August 19, 2008

A Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Catholic Defense League (CDL) was held, pursuant to notice, on August 19, 2008 in the offices of the CDL, St. Paul, Minnesota. Present at the Meeting were the following Board Members: Pat Phillips, Ed Wollerman, Dick Houck, Cletus Tauer, Stella Lundquist, Marlene Reid, Tom Schramer and Ray Marshall.

Minutes - There were no minutes from the previous meeting in May 2008.

President's Report - Pat Phillips reviewed some pending Old Business.

Rapid Response - The "Rapid Response" system that had been discussed at previous meetings has still is not been implemented. Pat suggested that we should fax more "press releases" to the media throughout the state, using existing software. Marlene pointed out several features for a good press release. First, it is of no value to a news organization unless it contains direct quotes that could be used by the news organization. Second, there must be a designated name and telephone number for follow up.

Membership - Nothing has been done on increasing membership of the CDL to help us with our tasks (writing letters, calling, etc.). Pat noted that we might attract active members by having regular evening sessions discussing issues important to Catholics to the public. Pat suggested using the St Paul Outreach students at the University of St. Thomas to work with us on this.

Treasurer's Report - Cletus Tauer passed out the financial statement and Tom Schramer went over it, pointing to a profit of $982 for the period Jan-July, although $3,400 of that amount was due to a bequest of stock to the CDL. Pat requested that we do a "revenue by time" report on income to determine what our trends are. Cletus and Ray agreed.

Someone suggested that we remind people regularly in the Defender that stock bequests to the CDL are something that they might consider because they could be to their financial tax advantage. "Consult your tax advisor" should be included in the statement.

Marlene moved and Dick seconded a motion to accept the Treasurer's report as submitted.

Resolution approving 990 report as follows:

RESOLVED, that the Annual Report of a Charitable Organization for the Minnesota Office of the Attorney General, including all attachments thereto which was submitted by Tom Schramer, be accepted by the board of the Catholic Defense League.

Ed Wollerman made a motion to approve. It was seconded by Stella Lundquist and passed by the Board of Directors.

Defender - Pat reviewed the past two issues of the Defender (Spring: Social Justice and its relation to life issues), (Summer: USCCB statements on forming one's conscience) and began discussion on the Fall issue, the theme of which is to be "What's at stake in this election and the Voters Guide.

Voter's Guide - In depth discussion of the draft of the Voters Guide followed.

The current Catholic Charities billboard "social justice" advertising campaign was discussed with some concern that it detracted from the "life issues". It will be located close to the site of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. A letter to Father Estrem, head of Catholic Charities, would be in order.

A letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt was discussed that would request a meeting with him to discuss how we could help inform Catholics on the issues in this upcoming election.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m. Moved by Ed and seconded by Stella.