Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC) Meeting Minutes 3/10/2018

American Martyrs Retreat House

Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chair Pat Goedken.
Members present: Bob Buschette, Kathy Fredericks, Pat Goedken, Most Rev. Michael
Jackels, Sr. Carla Popes, Martha Real, John Reicks, Marcia Reilly, Sharon Rettinger,
Dan Rohner, Sue Salow, Pauline Shatek, Dn. Mike Ward and Marie Ware.
Sue Keune, Judy Ramsey, Dn. Rigoberto Real and Msgr. Thomas Toale were excused.
Brad Kneeland was absent.
A quorum was present and the meeting commenced.

Update on Special Appeal

Archbishop Jackels updated the council on continued consideration of launching a
special appeal. He has conducted meetings with priests throughout the archdiocese
to present the needs and listen to their feedback and ideas. After hearing the
summary of the meetings, the council had the following observations and questions:
• There shouldn’t be a problem asking again to support priest
retirement…things change.
• Suggestion - Establish an annual assessment per parish to maintain the
Cathedral of St. Raphael in Dubuque, the mother church of the Archdiocese.
• The Archdiocese should share more about its finances so parishioners know
what the money is used for.
o Response: The Archdiocese is going to start publishing an annual
report summarizing the finances of the Archdiocese and the Catholic
Foundation. Considering methods to ensure the information is
effectively delivered to every parish.
• What is the procedure to get to a decision?
o There are 3-4 more meetings with priests and will be the last step in
the consultation process. A decision will be made after that.
• The discussion focused on priest retirement. How is retirement of religious
brothers and sisters funded?
o There is a fall collection that is directed to religious retirement.
o In addition, larger congregations have their own development
programs and provide for their own.

Parish Needs/Pastoral Center Support

The council then discussed parish needs and how the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center
can serve those needs in three areas closely aligned with Archdiocesan Mission
Priorities.
Adult Faith Formation – Comments/Questions/Suggestions:
• Members who serve on parish staffs commented on the helpful assistance
from Mary Pedersen, Director of Adult Faith Formation.
• There are advantages to both online and face-to-face resources. Facilitating
groups that use online resources with in-person meetings could blend the
two.
• Some programs, like IMPACT (Two-year Lay Formation Program) can’t be
done by individual parishes and are appropriately delivered through the
resources of the archdiocese.
 Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC) Meeting Minutes 3/10/2018
American Martyrs Retreat House
• Whatever is offered can’t add to the workload of the Pastor or the Parish Life
Coordinator. Services must be easy and accessible to all.
• Traditional religious education efforts have focused on children. We have
some “lost generations” of adults. We need to “put the oxygen mask” on the
parents first so they can help their children.
• We need to work with parents to make faith the center of life…then
everything else will fall in place
• A Spanish version of IMPACT is currently being conducted. More resources
need to be available in Spanish.
Worship/Sunday Assembly - Comments/Questions/Suggestions:
• Members who serve on parish staffs commented on the helpful assistance
from Peggy Lovrien, Director of Worship.
• The newsletter distributed by the Worship Office is a helpful tool and is used
by liturgy committees.
• Music has become a challenge in many parishes due to fewer pianists and
organists.
• Younger music ministers bring new ideas. Some work, some do not.
• Today, hospitality is even more important:
o due to multiple worship sites in many pastorates,
o because people no longer participate (e.g. attend Mass, reconciliation)
simply to obey a law.
• Suggestion - Conduct deanery-wide liturgy committee meetings to receive
and share information.
Stewardship – Comments/Questions/Suggestions
• Members who serve on parish staffs commented on the helpful assistance
from Sr. Lynn Fangman, Director of Stewardship.
• The Catholic Stewardship Conference e-bulletin has been helpful.
• Stewardship permeates everything we do.
• All the other committees can’t function effectively if they don’t know what
stewardship is.
• Hospitality – What once was part of the fabric of life now needs to be taught.
It is the essence of stewardship.
• Hospitality is critical at key points, for example weddings and funerals.
• Service trips are important because of what they teach young people about
the lives of others and the reach of the universal church.
• While the concept of stewardship as a way of life is easy to describe and
understand, it is rarely practiced, even by faithful parishioners.
General Comments applicable to all areas:
• Some members were hearing about these services for the first time.
Whatever is offered must be better communicated to all parishes.
• Several newsletters, for example “Family Matters”, are available to
communicate with parishioners. Parishioners need to know how to sign up
to receive them.
 Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC) Meeting Minutes 3/10/2018
American Martyrs Retreat House
• Resources on the archdiocesan website are helpful but often difficult to find.
Suggestion - Organize the website by topic rather than by department. For
example, material on Natural Family Planning is very good and easy to find.
• The Archdiocese is getting better at social media providing “USA Today-like”
snippets of information that can be read quickly.
• Continue emphasizing collaboration in the pastoral center rather than
working in silos.
• Question: How can the pastoral center help pastors and parish life
coordinators avoid overload?
• More input could be gathered by surveying parish committees related to
these topics, specifically:
o Faith Formation Commission
o Liturgy Committee
o Stewardship Committee

Recognition of Outgoing Members

Three members completed their terms on the council:
• Kathy Fredericks – 3 Years
• Pat Goedken – 6 Years
• Judy Ramsey – 3 Years
Archbishop Jackels expressed his appreciation to these members and to all
members of the council for their service to the Archdiocese of Dubuque.

The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.

Next meeting: Saturday, September 15, 2018 at:

American Martyrs Retreat House, Cedar Falls

Submitted by: Dan Rohner, Executive Secretary