Pastoral Council
This leadership body serves as a consultative body to the Pastor and parish staff on the direction and vision of our parish. They assist in bringing the Parish Mission Statement to life for the benefit of the St. Joseph Catholic Community in Dexter. The Council meets on the first Tuesday of the month, year-round. New members are nominated during the Easter Season. On Pentecost, we invoke the Holy Spirit and select four members by lot for a three-year term.
Click here to nominate a parish member for the Pastoral Council.
Finance Council
This body of parishioners is selected by the Pastor, in accordance with canon law and the policies of the Diocese of Lansing. Members are invited according to their expertise in the areas of business and finance. They serve a three-year term and help monitor the financial gifts of parishioners which are used to maintain the programs and activities of the parish. Each spring they review and set the budget for the coming fiscal year which runs from July 1 to June 30.
Caritas Committee
Caritas Committee Mission Statement
The mission of the Caritas Committee is, “Sharing our compassion and treasure with our neighbors in need.” The Committee, a sub-committee of the parish Finance Council, was formed for the purpose of stewarding the distribution of funds gathered in a special collection taken on the fifth Sunday of months with five Sundays. These funds are to be shared with charitable nonprofit organizations whose policies are in line with Catholic principles and teaching.
THANK YOU FROM THE CARITAS COMMITTEE
Your Gifts of Charity at Work
We thank God for His many blessings. One of those blessings is our ability to help others as Jesus asked us to. Your CARITAS generosity allows St. Joseph Parish to help God’s people through several organizations.
Our Caritas Recipients
Each Caritas weekend focuses on one charity that will receive 30% of our weekend collection. The balance of the collection is shared among several local organizations. On occasion, our Caritas collection may be sent to aid other urgent needs, such as the immediate needs of victims of natural disasters. When that happens, the selected focus recipient will share in the proceeds of the next Caritas collection.
The ongoing recipients and their typical percentage of the balance:
Our Ongoing Recipients
Dexter Family Services is a community service organization that provides emergency support for residents within the Dexter school district. Volunteers coordinate back to school backpacks, volunteer at the Dexter location of the Faith in Action food pantry, and organize Christmas sponsorship for families in need. They customarily receive 25% of each Caritas collection.
St. Joseph Parish Christian Service Fund functions here in our parish as an “emergency fund” to help families in the Dexter area in times of financial hardship. Typically, 10% of each Caritas collection is directed to this fund.
Catholic Habitat House for Humanity every other year Habitat for Humanity designates one of the homes as the “Habitat Catholic House” where the cost of refurbishment is supported by the Catholic parishes of Washtenaw County. Our parish partners with other Washtenaw County parishes by donating funds from the Caritas collection and by volunteering services during the building process. As a Catholic Build partner, congregations come together to refurbish homes for deserving first-time home buyers. Since we know this expense, $5,000 or more supported mainly by Caritas collections, is one we will incur every other year, 10% of every Caritas collection is put aside for this purpose.
St Luke’s N.E.W. Life Center, our contribution began in response to the water crisis in Flint and has continued as the Center serves a very economically depressed community. This faith-based organization providing life skills, education and workplace training to empower women and men to become self-sufficient. Other community services such as crisis intervention, childcare and the operation of a literacy center help to ensure the success of their workforce program. The Center also operates a huge food pantry and meal program, serving over 3,000 people monthly. The allocation goal for St. Luke’s is 10%.
Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County Food Pantry receives 15% of each collection. CSSW provides counseling, adoption and foster care services, elder services, parenting, and family support, operates a food pantry, and in general, responds to the needs of the less fortunate.
CSSW partners with Food Gatherers to distribute groceries and personal care items to low-income families and individuals on a monthly and/or emergency basis. Clients are also given referrals to other agencies for clothing and other critical services as needed.
Focus Recipient of the Caritas Committee, vetted to confirm the organization meets Catholic social and moral principles and is financially prudent, is chosen by the Committee six weeks prior to a Caritas Sunday. The selected organization, which may be local, national, or international, is profiled in the parish bulletin in the weeks before Caritas Sunday, and receives 30% of the collection. Parishioners are invited to submit recommendations for the Committee’s consideration.
Nominate a Recipient Organization
The Caritas Committee welcomes suggestions for charitable organizations to share our Caritas collections with. These funds are to be shared with charitable nonprofit organizations whose policies are in line with Catholic principles and teaching. Nominate a Charitable Organization by contacting Lisa Dobis.
Caritas Fifth Sunday Collections
A second collection for the benefit of primarily local charitable organizations is taken on the last weekend of those months with five Sundays. Throughout the year the Committee, a subcommittee of the Finance Council, meets to select recipient organizations to recommend to the Finance Council for approval prior to presenting the appeal to the parish community. Each collection is split into quarters; one quarter each to Dexter Family Services, the parish Christian Service fund and a featured recipient, and the final quarter is split between Water for Flint and Washtenaw Catholic Social Services. One organization for each collection is highlighted in bulletin and Chips and Sawdust articles the months of the collection. New members are nominated during the Easter season. On Pentecost, we invoke the Holy Spirit and select three new members by lot for a three-year term.
And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’ (Matthew 25:40)
Good stories of organizations that have benefited from the good works of Caritas….