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Common
Leadership Night
September 2, 2008
Pastoral Council
After a brief Hiatus in August the
members of our Parish Commissions were back at it on Tuesday September 2,
2008 meeting and planning for ways to improve our Parish Community.
Pastoral Council members were disappointed to learn that Sandra King
resigned from the Council because of an increase in her responsibilities
outside the Parish. Her hard work and energy will be missed. We need
additional members for the Administration and Formation Commission. If you
are interested in serving the parish in this way please contact Carol
DeMayo or the Chairperson of the commission you are interested in helping
with. Commissions are making steady progress on the goals they have set
for themselves and we had a brief discussion about planning for a
recognition night in the spring. The balance of the meeting was spent
discussing how best to plan for the budget for next fiscal year. The
Commissions will be working on preliminary budgets in the coming months so
now is the time to discuss future programs.
Worship Commission
The liturgy planning
committee has been formed. Two liturgy planning workshops have been
scheduled the first on September 22nd and the next on October 6th
both at 7:00 pm. All are welcomed to attend. The Commission is looking
for two people to co chair the “Liturgical Ministries Committee”, the
purpose of the committee is to coordinate the scheduling of the
Eucharistic ministers, lectors ushers greeters and alter servers. The
subject of training additional Eucharistic ministers to serve the local
nursing homes was also discussed. CJ Gillig reports that while the search
for a new organist/music minister continues, we will have a cantor at the
8:30 and 10:30 masses, there will be singing.
Administration Commission
The Parish Ministry Questionnaire has
been finalized. The Building & Grounds reports for the year were
reviewed. The commission is very active with some of their projects quite
visible. An update on current and planned projects will be reported in
more detail next month. Agreed to put on next months agenda (October)
discussion of a monthly report to parishioners. The Commission also
discussed using email as a means to communicate with Parishioners. It was
agreed this would be an effective method of communication for those
individuals who were interested.
Community Commission
Plan to form a Hospitality Committee
which would be responsible for coffee hours and other special events. We
are looking for volunteers (especially families) who would be interested
in hosting an event. Initially the Commission plans on hosting 2 coffee
hours/month one each after the 8:30 and 10:30 masses. I f you are
interested in hosting a coffee hour please contact a member of the
Commission. Scheduled a Senior Activities Committee meeting for Wednesday
September 24 at 7:00 pm. One hour only . Anyone interested in
helping out with this committee should plan on attending.
Outreach Commission
The Commission completed its bulletin
board and began discussing several new projects. Preliminary discussion
began about a Recognition Mass and Volunteer Fair. Ultimately it was
deiced this is a project that involves all Commissions for planning so it
will be addressed by the Pastoral Council. There is popular support for
return of the “Christmas Giving Tree” where people purchase specific
requested items rather than buying gift cards. This is a worthwhile
program which requires its own committee to organize (with our assistance
of course!) if anyone is interested in working on this committee please
contact one of the chairpersons. Fall goes by quickly so we need
volunteers to commit soon.
Formation
The Formation commission continues its
work on developing a Youth Ministry program. They are planning a social
event and combine it with a questionnaire to find out what types of
events/activities would appeal to our young people.
Our next Common Leadership Night is
October 7th at 7:00 pm.
All are welcome and encouraged to
attend.
Finance Council
The September Finance Council meeting
focused on two main issues. The first was the budget for the current
fiscal year (July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009). While the weekly offering
campaign of two years ago was successful at the time, the increase in
weekly offerings has not been sustained. Because of this and anticipated
utility costs, a substantial deficit is projected. In an effort to reduce
heating costs, Fr. Burke decided that daily Mass will be held in the
parish center during the winter months and the temperature in the church
be set lower on weekdays.
The second issue discussed was the
sale of the St. Raphael’s property. All expressed frustration at Church
Corners, LLC’s reluctance to enter into a formal Purchase and Sale
Agreement setting a closing date, as well as their continued failure to
respond to written correspondence from our real estate agent. The
consequences—both positive and negative—of reconsidering their offer and
placing the property back on the market were also discussed. Fr. Burke
will continue to stay on top of this issue, with the hopes of concluding
the deal in November.
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