Both Sr. Golias and Mr. Lofton are new to the Core Committee (just 9 weeks into this assignment) and were very apologetic regarding the way this has been handled to date.  It was rewarding to finally have it acknowledged that Fr. Radetski, Fr. Connell, Dr. Cepalka and the Archdiocese did not follow the policies and procedures that were/are in place until now, at least in part. 

It was then explained that there are 5 subcommittees that will be researching and collecting data regarding the schools.  Parishioners are highly encouraged to serve on the subcommittees as the Core Committee will utilize their data and research to make a final recommendation to the parish priests of St. Dominic, Holy Name and St. Clement as well as the Archbishop. 

It was noted however that the Catholic Church is not a democracy, but rather it is a hierarchical organization.  Therefore the recommendation made by the Core Committee based on the research and data can be accepted or rejected by the priests and Archbishop.  The final decision will be made solely by the priests and Archbishop.

It is important to note that Fr. Connell had already made the decision to close both schools and open one new school at the Holy Family site.  According to some sources, this was done at the direction of the Archbishop, however this is unconfirmed.

So, in the end, will there be a different decision?

“The letter goes on to explain that actually a parish council should cease and a new council formed when there is a change of pastor, as is the case for the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council in between new administrations of Archbishops.  This practive has been seldom used in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on the parish level because of the value of continuity between pastors.  However, because of some difficult experiences with decisions regarding some former staff and the regionalization of the schools in North Sheboygan, sound pastoral practice in this situation is to re-constitute the council with the new pastor or administrator.”

It is interesting to note that this has never been done before when a new priest came to the parish.  It is also interesting to note that the St. Dominic Parish Council voted to reject the closing of St. Dominic School.

From: Kathleen Cepelka [mailto:CepelkaK@archmil.org]

Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 6:16 AM

Subject: RE: Sheboygan North Side Catholic School

Dear All,

Sister Deb is correct. Although the assumption has been, for a number of reasons, that the Holy Family site would be most suitable for the new school, it’s the work of the Core Committee to put all such recommendations–based on research and analysis–into the final proposal. That proposal needs to be approved by the pastors and forwarded to the Archbishop next spring.

Thank you for your commitment to this important process.

Kathleen A. Cepelka

Superintendent

We were told by Fr. Al that the school site and configuration decisions are now starting over.  The schools are definitely being merged but where and in what type of configuration (one site or two for example) are now open.  The decision will be based on the work of the subcommittees and their recommendation based on research and analysis.  In addition, a joint parish listening session regarding the school has been scheduled for 10/4 at 6:30 at St. Dominic Parish. 

St. Dominic Parish never had this experience during any other transition to a new priest.

Several handouts were made available:

School Decision Timeline (PDF)

Trustee Election Information from Archdiocese Newsletter (PDF) – see pages 3 and 4

Archdiocese of Milwaukee Trustee Election Policy (PDF)

June 20th, 2011 Reply from Archbishop Listecki regarding the May 23rd, 2011 Letter (PDF)

May 23rd, 2011 Letter from St. Dominic Parish Lay Leadership to Archbishop Listecki and Bishop Sklba (PDF)

Contact Information for Pastors and Archdiocese

School Restricted Funds as of 6/30/2011 (PDF)

2011 Financial Summary (PDF)

Please feel free to contact us at feedback@save-our-school.com.

Fr. Al Veik has denied our request for such a meeting.  We feel it is important for our parishioners to have a chance to gather in a Christ like manner to gain information and to be heard, so everyone can respectfully and prayerfully move forward with an informed conscience.  Therefore a meeting will be held at the Blue Harbor Conference Center on Monday, September 12th, 2011 at 6:30pm.

On May 23^rd we sent a letter to Archbishop Listecki and Bishop Sklba outlining our concerns regarding closing St. Dominic School. The linked includes a copy of that letter along with various attachments that support the points made in the letter.  To summarize, the letter outlined various areas where Archdiocese policies and procedures were not followed as well as the lack of buy in and support by the St. Dominic lay leadership and the community as a whole. 

We received a reply from Archbishop Listecki dated June 20, 2011.  Please note that the reply did not address our specific concerns which include:

• the lack of a Proxy
• the Archdiocese Policy 7113 that was not followed   (includes many unfulfilled requirements such as Parish Council involvement & approval – see details attached)
• the lack of support by St. Dominic trustees, parish council, finance committee and school committee
• the short timeline of the decision
• the lack of financial or operational analysis or studies concerning the effects of the decision
• the contentious relationship between St. Dominic Parish and Holy Name Parish

Recently another highly important issue concerning the entire parish has come to light.  There are very clear and specific directives outlined by the Archdiocese concerning the election of trustees that must be met in order to comply with civil requirements.  These are outlined in a document obtained from the Milwaukee Archdiocese website.

This process was not followed this year. It is believed that there are several parishioners who were considering running for the trustee position.  Although at least one parishioner clearly communicated a desire to run for this office to Fr. Al, Sue Sellars was announced by Fr. Al as continuing in her current position.  The date of an election was not determined, there was no notice of an election, no open nomination process even though there is a candidate who requested an election.  

While the new school “Sharing Sessions” have yet to be rescheduled, it is believed that Fr. Al may discuss the school situation at this weekend’s Masses.  Please attend the Masses, clearly request parish wide meetings, clearly voice your position, question the flawed and incomplete decision and approval process as well as any other points you want to address in a civil and Christian manner. Visit this website for additional information from time to time. Please also express the desire to have a fair and good faith trustee election process as required by the State of Wisconsin and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. 

In spite of this atmosphere and Fr. Radetski’s commentary towards the members and staff of our parish, Fr. Radetski had the authority to make the decision to close our school shortly before he leaves our parish, which was anticipated to occur in June, 2011.  In fact, he and Fr. Jim Connell made this decision on March 1, 2011. 

Then on March 9th an article was published by the Sheboygan Press based on interviews with Fr. Radetski and Fr. Connell.   Here is a quote from the article: “Radetski, who has been receiving middle-of-the-night prank phone calls for several months and has clashed with his parish over personnel decisions he’s made about the staff, will begin a medical leave next Monday and doesn’t expect to return to St. Dominic.” Fr. Radetski would make this very important announcement, that he would be leaving our parish just 6 days later, to the press but not his own parish.

It was hard for people to understand how the Archdiocese could allow a priest who was leaving in June to decide to close the parish school. However, with the announcement that Fr. Radetski was leaving just days after this decision, it became appalling that this decision was allowed.  How can it be trusted that a priest who has had a tumultuous relationship with his parishioners, has the ability to make an unbiased major decision that will be pivotal to the long term success of the parish?  Yet, the Archdiocese has endorsed the authority of Fr. Radetski to make this decision that will ultimately lower the parish membership even though they were aware of his clashes with the parish and that he would then leave just two weeks after the decision.

Following an emergency School Committee meeting on 2/20/11, the St. Dominic School Committee drafted the following request:

The School Committee of St. Dominic Catholic School requests that a decision regarding the “Possible Scenarios to Support Growth and Vitality” be postponed until after June, 2011.  We feel that it is not in the long term best interest of our parish, our school, Fr. John Radetski or our incoming priest/administrator to have this decision made by our pastor because he will be leaving in June.  We believe this decision should be made by the person who will be here to implement it.

We were informed that only the priest makes this decision on behalf of St. Dominic Parish.  This was confirmed by the Archdiocese.  Therefore, this decision was made by Fr. John Radetski, a priest who has a history of clashing with his parish and then is leaving a mere 13 days after making this decision.  He will simply walk away from the consequences of his actions leaving others to live with it permanently, including 120 children.

Or is the “independent corporation” really a smokescreen to protect assets from bankruptcy?

If this is really an independent corporation, wouldn’t someone other than the parish pastor have input?  Actually, Fr. Connell replied that we can “appeal to the Archdiocesan Schools Office and to Archbishop Listecki”.  So it appears that the only people who have a say in this major decision of this “independent corporation” are people who are employed or otherwise represent the Milwaukee Archdiocese?  Hmmm….  the same Milwaukee Archdiocese that has filed bankruptcy and maintains that our parish assets can’t be touched in this bankruptcy because the parish is an “independent corporation”? 

Really?  If the parish were truly an independent corporation surely all the corporate officers would have a vote; even those not receiving a paycheck from the Church.