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The Serra Leader Summer 2003

The Year Ahead | USA Council President Jim DeNike

It is a great honor for me to serve as your president for the next year. I hope I am up to the opportunities and the challenges ahead. I promise I will do my best.

Our ministry for our Church is to promote and affirm vocations to the priesthood and religious life. My goal for the year is, "Lets ALL work for vocations." I would like to see every member of our council, in every club, have a rewarding experience in the execution of our ministry. If you do not have an assignment to work for vocations in your club, make sure that you get one. If you think your club is not doing enough for vocations, speak up and make sure that it does more.

We have many challenges ahead. Two are most important in my mind.

First, in order to best accomplish our vocation mission, we must fulfill our membership goals. Non-existent or weak clubs leave a significant gap in our capabilities to accomplish our vocation work. New clubs should be established in existing districts as population shifts. New clubs should be established in dioceses where Serra is not now present. We should be constantly revitalizing our clubs by bringing in new members and motivating current membership. If a club is at risk, get help from the district or council.

Secondly, we have to work on the council’s financial situation. Very simply, we have to find ways to increase the reserve fund so that we can take advantage of the opportunities and weather the surprises that we expect to encounter.

Let us enrich and develop our faith through the implementation of our vocation ministry and the education provided by the Program Committee. Let us pray for vocations.

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INCREASE YOUR VISIBILITY: Create a parish vocations display

Thanks to Serran Dr. Gerald Tracy, M.D., the Serra Club of Watertown, S.D., has experienced remarkable growth in the past few months. Tracy prepared display boards featuring large photos of the diocese’s seminarians as well as a board showing women religious, generous singles and families. Then he sought permission from local pastors to make a very short presentation about Serra after weekend Masses.

The congregation was encouraged to view the display boards and pick up some Serra literature. Tracy collected names and phone numbers of those interested, and promised to personally contact them. This program resulted in a growth of over 20 new members and even inspired some former members to renew their membership. These results were accomplished by visiting only a fraction of the parishes within the area!

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WANTED: Help for ailing clubs

At present, the United States Council has heard from several clubs who are contemplating disbanding and giving up their charters. These clubs are distributed across the country. There are some cases in which regional directors or district governors are far away or otherwise unable to give the support needed. Sometimes there may not even be a district governor. Are you a Serran who would welcome an opportunity to help in any of these situations? Such aid would entail contacting the remaining Serrans, possibly the diocesan vocations office and even the bishop. We are seeking self-starters who are effective in facing unforeseen challenges. A love of the Church, of Serra, and a good working knowledge of successful Serra club programs, meetings and activities is essential. If you are one of these Serrans and would like to help, contact USA Council Membership Coordinator Peter Cunningham at 888.777.6681 to find out what you can do in an area near you.

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Congratulations to the 2002-03 USA Council Honor Clubs! 

Boulder, CO	Southwest Denver, CO	Northwest Denver, CO
Greeley Deanery, CO	Lafayette, LA	Phoenix, AZ

The Membership Committee would like to thank all those clubs who submitted applications for this award and encourages all of USA Council to continue striving for excellence.   Did you know that these awards are presented at your local district/regional convention?

In addition to Honor Club Awards, club anniversary banners, Serran Service Awards and Membership Awards are also distributed. Plan on attending your convention to recognize your Serran peers for their outstanding support and contributions to this great organization! For more information on these awards and how your club can qualify, contact USA Council Membership Coordinator Peter Cunningham at 888.777.6681 or pcunningham@serraus.org.

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Urgent Memo

To: USA Council Serrans

From: Gary A. Davis, USA Council Membership Vice President

Date: 8/1/03

Re: 2003 DRIVE AIMS AT URGENT MEMBERSHIP NEEDS

Last year was the first time in history that USA Council ended its fiscal year with fewer members than when it started. Despite gaining 1050 new members in two membership drives last year, attrition throughout the year from a variety of causes resulted in a 9/10ths of one percent loss in membership -- an amount we, as Serrans, find unacceptable.

Accordingly, we are being asked to re-dedicate our efforts to finding new Serrans during the upcoming year. Our cause is too important and the need is too great to do otherwise.

Looking at the demographics of some of our Serra clubs, it is also important that we bring into Serra new members younger than ourselves. Some people describe it as bringing in our own replacements. Remember, by asking for new members we do not mean that they necessarily need to be in their 20s, 30s, or even 40s. Just younger, perhaps the next generation, will do.

Our new membership drive started on August 1 and will run until December 1. All those who register a new member during that time period will be eligible for the drawing at the end. Perhaps you might be the winner of a registration for the 2004 Serra International convention in Pittsburgh plus $600 toward your hotel room. A new member application is on the reverse side of this sheet.

Please remember that we can only carry out our mission as Serrans through our members. The more members we can bring into Serra, the more work we can do to encourage vocations to the priesthood and vowed religious life.

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2003 USA Council Outstanding Newsletter Award winners

Out of 24 newsletter submissions from around the country, the Serra Club of Warren County, N.J., earned the 2003 USA Council Outstanding Newsletter Award. The club’s newsletter was selected in June by three judges from the USA Council Communications, who reviewed the submissions in separate locations

Newsletters were judged on content (best possible score: 60 points) and appearance (best possible score: 40 points). To qualify for an award, a newsletter had to earn at least 225 out of the 300 possible points (100 from each judge). The highest scorer (225 points and over) in each district was chosen for a district award. The highest overall scorer received the USA Council Outstanding Newsletter Award.

The USA Council Communications Committee judges welcome requests for their comments on 2003 newsletter entries, or for general newsletter critiques. Contact USA Council Communications Coordinator Anne McCormack at 888.777.6681.

2003 USA Council Outstanding Newsletter: Warren County, N.J.

District 2003 Newsletter Winners

District	Serra Club
7-S	Rochester, Minn.
12-2	Wichita, Kan.
13	Lafayette, La.
18	Knoxville, Tenn.
22	the Oranges, N.J.
31	Santa Clara, Calif.
34	Sacramento, Calif.
125	San Antonio, Texas
127	West Orange County, Calif.
132	Beaumont, Texas
157	Palm Springs, Calif.

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Preserving the Past: Club Scrapbooks

With ink and quill pen Shakespeare scribbled, "What's past is prologue." Eloquently, Patrick Henry proclaimed, "I know no way of judging of the future but by the past." And credit writer George Santayana with the oft-quoted, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." They all agree: There's a lot of wisdom in knowing how we should prepare for tomorrow if we look at what we did yesterday.

Every effective outfit from an infantry division to a modern corporation has some way of recording how it did things last year, last decade, last century. Those records, or histories, help to avoid reinventing the wheel. So it should be with your local Serra club.

If you don't already have some way of recording who appeared as guest speaker at last Lent's special program, or how much it cost to host last year's ordination party, you're going to waste time, effort, and money. So, does your club have a history that preserves these valuable details? If so, congratulations! If not, it might be well for your club president or the VP of communications to recruit a member to start up and maintain such an archive. Or commission the secretary to do that job.

You may already have a family album, scrapbook, or archive to use as a model. If not, scrap booking has become a big business nowadays. There are oodles of books and craft suppliers that can help you get started. There are special scissors to cut album pages, colorful stickers to jazz up a display, and fancy borders to adorn the sheets. As always you can search the Internet for more ideas.

I've found that the most convenient vehicle to store my club's history is a simple ring binder to accommodate three-hole-punched paper and plastic sleeves for pictures. So far, I've included in our club scrapbook copies of all the club newsletters for the past 12 years. Neatly arranged also are plastic photo holders showing various club activities for about the same length of time. With photos be sure you write what's happening, who's in the shot, and when and where it was snapped. You may letter in the photo margins or on a label to be stuck near the photo. I've also added clips from secular and diocesan newspapers. Past board minutes, printed programs from past ordinations, induction ceremonies, and the like round out the contents.

I admit that right now our club scrapbook is pretty drab. No wonder that nobody lingers after meetings to skim through the book. My goal is to dress it up with some decorations that I can grab from internet sites offering free clip art. I also want to print appropriate photos or drawings from a number of compact discs of clip art I have to add some more color to otherwise lusterless pages.

To make the club scrapbook or archive useful, it ought to be available for reference whenever the board of trustees meets. Of course, you ought to lug the volume faithfully to club meetings so that old and especially new or prospective members can browse through it. Besides helping avoid past mistakes or to improve on past successes, a club scrapbook can help recruit new Serrans and strengthen club tradition and morale.   Sources: On the Internet, go to: www.simplyscrapbooking.com www.creatingkeepsakes.com  www.creativememories.com Access Hewlett-Packard's Newsgram regularly (it's updated periodically) for ways to improve a scrapbook's graphics. (Just type in "Hewlett-Packard" and follow the links.) For more pictures, free and otherwise, type in www.garg.com/ccc/urls/clipart.html  Or simply search "clipart" or "clip art."

By Ernest Doclar, Chair, USA Council Communications Committee 

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Telephone tips! 

In September of 1999, the USA Council of Serra International staff settled into its own home in Suite 802 at 65 E. Wacker Place in Chicago. The Serra International/ Foundation maintains a separate office a few blocks away. Need something, but you’re not sure which office to call? the Serra Leader has compiled this handy telephone tip list so you never get redirected again! 

Contact the USA Council office:

65 E. Wacker Place, Suite 802

Chicago IL 60601

Toll-Free Telephone: 888.777.6681

Toll-Free Fax: 888.777.6803

For the following:

Serra merchandise (statues, pins, manuals, prayer cards, videos, brochures, plaques, displays, gavels, etc.)

Submission, subscription, shipping information about the serraUSA magazine Mailing labels for your district/regional convention

To update club records (new members, officers, deceased)

Questions about the www.serraus.org website Super Weekend information District Governors’ manuals

Officer/member installation/induction ceremonies Member supplies: new member forms, exit surveys, transfer forms, membership cards, etc.

Insurance certificates Club programs Information about the USA Council Board or committees Help in setting up or hosting your club website

Contact the Serra International office:

70 E Lake St., Suite 1210

Chicago IL 60604

Toll-Free Telephone: 800.488.4008

Toll-Free Fax: 800.377.7877

If you need:  

Any information about the Serra International Foundation grant applications, etc.

Foundation Mass cards

Serra International Convention information

International convention videos, transcripts, schedules

Answers to subscription, shipping, submission questions for the Serran magazine or Bellringers newsletter

Help with the www.serra.org website

Information about Serrans and councils outside of the U.S.

Information about the International board or committees  

Note: When Serra International launches its new website allowing clubs to update records online, please be sure to call or e-mail the USA Council with a copy of those changes so that we can also update our records as quickly as possible.

 

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