A new Parish Development Council is being formed. This group would review all requests from parish and outside groups who would like to raise funds from the parishioners and determine which of these many requests reflect the parish vision and mission and deserve our attention, and which are not really appropriate for us at this time. The Development Council would also review the present and anticipated financial needs of the parish and how those can best be addressed (e.g. offertory programs, capital campaigns, parish fund-raisers, etc.)

The Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) serves as one of the Advisory Boards to the Pastor. It is composed of parishioners from all areas of parish life and all demographics within the parish. The Council helps present the concerns of the parishioners and help set the direction of the parish. It serves as a listening board for all concerns parishioners may have and helps suggest ways of meeting new or ongoing needs of parishioners. The PPC meets throughout the year, usually monthly, but not as often in the summer. 

The chair of the Parish Council is Gail Smith, co-vice chairs are Dominic Guagenti and Donna Whalley, and the secretary is Colleen Fulkerson. 

Minutes from the 2019 meetings are available for download below. The next meeting of the Parish Council is Thursday, September 26 at 7:00 pm.   

Parish Council One-on-One Initiative 

As you have read in the minutes of our monthly meetings, the Parish Pastoral Council is engaging in a process of conducting one-on-one meetings. Parishioner Greg Pierce, who has extensive experience as a community organizer and is currently working with United Power, has trained the council members in this strategy which comes from community organizing.

The members of the council have begun this initiative by having one-on-one relational meetings with other council members. We will soon reach out to meet with the leaders of our parish ministries. The goal is to build relationships within the parish by conversing for about 45 minutes about topics that are important to us. There is no other agenda.

We believe that by building these relationships, we will extend our connections within the parish, which will enrich the work of our ministries and further our outreach into the community. We hope this process will eventually help us to discern the current needs and longings of our parishioners and to welcome new participants in our ministries. This relationship building will also help St. Gertrude Parish to be prepared for our work with Renew My Church in the near future. We find these one-on-ones to be very interesting and inspiring.

To accomplish the next phase of this initiative, Parish Council members will be contacting parish ministry leaders to set up one-on-one meetings. We appreciate the openness and willingness of parishioners to participate in this process. 

The St. Gertrude Finance Council serves as one of the Advisory Boards to the Pastor. The Finance Council helps in the exercise of stewardship for all parish resources. Members review monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual financial reports. They help review the overall condition of parish finances, offering counsel on the Sunday Offertory, capital campaigns, extraordinary expenses (e.g. new boilers or major repairs), and any other concerns that may arise. They review and approve the Annual Parish Budget and the Annual Financial Report. The Finance Council meets throughout the year, about every other month, but more often when certain deadlines need to be considered. 

Contact Art Blumberg at ablumberg@stgertrudechicago.org or call the Rectory for more information.