Present: Michele Mitchell, Hanna Wakeling, Alison Landry, Gary O’Dwyer,
               Mary Smith, Kathleen Revell, Rick Marchand, Don Nicholson
 
 
1&2. Opening

1. The meeting began with a prayer by Michele
2. The agenda was accepted by all present
3. The minutes of the January meeting were reviewed and accepted.

 
3. Financial Issues:

a) Gerard provided statements for year end review.

• Overall, our income exceeded our expenses for the 2009 year.
• Most of the profit was because there was a significant period where we were not paying any salaries.

b) Excess monies from Haiti Collection:

• The Haiti congregational collection totaled $1600.
• The Board has contributed $500 from church funds, resulting in a total amount of $2100.
• $1000 has already been given to the Rotary Club. MOTION made and passed to donate $550 to Partners in Health and $550 to World Vision, both to be used for Haiti Relief.
• Hannah to contact our treasurer to release these cheques.

c) Process for releasing funds to charities or those in need:

• We have a Charity Fund, where 10% of our total income is placed for use as needed. This totals approximately $3000 per year.
• We did not disperse the full funds from 2009.
• MOTION made and passed for a process to be used for future release of funds: 70% of total amount to be given to local registered charities and 30% to be used in a Good Samaritan Emergency Fund.
• The Good Samaritan Emergency Fund will be available for emergency needs of individuals. MOTION made and passed that amounts from $0 to $100 can be approved and released at the discretion of the Chair plus one Board member and will be in the form of a voucher (food, heat, store gift card, etc). Requests for above $100 must be presented in writing at a board meeting.

 
4. Current Church Projects
 
a) Service time:

• The congregation voted in favour of a standard 10:30am start time. This will be for all Sunday services throughout the year.

b) Neighbourlink:

• we have now paid our registration fee and are an active member of this group. Don will continue to attend meetings to determine where we can become active. Interest was shown from Board members in helping with the “Meal in a Bag” program.
• MOTION passed for us to submit an article to the local paper regarding our status with Neighbourlink. Hanna will contact Joan to arrange for her to write an article describing our church and its activities/focus. This will then be emailed to Don. Don will arrange for a picture to be taken with himself and the Neighbourlink chair and then submit the article and picture to the paper.

c) Parish educational plan:

• Gary has not been successful in meeting with the Muldoons to determine a course of action. The March 7 date will hence be changed to March 28.
• This session will be in the form of a “Lunch and Learn” from 12-2pm. Lunch will be light sandwiches and finger food only and will be held upstairs. Alison to include this in the Upcoming events overhead.
• The topic for discussion/education will be “Luke’s interpretation of the Beatitudes”. Gary to provide more information to Michele for the bulletin.

d) Communication with parishioners:

• feedback is positive regarding the calendar of events on the overhead. People will like it to be left up a little longer at the end of the service. Alison will coordinate this with the projector operator.

 
5. Business Arising from Past Minutes:
 
a) Pastoral Care/Counseling: Heather has been very busy and unable to meet with Gary to proceed further with a plan. Gary will present their plan at the March meeting.
b) Intentional Eucharistic Communities: Hanna has not received any response from either Corpus Canada or Taproot. Hence we will not proceed with this further at present.
c) Church Banner: Hanna has taken on this project and presented her progress to date. Hanna hopes to have this completed by Holy Week.
 
 
6. Pastors Report

a) Celtic Roots: Gary will provide a detailed information package about this at the next Board meeting, focusing on the history of this and why we should be using it.
b) Lenten and Holy Week Activities

• Wednesday noon services will continue throughout Lent. These are approximately 20 minutes in length. A small group is attending. Gary is leading the services.
• Candle lighting element will continue at the start of all Sunday services throughout Lent.
• Holy Week services will be: Thursday April 1 at 7pm, Friday April 2 at 10:30am and Easter Sunday April 4 at 10:30am. Gary will provide an overview of service plan/content at the next Board meeting. Alison to book the hall.

c) Palliative Care Action: the palliative care unit at the Northumberland Hills Hospital is scheduled to close due to cutbacks. A letter-writing campaign has commenced. Information about this has been sent out to parishioners through email. Gary encouraged us to write letters in support of keeping the unit open.
d) Abba Ministries: Gary attended a conference session on Feb 21. They are looking to branch into Alberta.
e) Ministerial Association: The annual fee has not yet been paid. Hanna to contact our treasurer for release of a cheque for $50 to be made out to the Northumberland Ministerial Association.
 

7. New Issues:
 
a) Joan has requested that an intro paragraph be added to the Homily section of the website, indicating that homilies are often completed by parishioners and guest homilists are welcome. Michele will forward Joan’s suggestion to Greg. Gary to check with the lawyer regarding also including a statement such as “the opinions expressed in these homilies do not necessary reflect the full beliefs of CtS” to protect ourselves from slander or plagiarism.
b) Creeds: the congregation is generally happy with rotating the creeds. This was voted upon and passed some time ago. No further discussion needs to occur about a different or new creed. Alison will contact the projector operator to ensure that the 5 creeds are rotated and used equally.
 
8. Next Meeting
 
Wednesday March 24th at Roseglen meeting room. Michele to bring snacks.

9. Closing Reflection
 
led by Hanna. Meeting adjourned at 9:05pm.
 
Minutes respectfully submitted by Alison Landry.