Q.  Have the youth been polled about a space?

A.   As part of the feasibility study, high school and middle

      school youth open forums were held to obtain youth

      input. The results from this were shared in a newsletter

      focused on youth in our church and what other

      churches/parishes were doing with youth programs

      and space. During the community campaign this fall,

      Fr. Martin visited with the Junior High in the school and

      at gatherings. All high school students were invited to

      a gathering . About 35 high school students attended.

      The youth present and those that voiced an opinion

      stated that they would rather have a youth director

      first to begin activities.

Q.  Would the youth be happy with that space or would

      they rather have a room of their own?

A.  Questionabel? Youth director would have some say

      also.

A.  The youth need and are asking for a youth director to

      help organize activities throughout the year.

A.  St. Theresa in Parkville is organized. They have a youth

      Mass and band. Some do service projects to enhance

      youth participation. Catholic videos are available to

      help youth get interested in participating. A certain key

      is a youth director.

Q.  Did any of our youth go to the Abbey for Brother

      Pachomius' programs?

A.  Very few youth from surrounding parishes and none

      from Maryville.

A.   The Leitner Room is currently used to store various

       items, and as an extension of the Preschool. It also is

       scheduled for weekly RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation

       of Adults) sessions, other parish events, meetings and

       rented by families for various uses. It would be difficult

       to have the Leitner Room as a dedicated space for the

       youth, but the youth could schedule it at various

       times.

A.  The youth would have different needs and a different

      look than the Knights space would have. It would be

      better for the Knights to share a space in one of the

      parish meeting rooms.

Q.  Do the youth feel like they need someone else to lead

      them?

A.  The youth shared that they would like a youth director

      that is young and can related to them. They want

      someone to help organize activities (service and

      socials).

Q.  If our youth is our concern, what will our funds be used

      for?

A.  Youth is one of our concerns. The funds will be used to

      hire a part time or full time youth director as the top

      priority. If enough funds are generated, then we will

      look at remodeling or creating a dedicated space for

      youth meetings/socials.

Q.  Will the director be involved with developing the

      programs?

A.  The purpose of a youth director is to develop the

      programs.

Q.  Who will select the Youth Director? Certain ones get on

      the committees, same ones all the time.

A.  We would look at the process that the Diocese has in

      place for hiring. We will have a search committee

      representing various facets of our ministries and

      church life as well as youth representation.

A.  That is always a possibility if the youth director fits a

      need that the school is looking for.

A.  Currently we have Confirmation for Juniors, for a period

      of 1 year. Our diocesan policy determines the

      Confirmation program and age of attendance.

Q.  How much is enrolment down in our school? Are they

      looking at why enrollment is down?

A.  We are down by about 21 students this year alone. Fr.

      Martin and the school board have interviewed the

      families who have left.

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Q.  Has extra space been considered for music

      & choir?

A.  Yes. The cantor podium is too low. The architect will

      help with possibilities. If we replace the carpet in the

      church, that would be the time to move pews and

      configure better space for the choir.

A.  The choir is just as important as the participation of the

      parish members that join the choir. The choir is to be

      part of the congregation and help the congregation by

      leading us with music.

Q.  What are the options for relocating the choir and giving

      more space to the choir?

A.  The architect will help with possibilities. If carpet and

      paint are neeced in our church then the pews must be

      taken up. That would be the time to reconfigure choir

      space.

A.  Ideal space would allow the choir to still be part of the

      community. While carpet is being replaced and pews

      would have to be unbolted, the ideal time to enlarge or

      reconfigure the choir space. The floor needs to be level

      for choir use. They are now on a slope. We would also

      have to look at what to place down that would allow for

      better acoustics.

A.  The architect would help us with that decision. Right

      now the choir is on a slant which is not good.

A.  To update our existing organ would mean to add more

      ranks. This would cost $50,000 to get it to the point

      where we need it now. There are new instruments that

      can give the organ sound, it doesn't have to be an

      organ. This might make the cost more reasonable.

A.  The ceiling may be too low for the music or voices to be

      projected out.

Q.  If the choir are is improved, could seats lost be in the

      chapel area?

A.  The architects have said that pews could be rearranged

      to not lose the current seating capacity, possibly

      adding capacity.

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Q.  Where should the Tabernacle be?

A.  There are many variations, but the altar should be

      a place of prominence.

Q.  What are the other areas that are being looked at?

A.  We need to redesign the sanctuary. The steps are

      shallow and not safe that lead to the altar. The

      chapel is not used, too small for weekday Masses.

      We can move the Tabernacle, possibly look at

      different use for Chapel/Choir room, maybe

      relocate reconciliation rooms. The chapel area could be

      used for greeting people at wake services. The

      reconciliation rooms could be used for a devotional

      area and place the statues we have in there.

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Q.  Would making the priest rectory into parish use be

      inconvenient?

A.  The architect designed a possibility of redesigning the

      upstairs of the rectory of additional office space and

      meeting rooms. The downstairs of the rectory would be

      redesigned for dedicated spaces for the junior high and

      high school youth. If the garage is demolished, a

      building could be built in its place to offer a bigger

      space for youth game area.

Q.  If we do remodeling of the rectory will the kitchen be

      absorbed in the rectory, and will the ceiling be too low?

A.  The architects show that the kitchen could be shared

      between the high school and junior high space. The

      ceiling will not be too low, unless we use it as a game

      room. the architect drawings show demolishing the

      garage and rebuilding a room with higher ceiling for a

      game room.

A.  Options are being looked at to rent temporarily until

      housing is built for the pastor. There is a possibility of

      free housing for a year for the pastor.

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Financial/      

   Budget

Q.   I am concerned about the under budget which is

      shown in the bulletin.

A.  The bulletin reflects the envelope line item, where

      we project that we need $12,200 per weekend to

      meet the budgeted line item. It does not reflect

      other operating income or gifts that may come in to

      the church.

Q.  What is the $9,000? We should not owe on the

      Parish Center, we had a mortgage burning.

A.  We owe $9,000 to the diocese. We were able to pay

      $33,000 last year. We had to borrow from the diocese,

      $15,000 in the month of November for operating

      expenses, which now brings our operating debt to

      $24,000. We do not have a mortgage debt.

Q.  What is the explanation of the deficit shown in the

      bulletin?

A.  We had maintenance expenses (freezer, sound

      system) that were not budgeted for. We also have

      uncollected tuition and fewer students enrolled this

      year which is less income.

A.   We put all extra income to reducing our operating

      debt, not placing any money in reserve. We also had

      some large donations last year that we had not

      budgeted for and that helped to pay down the

      operating debt from previous years.

A.  We have an approximate figure for the whole package

      ($2-2.5 million). How much is pledged will determine

      how much of the needs, hopes and dreams can be

      fulfilled.

Q.  How many years do people have to pay off their

      pledge?

A.  We are building community. The question is how much

      faith do we have in taking a chance and stepping

      forward in faith?

Q.  When the needs are prioritized based on this, will there

      be a financial campaign?

A.  It would be a community faith campaign, and the

      feasibility study indicated that $900,000 to $1.2 million

      is potential for our faith community.

Q.  Can the rectory be hooked to the school to increase

      space and use for extra meeting rooms?

A.  Yes, it includes air conditioning the top level of the

      school.

A.  The time frame depends on fulfilling pledges, final

      architect drawings, the market cost and best time for

      renovation.

A.  Families will be asked to complete a pledge card. They

      will have options for how their pledge can be paid off

      over a 3-year period (yearly, quarterly, monthly,

      weekly, etc.).

A.  Yes, we are currently researching and working out the

      details to offer automatic deduction.

A.  We have some preliminary sketches in the parish office

      that the architects designed which show enlarging the

      gathering space in the church, creating additional

      office spaces, meeting rooms, and youth space. The

      drawings will also be in the brochure that every family

      will receive in the mail.

A.  We have possibilities of in-kind donations that would be

      considered lead donors. We are in the process of

      working on lead donors.

Q.  What about buying the property for sale across the

      street from the school?

A.  We currently do not need additional property. We are

      very fortunate to not be land-locked and have space to

      expand. In order to keep expenses down, we are trying

      to avoid buying additional land.

A.  The cry room could be in the gathering space or parish

      hall.

Q.  Has anyone asked about changing the time of the

      Saturday evening Mass to an earlier time?

A.  It has been brought up in the feasibility study, has

      been asked at different times by individuals to move

      the Saturday evening Mass to an earlier time. It has

      not been a topic at the gatherings.

Q.  Is it important to keep the field for football practice, if

      you look at using that land?

A.  We have a lot of land down there that we could

      probably still use part of it and reconfigure the space to

      still have a field for soccer or football.

A.  Continue to pray for the community campaign, attend

      and encourage others to attend the gatherings, read

      the newsletters, contact any of the chairs or

      committee chairs and they will gladly love your help.

A.  The architect has been asked to look at our parking

      options and costs.

A.  December 12, 2004 is Pledge Sunday. The pledges are

      for 3 years.

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Q.  Could the stained glass windows be a part of the

      renovation of the sanctuary?

A.  Yes. The stained glass window in the back of the

      church, has pieces of glass breaking out. Water gets in

      the pane and freezes and more pieces break loose

      each year. The leading that holds the stained glass

      pieces together is being stripped down by the

      weather.

Q.  Does the architect plans include the gathering

      extension?

A.  The architect has shown drawings of an extended

      gathering space that allows the stained glass window

      to be inside, protected from the weather.

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Q.  Will the alcohol policy at the parish be changed? It

      would be nice to be able to use our own buildings for

      parish events such as the Parish Celebration rather

      than renting.

Q.  Has it ever been discussed about having ceiling fans

      installed in the church to help with heating and cooling?

Q.  How much of a connection exists between

      St. Gregory's and Newman Center?

A.  The Newman Center is a separate entity, even though

      they do music at Mass and host fundraisers. We could

      possibly team together for youth liturgy.

Q.  How can we help the Newman Center feel more

      connected at St. Gregory's? 

A.  Through communication and letting the Newman

      Center know how they can become involved at St.

      Gregory's.

A.  Not many. They have to go out of their way to get it; so

      they don't come into the hall.

Q.  Why a drop in number of people who would leave their

      estates to the church? Is there a way of increasing 

      that?

A.  We have had and will continue to host estate planning

      seminars.

Q.  How do we touch those who contribute nothing to the

      church?

A.   Invite people to come to events with them. Reach out

      to people. The Party Central events were good.

A.  Efforts are made to incorporate ongoing maintenance

      into the operating budget each fiscal year. When

      money is tight, we cut back each year on maintenance.

A.   The purpose of the gatherings is to present the options

      that were derived from the feasibility study. Through 

      the gatherings the people of the parish are setting the

      priorities.

A.  Currently, changes have been made and the body at

      funerals is placed in the front of the church with people

      greeting the family by coming down the side aisles.

Q.  Can the school have their hot lunch program in the gym

      and use the kitchen in the parish center?

A.  That has been discussed. More information needs to be

      gathered to see if it is feasible with other class

      schedules that use the gym during lunch time. It also

      needs to be discussed who puts up and takes down

      tables. Storage space and freezer space needs to be

      expanded to allow for lunch coop orders.

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