2015 Clergy-Laity Documents

2015 Clergy-Laity Documents

These are all of the reports and resolutions of the 2015 Clergy-Laity at Sts. Constantine and Helen in Cleveland Heights, OH.

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Administration Committee Report

Administration Committee Meeting Minutes

Clergy-Laity Assembly

September 25, 2015

 

Attendees:  Fr Costa Keares, Bruce Trakas, George Spanos, Fr. Michael Varvarelis, Sundy Gulu, Sia Pope, John Frentzos, Jim Ganotis, Fr. George Livanos, Harrry Athanasiou, Steve Sellas, Steve Poulos, Pamela Koutsaftis, Fr. Michael Gulge, Socrates Kolitsos, Fr. George Callos

 

 

The meeting began at 2:45pm.

 

Issues arose regarding the parish council nominee seminar education process that is to take place prior to council elections.

 

The first issue was the very little time that exists between the time a parish’s general assembly ratifies the election slate in late November and the general assembly that is usually held in early December to elect council.  Many parishes do not have a ratifying general assembly but rely on council to develop a slate of candidates and merely hold elections thereafter.

 

For those parishes that hold a ratification assembly, Fr. George Livanos made the following motion:

“Motion to recommend that anyone considering parish council nomination make known their acceptance of nomination to the parish’s nomination committee between the first Sunday in September and the last Sunday in October for ratification at the fall general assembly starting in calendar year 2016.”  Fr. Michael Varvarelis seconded.

 

Discussion for the motion spoke to allowing the time between the end of October, rather than the end of November to allow for the seminar training prior to elections in early December.  Motion passed.

 

A second issue brought to the floor was that of the quality of education via the seminar and that many existing members don’t understand their responsibilities.

 

Fr. George Livanos made the following motion:

“Motion to recommend the establishment of seminars regionally in the month of October for the edification of seated and future council members which would certify their candidacy only for the current year.” 

Motion seconded by Steve Poulos.

 

Discussion in support of the motion focused on the quality of standardized training by regional reps and that even existing council members would require re-certification annually.

 

Discussion against the motion spoke to the difficulty in corralling even most nominees on the same date, bussing them in winter months and whether November might be a better month timing-wise.  Discussion created the realization that this motion appeared too difficult to execute.  Both the motion maker and the second withdrew this motion.  No action taken.

 

Another issue regarding the seminar training was the complaint that the video developed by the Archdiocese was 5 hours long and included such arguably related topics as church history.  The feeling of the committee was that the Archdiocese be requested to revisit the length and quality of the training video and possibly create chapters so that the training session could pick and choose most appropriate topics.  Father George Callos then commented that the Archdiocese has been reconsidering the video over the past year and will be developing a new offering.  The committee chose to take no action.

 

Relatedly, members of the committee commented on the standardized material that already exists while many parishes teach from ad-hoc materials and that all parishes might benefit from standardized materials.  The committee took no action on this point.

 

On a separate subject, Steve Sellas from the Finance Committee spoke to the complication of dealing with new parish council treasurers who are not familiar with the Archdiocesan allocation process and forms.  Parishes need a transition plan when changing treasurers.

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:45pm.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Nick Lekas, Chairman