St. Lucy Pastoral Council

May 11, 2024 |9:00 a.m. | Opening Prayer Marty Navarro

In Attendance

Present:  Marty Navarro (Chair), Mary Lynn Bedell (Co-Chair), Stacey Walsh (Secretary),

Greg Pitts, Dawn Tierney, Kathryn LaLonde and Jim Nondorf

Ex Officio: Fr. Thomas Vathappallil, Larry Jansen (Trustee), John Csepella (Trustee)

Excused:  Michelle Andrews

Unexcused:  Lydia Vela

Approval of Minutes

Review and approval of March 9, 2024 meeting minutes. 

Motion to approve – Dawn Tierney     | Seconded – Greg Pitts

Pastoral Report – Fr. Thomas

Fr. Thomas thanked everyone on council for service during his four years at St. Lucy.  Fr. Thomas said he has had a difficult time at St. Lucy making meaningful connections.  He came to St. Lucy during COVID, so he indicated that he struggled to connect with the congregation.  He noted that there are a lot of welcoming people at St. Lucy, but that he just didn’t make connections with people like he had hoped.

Finance Report – Larry Jansen (Trustee), John Csepella (Trustee)

Larry reported that St. Lucy is in good financial shape.  The Finance Committee has a budget meeting at the end of May 2024.  They are proceeding as normal for now, unsure of what the future holds for St. Lucy.  St. Lucy has one large expenditure right now.  We made a down payment on a boiler in the amount of $102,000.  The Love One Another campaign money comes in quarterly and is in a separate account.  The Love One Another account helps with expenditures like this.

Prayer and Worship Report – Dawn Tierney

The choir will continue to hold weekly rehearsals through early June.  They will then go on summer hiatus, using smaller ensembles for each of the masses.  St. Lucy is continuing to prepare for the upcoming special liturgies that include Pentecost and the Corpus Christi procession.  Some of the choir members will be involved in Fr. Terry’s jubilee celebration at St. Sebastian.  St. Lucy is also looking forward to being a host parish for the Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which will include a Holy Hour, Benediction, Reconciliation, and a dinner for the pilgrims.

Christian Formation Report – Lydia Vela

Nothing to report.

Human Concerns Report – Mary Lynn Bedell

Dawn Vlach, from the Harmony Club Ministry, said they have a new site in Kenosha next to the New Life Center.  They recently had a 9th anniversary celebration at the Texas Roadhouse that brought in $500, which was a big success.  They are looking for new volunteers.

Janet Urban, from St. Vincent DePaul Meal Program Ministry, said that last month’s dinner served 130 people.  Leftovers are sent to the senior center next door.  The meals are much appreciated and both the servers and recipients really enjoy the dinners.  They are also looking for more volunteers.   

Stewardship – Michelle Andrews

Nothing to report.   

School Update – Kathryn LaLonde

Katheryn reached out to the school but didn’t get a reply.  Nothing to report.    

Deanery Report – Jim Nondorf

Nothing to report.

New/Continuing Items – What’s Next?  Welcome, Meet & Greet with Fr. Juan

Rev. Juan Manuel Camacho joined the meeting at 9:30 a.m.  Fr. Juan said he was excited and is looking forward to becoming the pastor of Racine Southeast that includes St. Lucy.  There are eight parishes in Racine Southeast:  St. Sebastian, St. Lucy, St. Edward, St. Richard, Sacred Heart, St. Patrick, St. Joseph and St. John Nepomuk. 

One of the first things Fr. Juan would like to do is introduce the new team of priests that will include Fr. Craig Richter, who will be newly ordained on May 18th, 2024, Rev. Jose Mario Nieto Restrepo and Rev. Michael Petersen. 

Mass Schedule.  There are currently 38 masses per week (weekday and weekend) being held between the eight parishes in Racine Southeast.  Due to the number of masses, St. Lucy will continue to have help from Fr. Terry Huebner and Fr. Allan Bratkowski.  Fr. Juan said he has been praying about how this will look moving forward.   

Per Canon Law:

Can. 905

• 1. A priest is not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist more than once a day except in cases where the law permits him to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day.
• 2. If there is a shortage of priests, the local ordinary can allow priests to celebrate twice a day for a just cause, or if pastoral necessity requires it, even three times on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

There is an average of 135 people attending each of the weekend masses across the eight parishes in Racine Southeast.  Keeping Canon Law in mind, Racine Southeast will need to adjust the mass schedule so that priests adhere to more closely to Canon Law.  Fr. Juan continues to pray about how to accomplish that.  He said he could use our prayers as well.  Most importantly, Fr. Juan would like to find a good balance for each of the eight parishes in Racine Southeast. 

Sienna School System.  Fr. Juan would like to build a stronger presence, a stronger Catholic identity in the Sienna School system.  There is no roadmap on how to do this, but he would like to coordinate between schools and families to work on strengthening those bonds and connections.  There are a lot of children in the schools, but they are not represented on Sunday.  Fr. Juan continues to pray about all of this too.

Senior Members.  Fr. Juan would like to look into creating a nursing home ministry or a senior ministry.  As people age and life changes, Fr. Juan believes it is important to stay connected to our senior parish members to make sure the bond is strong and no one feels left behind.

Overall, Fr. Juan would like to see Racine Southeast become a vibrant faith community.  He is excited and looking forward to all of the possibilities.

Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:59 a.m.

Motion to approve – Greg Pitts   | Seconded –  Dawn Tierney   

Respectfully submitted by Stacey Walsh