Easter 2011 - St. Catherine's - Stuttgart

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CrossRoads – Easter 2011 Brian is looking forward to his new role in helping plan for the future and growth at St. Catherine’s and of furthering his involvement by serving as the lead for Adult Christian Education & Stewardship on the Parish Council. Says Brian, “We are really glad to be part of the church family at St. Catherine’s.” Laura Bernhart-Wong Brian Johnson Laura Bernhart-Wong is a historian and a native of Topeka, Kansas, USA. She has an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. from Harvard. She has worked in Japan, Hong Kong and France. Before moving to Stuttgart in 2006, she worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris. She is married to Stefan Bernhart, and the couple has two small children. This is Laura’s first time to sit on the St. Catherine’s Parish Council. It was upon the birth of their first child in that the family began to look for a church that would combine elements of their respective Catholic and Presbyterian upbringings, while providing a tolerant and welcoming English-language community. They became members of St. Catherine’s following the baptism of their son by Father Dimmick in January 2009. Hazel D’Souza In a country where the language, people and culture seemed foreign to me, St. Catherine's brought familiarity and warmth. "Seek and you shall find" - I 'googled' English language churches in Stuttgart, "Knock and the door shall be opened" - St. Catherine's Church, her Vicar and parishioners, made sure my husband and I came back over and over. Truly the Lord answers!! Hazel D'Souza Hazel will be responsible for Youth and Children’s Ministries and can be contacted on children@stcatherines-stuttgart.de CAECG Christian Education Weekend St. Catherine’s Church, Stuttgart - Friday 1 st July - Saturday 2 nd July. Each year the CAECG (Council for the Anglican and Episcopal Churches in Germany) offers an opportunity for anyone connected with the Anglican and Episcopal Churches in Germany to participate in a Christian Education Weekend. This year it will take place at St. Catherine’s Church in Stuttgart and will be led by Rev. Dr. Robin Stockitt from the Anglican Church in Freiburg. The theme will be looking at the question of ‘Honour and Shame’ in selected biblical texts and finding connections with our own culture today. Honour and Shame are perhaps forgotten or at least hidden aspects of biblical culture yet they inform and shape the way in which much of the Bible was written. The weekend will include a mixture of talks with plenty of opportunity for discussion. If you are interested in attending please register with Robin Stockitt (stockitt@t-online.de). 4
CrossRoads – Easter 2011 Annual General Meeting Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, 2011 of St Catharine’s Church, Stuttgart held on Sunday, 10th April 2011 at St Catharine’s Parish Centre. Thirty-one members of the Electoral Roll were present. The chair was taken by the Chaplain, the Reverend Kenneth Dimmick. 1. Opening Prayers were said at 1.15 p.m. 2. Apologies for absence were received from the Kerr family, Mrs Anja Hübel, Mrs Renate Jarman, Mrs Kim Newberry, Mrs Andrea Haller, Mr Kingstone Kesse, Mr Christoph Meyer, Dr Stefan Müller & Mr Gregg Walsh. 3. The Minutes of the 2010 A.G.M. had already been made available in written form. There were no matters arising from them. Their acceptance was proposed by Mr Alexander Schmalz, seconded by Mrs April Jenkins, and passed without dissent. 4. The reports on the various areas of parish life had already been made available in written form. The Chaplain thanked the members of the Church Council for their work during the year, especially Mr Edward Wagner, who had taken over from Mr Nate Ramquist as Treasurer after the latter’s departure, and who had been confronted with the necessity to cut back severely on the Council’s financial plans, as Item 5 would reveal. He thanked also a number of helpers who did a great deal of other voluntary work for the congregation, in particular Mrs Jackie Wellhäußer and Ms Hilary Norman, who had succeeded in the Augean task of clearing out the St Catharine’s archives, Mrs Lauris Prince-Schroeter, who kept order in the office twice a week, Mrs Frances Buttle, who, sitting in the middle of all things, skilfully spun the church website, Mr John Thompson, who faithfully carried out the sacristan’s duties, including the continued provision of the service sheets, and Mr Stefan Bernhart, who had triumphantly coordinated the fundraising efforts for the organ project. 5. The Treasurer, Mr Wagner, had the unenviable task of introducing accounts which revealed a deficit of €42,807, instead of the deficit of €22,400 - already higher than originally planned - which the 2010 Budget had envisaged. The deficit was caused by a catastrophic fall in the “Bank Transfer” item, that is to say the amount of income derived from regular pledged giving. A number of members of the church who had been particularly generous contributors had been transferred away from Germany during the year. The results of the latest stewardship campaign had been so meagre that the 2010 Budget was forced to show a potential deficit of even closer to €43,000, even though the Chaplain had said that he would be prepared to do without the increase in his salary which was in fact owing to him. The Treasurer drew attention to the two largest items on the Expenditure side, viz. “Cost of Priestly Services”, €44,170 (i.e. Chaplain’s salary plus on-costs), and “Building expenses”, €29,475 (i.e. rent and overheads for the Bakery). The first, he said, was clearly taboo. But we might have to think hard about the second. At this point the Chairman opened the item to general discussion. In reply to a question he stated that the Bakery was used as follows: Sunday, all day, parish activities; Monday, late afternoon, Girl Guides; Tuesday, morning, office hours; Wednesday, evening, Bible study and supper; Thursday, morning, office hours; Saturday, various sporadic activities. It was clear that the facility was under-used and that we were not getting enough value for the close on €2500 which it cost us monthly, and a number of suggestions were made as to how to improve matters: getting in other groups, running our own business from the front rooms, setting up a parent-and-child centre, sharing the facility with another group in a similar position to ourselves, withdrawing into the back rooms and allowing the Hochstetters to let the front ones, and letting the flat to a student or similar. The prospect of giving up the Bakery gave rise to general dismay, although the Chaplain emphasised that even without it parish life could still take place; with all services now at 11.15 it was much easier to work round the Old Catholics’ needs, the side room was normally available at other times 5
Page 1 and 2: CROSSROADS The newsletter of St Cat
Page 3: Crossroads - Easter 2011 Introducin
Page 7 and 8: Crossroads - Easter 2011 American D
Page 9 and 10: Crossroads - Easter 2011 The Good S
Page 11: Crossroads - Easter 2011 19:00 - 22

Easter 2011 - St. Catherine's - Stuttgart

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?