Each day a parish depends upon the generosity of its people. As Christian stewards we are called to reflect God’s love in our community. In a world weakened by a lack of love, we make progress toward “Peace on earth” by offering loving service to others. All parishioners, whether young or old, have special gifts to share with their faith community. Their gifts of prayer, ministry and finance help bring Jesus’ healing touch to our world. Our ministry teams welcome new members!

Pastoral Council - Pastoral Council is of the utmost importance in the life of the parish. According to the Pastoral Policy Handbook of the Diocese of Toledo, “The Parish Pastoral Council is to be an effective body providing spiritual leadership in the parish community. The Pastoral Council is a recommending and evaluating body, functioning as a faith community with general operational guidelines determined during the life of the group, with prayer and faith sharing as integral parts of Council meetings and pastoral planning affecting the spiritual renewal of the parish. The council serves a three-year commitment as an advisory group to the Pastor/Pastoral Leader.” Contact: John Evans 419-663-2219 or Marcia Roth 419-668-2262.

Finance Council – The Finance Council helps our parish continue providing for all the activities and ministries we support. These people use their business experience, knowledge of the parish and its people, and the religious ideals of the Church to help the pastoral staff make sound financial and business decisions. The ministry team meets monthly to review financial statements, set budgets, and financial priorities and generally provide input and advice for the pastoral staff. Pat Furlong is the Pastoral Staff member for this ministry.

Adult Choir – The mixed choir provides musical leadership at worship services. Members are not required to read music. The choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings 7:30-9:00 PM and has a 40 minute vocal warm-up before the liturgy. The choir usually sings at 9:00 AM Mass and sometimes at 11:00 AM. Babysitting is available during Wednesday evening rehearsals and liturgies in which the choir sings. Contact: Mark Niese at 419-668-6044

Altar Servers – Altar servers are students (6th grade and older) who assist the priest during Mass. They have many roles, including the procession before and after Mass, assisting with offertory gifts, and other tasks that aid the celebrant and enhance the liturgy. Also, adults may be Altar Servers, particularly when needed for funeral Masses and other celebrations where students are unavailable. Contact: Anthony Catalano 419-499-3241 or Mike Roth 419-668-5445.

Cantor – The primary role of the cantor is to provide musical leadership at worship. Those called to this ministry must have vocal/musical skills including good breath support, rhythmic precision, a pleasing tone and an inviting personality. A vocal interview/audition is therefore necessary to determine a person’s ability and gifts. This ministry is open to high school age students and older. Personal preparation at home is essential. Ongoing vocal training and workshop experiences are encouraged to develop musical skills. The cantors are scheduled on a weekly basis according to their availability. Contact: Mark Niese, 419-668-6044

The Children’s Choir helps provide musical leadership for song at worship. A vocal audition is not required. The choir practices on Thursday after school from 3:20-4:15 PM. They sing once a month at a weekend Mass or all school liturgy. Contact: Mark Niese, 419-668-6044

Children’s Liturgy of the Word – The St. Paul CLOW MinistryTeam celebrates the Liturgy of the Word with children ages 4 and up during the regular Sunday Mass. CLOW is intended to immerse young children in the Word in ways that are understandable to them.  CLOW is celebrated bi-monthly alternating once at the 9:00 AM Mass and once at the 11:00 AM Mass. The schedule is published regularly in the Sunday bulletin.   The team members meet for one hour every three months to evaluate how things are going and set the schedule for the next four months and sign up for the dates they will be available to lead.  Initial training is provided for new team members. Contact: 

Church Environment Committee – This committee strives to enhance the worship environment for each of the liturgical seasons with colorful banners, plants, floral arrangements, candles, swags, and wreaths. All of these elements help create a meaningful atmosphere. Those called to this ministry should possess the gift of creativity and have some artistic ability. Members who can carry, lift, climb, or clean up are most welcome as well.  Contact Paula Hackathorn, 419-681-2444.

Eucharistic Ministers – The role of the Eucharistic Minister is to distribute the Body and Blood of Christ during celebration of the Mass.  All ministers are asked to serve a 2-year renewable commitment. Lay distributors receive initial training and participate in ongoing formation throughout the course of their ministry. Ministers should be persons of mature faith who have shown a commitment to the life of Christian service. Contact: Marcia Roth, 419-668-2262.

Folk Choir – The folk choir primary role is to provide musical leadership at the Saturday 4:30 PM Mass. The group includes vocalists and instrumentalists. The music tends to lean toward the contemporary style. The group rehearses one hour prior to the liturgy. Extra rehearsals are required for Christmas and Easter. The ministry is open to high school students and older. Contact: Mark Niese, 419-668-6044

Funeral Choir – The funeral choir helps provide musical leadership and support for song at the funeral liturgy. This choir is extremely important in the celebration of the funeral Mass. Their presence is appreciated even more when there is a small gathering of mourners. Most funerals occur in the morning usually at 10:30 Monday through Saturday. The commitment of time for this ministry is relatively small. There are no regular scheduled practices with only a periodic warm-up rehearsal immediately preceding the funeral Mass. Contact: Mark Niese, 419-668-6044

Lector – The primary role of the lectoris to proclaim the Word of God in such a way that it comes to life in the hearts of the assembly. The lector is the biblical storyteller of our faith community. Those called to this ministry must have a loud, clear speaking voice and possess good communication skills. The time commitment involved in this ministry is largely personal preparation, which takes place at home. Contact: Mary Linder, 419-668-5075.

Liturgy Committee – The ministerial role of the Liturgy Committee is three-fold: planning/preparation, evaluation and education. First the group collaborates on seasonal planning for Sunday worship throughout the liturgical year, and also plans various sacramental celebrations and other prayer experiences such as penance services and evening prayer. Secondly, the liturgy Committee evaluates our worship experiences and liturgical ministries to ensure high quality and prayer filled celebration. Thirdly, the committee members continue to educate themselves through reading and attending various seminars and workshops. Finally, the committee provides initial and on-going training for all Liturgical ministers and also gives liturgical catechesis to all parishioners. Contact: Mark Niese, 419-668-6044

Mass Coordinator – This ministry team assists the priests by preparing the church and sacristy for daily and weekend Masses. They ensure that the gifts are ready, lights and microphones are on, vestments are out, and other necessary tasks completed so that the priest celebrating the Mass has more time to focus on his personal preparations. After Mass, the mass coordinators will clean up and put away materials used during the Mass, allowing the priest to have more time to visit with parishioners. Contact:  Pam Reichert, 419-668-6044

Shut-ins, Hospital & Nursing Homes –  These ministers distribute Eucharist to those who cannot come to Mass in the hospital, nursing home or at home. This is also a two year renewable commitment and lay people need initial training. Contact:  Barb Wurzel, 419-688-3960

Ushers – The role of the usher is to create an atmosphere of hospitality through word and gesture, welcoming parishioners and visitors as they gather for worship. They arrange items that need to be readied for Mass, reserve pews, help people find seats when needed, take up the collection, put bulletins out, pass out materials to parishioners, and select a family to carry up offertory gifts. This ministry is open to both men and women. Contact:  Mark Niese, 419-668-6044

Bulletin/ Office Volunteers – St Paul Office Volunteers are indeed a group that is very important to our parish and office staff. Their duties include answering phones, greeting visitors at the door and general office tasks. This helps everyone on staff with their daily workload. Some of our volunteers work half days, whole days, weekly, and every other week. Our daytime volunteer arrives at 9:00 AM and stays til 5:00 PM. Our evening volunteers are here from 6:00 – 8:30 PM. We also have volunteers who prepare our weekly bulletin on Tuesday mornings and volunteers who do bulk mailings for the parish. If interested in any of these areas please call Kathleen Sigsworth at 419-668-6044

Cemetery Board – The cemetery board presently includes 16 members of the parish who make decisions regarding all aspects of St Paul Cemetery and The Shrine of the Sorrowful Mother. This team plans and coordinates the improvements and upkeep of the grounds, as well as ways to enhance the beautiful country setting of the main cemetery and the general day to day operations at both facilities.  Contact:  Pat Furlong, 419-668-6044

Heavenly Dusters – church cleaning ministry – The primary role of the Heavenly Dusters is to allow volunteers to have a sense of ownership of God’s house as they work together to make St Paul church an inviting place to worship. This ministry team consists of over 50 volunteers, with 5 teams of approximately 8 volunteers each, alternating weekly to enhance the beauty of the church. Additionally, there are substitute volunteers who help out when needed. These individual teams work twice a week for about three hours at a time to prepare God’s house for worship.  At Christmas and Easter these teams and other volunteers come together for a more major cleaning effort. We are always looking for more team members to help out. Contact: Ruth Weisenberger, 419-668-0236

Festival Team –The primary role of the festival team is to provide a parish and community gathering, which takes place on the first weekend in August. Hundreds of people in the parish working together help make the festival a success. Parish members get involved in all aspects of the festival; being a chairperson, cooking delicious homemade foods, setting up activities and games, working shifts at the activities and creating hand crafted items for sale. Contact: Pat Furlong, 419-668-6044

Funeral Luncheon Committee – The funeral luncheon committee’s purpose is to support the bereaved families of St Paul with a luncheon for family and friends after a funeral Mass and Burial. There are no meetings to attend. There is generally short notice for this ministry to do their work. Contact: Betty Smith, 419-668-0833 or Dorothy Dudics, 419-668-8884

The Hospitality Committee is a group who are called to prepare and serve food for special Diocesan and Parish events.  In the past we have provided services for such events as the Parish Building Celebration and Fr. Eric Schild’s first Mass celebration. Contact: Barb Wurzel, 419-668-3960

Jesus Patrol: This is a group of parishioners that will do anything around the parish. They have gutted offices, painted, moved just about everything and helped with landscaping. The list is endless. They have a lot of fun and love having new people willing to help. Contact: Marvin Ott, 419-668-0051.
                                               
Green Thumb Committee: This ministry works to continue to enhance the beauty of our church and school campuses. Volunteers are needed to plant flowers, trim trees, spread mulch and prepare beds for planting. Anyone who enjoys gardening or working outdoors is welcome. Just let us know your interest and we’ll find a way for you to help. Contact: Steve Slauterback, 419-663-0540

Maintenance Committee – The role of the Maintenance Committee is to help advise on decisions regarding major repairs, large maintenance improvement projects, and preventive maintenance within the church, school and all the facilities in our parish. Contact: Marvin Ott, 419-668-0051