celebration. During the series,
council representatives from the committees and from the ministries discuss
their roles and opportunities for involvement and volunteering. This is a
wonderful opportunity for new members to connect with long-time members and
other new members, in order to learn ways to get involved.
ANNUAL RE-COMMITMENT PROCESS: The coordinator is Bill McLaughlin. We are
currently handing out the re-commitment forms during Coffee Hour and will
continue through April 9, after which the forms will be mailed out. When the
process is complete, a new roster will be prepared for the upcoming fiscal year.
Hospitality Committee — Terry Hayes
During the past year, the Hospitality Committee completed its two main
functions. The committee hosted the Coffee Hour throughout the year and
furnished ushers for the Community's 11 a.m. Liturgy
Ms. Patti Klatil was in charge of the dedicated corps of ushers who were also
the ones welcoming the people to church.
Ms. Vicki Stetik was in charge of the Coffee Hour. She scheduled all the
dedicated volunteers. Their duties ranged from picking up donuts, to serving and
clean up. They create a special gathering every Sunday.
The committee also hosted special events during the year. One special
observation bears mentioning. The cost of donuts and bagels has risen to $57 per
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Sunday. In addition to coffee, milk and juice, we also have added a $10 final
clean up of the hall cost.
In short, we need our members to be generous to cover our costs. There is a
donation box at the coffee table. Thanks.
Social Action Committee — Susan Shipley
This year the SAC committee has been instrumental in disseminating some
Welfare-to-Work information to the community and current social issues affecting
the poor and homeless in the area. Members also contributed time and talent to
Christmas giving projects that included The Giving Tree and Christmas
Wrap-a-thon and distribution of gifts to area agencies. Members have been
involved with creating an Altar Cloth, Christmas Nativity backdrop, pendant, and
other craft projects for the church. Grant writing, appeals for pledges, letter
writing campaigns, and some legislative advocacy activities have taken place.
Hopefully, these activities will increase in the future as membership increases.
The recruitment and empowerment of new members continues to be a goal of the
committee. To accomplish this and accommodate the Community, the time and
location of monthly meetings take place after Mass in the hail or in the
rectory. Meeting announcements are provided through the Community Newsletter,
e-mails, telephone calls, and/or announced at that Sunday's Mass. SAC meetings
are conducted by a facilitator who encourages the members to share and expand
their social concerns and engage the rest of the group to focused action. Action
agendas become realities through monitorship and direction of the founding
members. The founders possess experiences in ways to advocate and develop
funding. They are knowledgeable about linkages to area social service agencies,
how to lobby, and how to develop talents in others.
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT Gibbons & Frank Schiros
As in all spiritual development, the work of the ministry is never finished
and much is yet to be completed. Our report will cover our achievements and
those activities yet to be accomplished. Dick and I began our year by arranging
a BOOK FAIR and we called this occasion an opportunity to get "Soul
Food". The good nuns who organized the event will provide another Soul Food
Fair upon request.
Our next event was a SUNDAY BRUNCH and part of the promotion was to offer
"bagels and cream cheese" during coffee hour on prior Sundays. The
promotion was so successful that we influenced a change of eating habits during
Coffee Hour and a regular snack is bagels as well as donuts. The brunch was not
only successful but due to the efforts of Dick Gibbons, also elaborate and
intimate. He really knows how to put on a good spread.
During Advent season, our ministry presented an Advent program capably
facilitated by Kim Langely. The program detailed many possible activities that
could enrich the spirituality of the season. Kim also dwelled on the history of
Advent celebrations.
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The next event, the "VATICAN II SIX WEEK SERIES" was planned in
conjunction with Pat Forkas, Cathy Jacob and Bill Jacob. The first four of the
series was successful beyond our expectations and the last two presentations are
expected to meet with the same success. Critical to the series is how to
determine an appropriate follow through and continuation of the interest
generated by the program.
The last planned event for the year is a retreat for the community sometime in
May. The Ministry plans to hold a week-end retreat beginning on Friday night and
ending Sunday noon. Members will facilitate the retreat by providing spiritual
exercises and reflections and a priest familiar to members will be asked to
preside over Sunday Mass At the introduction of this report, mention was made
that the work of spiritual development never ends.
The following activities were suggested by Community members in early discovery
sessions:
1) LIMITED CURSILLOS OR RETREATS
3) INTERACTING DISCUSSION GROUPS
5) GREATER INTERACTION WITH DIOCESAN ACTIVITIES
7) RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR ADULTS AND YOUTH
8) CONTINUE SUNDAY BRUNCH TRADITION
9) CREATE A NETWORK OF GROUPS FOR DIALOGUE
10) PROVIDE A SERIES OF DISCUSSIONS FOR OUR LAY COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO DISCUSS
THEIR VOLUNTEER MISSIONS
12) OPEN HOUSE VISITS AT VARIOUS CATHOLIC CENTERS
13) 24 HOUR PRAYER VIGILS
14) MASS, DINNER, AND CONVERSATIONS WITH THE POOR AND HOMELESS
Communications
Believing that "communications" should be two-way, the
committee sought guidance from the Community on how they would like their
leadership to communicate with them. Eighty-three CSM members provided direction
through a Survey in August. The majority thoroughly read both the Newsletter and
Communio. They asked to continue the general direction of printed publications,
and added a number of suggestions to improve. Which the Committee is currently
implementing.
Joe Pulizzi researched, drafted, and polished the Survey
questionnaire. Peter Toomey assisted with its editing. John Lucic helped conduct
the interviews.
Most rejected web delivery of publications, wanting a printed copy to take with
them, to share with others. Making publication schedules more closely match
readers' usage, the Newsletter now appears approximately biweekly and Communio
monthly.
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Newsletter: Mary Englert continues her sparkling editing and has frequently
increased news coverage to four pages.
The Calendar of Opportunities: Bill McLaughlin seamlessly assumed this
responsibility from Peter Toomey. Typical issues increased to two pages. And
Bill significantly boosted delivery sophistication by posting it on the
Community web site. Because Bill has volunteered to serve CSM as Treasurer, we
need a replacement Calendar Editor. Will train.
Communio, now in monthly distribution, is usually at least 20 pages. Dan Alaimo
continues his dedicated service and insight as Editor-in-Chief. Luis Guttierrez
and Joe Pulizzi continue editing and layout efforts to make Communio easier to
read. Pam Pulizzi often deliver the finished masters to the Rectory in time for
duplication
The Pulizzi family partnership is an example of the committee's efforts to
encourage all of Council to involve as many as possible in CSM's ministries.
Patricia Coffey faithfully coordinates numerous volunteers who collate and
staple. Celeste Grunwald recruits volunteers to hand out after Mass. And Carol Lavelle
and Judy Bozell somehow always get copying and attachments done on time.
Paul Kunkel edits and publishes other Community documents, such as the Policies
and Procedures handbook and this Annual Meeting report.
Web page: Mike May has jump-started this CSM outreach in the past year, ably
supported by Bill McLaughlin and Phil Daly. Mary Becker is reformatting and
posting each issue of Communio and the Newsletter. And the Committee is now
actively addressing with Council the issues of online privacy and increasing
traffic by various means and listings. But this is likely to take awhile.
Other possible improvements are e-mail addresses (for example, csmfinance@mail.com or
csmliturgy@catholic.org) for committee chairs. Exploring
ways to improve communications for anyone with a Community office in the new
century.
The Committee envisions the web site of the future to be more than just
advertising. It will play a bigger part in all of our lives. It's impossible to
predict what the future holds for the internet and the Community. But at the
heart is interactivity, and that includes dialog with whoever sees fit to
contact us.
Finally the Committee is recommending that using the internet be part of the
"appreciative inquiry" process. Peter Toomey chairs the Web page
subcommittee. And Dan Alaimo continues his primer series in Communio on some of
the more popular programs.
The Archives subcommittee has been thriving under Kay Vine's leadership. Mary
Jayne Aylward, and Mary Englert have assembled resources which they are sorting
and cataloging. They have also provided significant support for the 25th
Anniversary Committees.
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Financial Report — JoAnn Kramer
Your continued generosity to the Community of St. Malachi is greatly
appreciated. The Community's financial statements for the quarter ending March
2000 will be appended to the April issue of the Newsletter. Please remember that
summer collections are important to meet our budget goals.
Many thanks to Bill McLaughlin who has served as our bookkeeper this year.
The Diocese of Cleveland requires that all parishes have a financial council to
serve as an advisory board to the pastor and parish council on financial
matters. Since the Community has no real estate or savings, our council is
primarily a budget advisory group. Members of the Finance Council are Larry
Weiland, Barbara Parkowski, Fr. Tony Schuerger, Rebecca Rocco and I. The
Financial Council will work with the Community Council in May to prepare a
budget for the new fiscal year which starts in July 2000. The proposed budget
will be in the Newsletter for comment before being adopted in June.
The Community Council has established a Personal Needs fund to address the
emergency needs of Community members. This fund will be administered solely by
the pastor. If you care to contribute to this fund, please note "Personal
Needs Fund" on the memo line of your check. All contributions for this fund
will be used solely for this purpose.
In response to a special appeal the Community of St. Malachi and the St. Malachi
Parish raised $1,393 for L'Arche. Also, the Community had collected funds to
support the 25th Anniversary celebration.
Refugee Project — Fred Leonard
The Kostromans, the refugee family, is becoming used to living in America.
They have an apartment in Rocky River. The boys are in school and doing well.
They are all very kind and good people. We were glad to have them. The people
from Malachi's that helped in all regards to the refugees have my heartfelt
thanks for being there for them.
Shared Ministry — Paul Kunkel
This ecumenical group in Ohio City meets monthly from September through
June.
We had our retreat at St. Pat's on Bridge to kick off the year. Interfaith
services were
held Thanksgiving Eve at Franklin Circle, Unity Sunday in January at St.
Malachi's, and
Good Friday at St. Paul Community Church. We celebrated National Prayer Day at
West
Side United Church of Christ and on the Square in Cleveland. About thirty of us
went
Christmas Caroling at St. Herman's, the County Nursing Home, and Malachi House
the
Sunday before Christmas.
This year saw several members leave the group. Rev. Chuck Hosutt retired from
West Side UCC. Sisters Ann and Florence left Sagrada Familla for assignments in
Cincinnati. Rev. Bill Kendall and his wife Rev. Christine, Pastors of Franklin
Circle
Church, went back to Taiwan.
Project AFFORD, a Shared Ministry project, has started construction on the
Hritz-O'Donnell home on Woodbine Avenue. The Community and the Parish of St.
Malachi raised funds a few years ago for this project. The home on Woodbine is a
TECHBUILT home. it is a highly energy-efficient structure, which will provide
the new
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homeowners with minimal utility bills. They will have a monthly payment of
about $350. This is made possible by the down payment which our donations
provided.
25th Anniversary Committee — Kay Vine
Over two years ago, after the CSM Council agreed to establish formal
archives for the preservation of historical materials beyond sacramental
records. It was recognized that it was time to begin organizing for the
Community's twenty-fifth anniversary as an established parish. Volunteers from
both the Council and Community membership were identified and a Steering
Committee was created. New challenges began! The Community Anniversary Committee
tackled two major issues early on: What were the goals of an anniversary
celebration and what would be the scope/time frame? Four areas were identified:
1. Education about the history and charisms of the Community.
2. Outreach to younger members.
3. Creating a spirit of celebration and gratitude for the life of the
Community.
4. Begin visioning the future of the Community
In light of these goals, it was decided that the 25th anniversary be celebrated
in a year-long time frame with a focus on the Community Mission. Several work
groups were organized and their commitment to creating an atmosphere of
celebration as well as the activities and materials that make for memorable
occasions are a witness to LIVED COMMUNITY. We are grateful for all!
Anniversary Steering Committee: Greg Gortz, Rebecca Rocco, Pat Forkas, Peg
Connell, Cindy Dinardo, Lou Keim, Paul and Mary Ann Kunkel, Rosemarie DeJohn
Quilted History/Community Spirit Panels: Cindy DiNardo, Madge Herceg, Eileen
Garven, Liz Galvin, Therese Andreani
Community Anniversary Memory Book: Paul Kunkel, Mary Englert, Kay Vine
Murder Mystery Event: Marie James and Dolores Bastaich
Social Events and Anniversary Dinner: Rosemarie DeJohn, Lou Keim, Barb
Parkowski, Jim and Mary Laubenthal, Bill McLaughlin, Roseanne Kaminski, Sally
and Terry Hayes, Marguerite O'Donnell
Vatican II Series: Pat Forkas, Bill and Cathy Jacob, Frank Schiros, Dick
Gibbons Community Anniversary Altar Cloth: Pat Forkas and Lois Dingman (Linen
was Brought from Ireland by Gen McCloskey)
Update of Community Logo and Anniversary Pins: Ron Perger and Janelle
Schubmehl
Liturgical Celebrations: Peg Connell, Ron McComas, Mike Petit, Michelle
Gehring, Tina Valencik, Charlene McElwee, Kay Vine
Decorations: Kay Vine, Ron Perger, Marge Swyt, Mary Ann Marsal, Greg Kammer,
Janeile Schubmehl, Roseanne Kaminski, Susan Shipley, Joan Majewski, Jonni
Flaherty, Nancy Mercer
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