Pastoral Council

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish

January 9, 2017

Members Present: Karen Anderson, Laura Antonie, Len Beranek, Francis Brown, Angie Hendrikson, Sandy Jerue, Chris Olson, Mary Luebke, Deacon Matthew Ludick, Sister Bridget Donaldson OSB, Pat Brueggen, Father John Parr

Also Present: Kathy Warzynski, Greg Jameson, Todd Kearney, Jeff Reiter

Absent: Brian Clements, Shelly Linskey

Meeting opened with Gospel reading for the Baptism of the Lord and prayer.

Father Parr apologized for neglecting to record minutes for the November meeting. In December members gathered for Advent/Christmas social.

Members of the Parish Stewardship Committee (Greg Jameson, Todd Kearney and Jeff Reiter) offered council members a summary of the committee’s work since it began three years ago. Greg Jameson summarized the committee’s efforts to implement the 4 Pillars of Stewardship (see attached). In discussing the 4 areas of stewardship the pastoral council offered the following thoughts.

  1. Hospitality St. Elizabeth makes good efforts to welcome people and often the parish is seen to be an inviting faith community. However council members echoed the concerns of the stewardship committee regarding the large number of parishioners that have a rather tenuous relationship to the parish. How do we reach those who seldom worship with us? Members shared the pain of having family members who no longer are active in the church. Council members shared past experiences with helpful programs that provided small group interaction. Perhaps the parish may wish to explore those programs and others that will assist. The parish may wish to be more diligent in following up with parents of the newly baptized and couples newly married. Would it be helpful to have a “sponsor parishioner” reach out to new members of the parish? Also the parish can improve its efforts to welcome the disabled and will benefit by listening to those felt needs. On behalf of a parishioner the suggestion was made that we have “name tag” Sunday and invite people to introduce themselves at the start of Mass. The suggestion will be discussed by the Stewardship Committee.
  2. Prayer Perhaps the parish may wish to develop a prayer chain. Every heart asks “Lord, teach us to pray.” The parish may wish to offer discussion/adult education opportunities to better understand and grow in the life of prayer. The life of prayer determines the life of stewardship. The prayer life lived at 6 or 16 will not suffice for adults.
  3. Formation The good steward wants to know more about the Lord we love. The stewardship booklet invites ongoing formation but more needs to be done to foster ongoing growth in the Christian life.
  4. Service The parish has seen a growth in the number of people offering to serve as liturgical ministers and other area of parish life. Also it is to be noted that the level of financial giving has increased. Service follows gratitude.

Members of the Stewardship Committee asked about sending the annual stewardship mailing in the spring rather than fall. Council members agreed that spring would be a better time.

Meeting closed with prayer.

Next meeting: Monday, February 13, 2017