11/27/2011 (rev.1)
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS PARISH Pastoral Stewardship Council
Minutes for the PSC Meeting on Wednesday, Nov 9th, 2011
The meeting was called to order by the PSC Chair, Kay Williams, at approximately 7:13 pm.
The meeting was held in the basement of the Thomas House.
These minutes are drawn from Kay’s PSC meeting notes augmented by my own notes.
Ministry Representatives Present:
Adult Spiritual DevelopmentBeverly Wade
Business Manager Chuck Tully
CatecheticalHal Fletcher
CommunicationsChris Lundin
Community LifeMicky Martin
FacilitiesJim McLaughlin
FinanceMary Martinson
HispanicGriselda Morales
Human ConcernsLaura Chiu
LiturgyKay Williams
OLR SiteJerry Lucha
Parochial VicarFr. Randy Valenton
SAG SiteKathleen Hart
STA SiteHelen Baumann (for L. Dabney)
YouthAnna Zara
Representatives Absent:
PastorFr. Matt Stanley
STA SiteLorraine Dabney
Guests: Evelyn Rosa
Opening Prayer:The opening prayer Our Father + faith sharing. This was augmented when Griselda arrived at 7:15…we then all read the Stewardship Prayer she brought.
Agenda: The agenda, as distributed in advance, was approved with one change: Hal Fletcher was added to speak for Catechetical first under Continuing Business.
Minutes: The secretary had made the correction based onfeedback from Helen Bauman via email prior to the meeting; the minutes were then approved as received.
Brief Announcements from the floor:
Mary Martinsonagain announced the 50th anniversary Jubilee Mass of SAG would be at 5 pm at SAG with a reception following.
Bev asked for another person to help Ted Baer with the bar—wine, iced tea—at the reception.
Griseldaannounced that theHispanic Ministry will be sponsoring an international dinner at the beginning of December (1st weekend) at OLR. It is a Saturday night. She will confirm by email. [Note: Now postponed to a later date—gvl] Laura suggested that she could order recyclable paper supplies ahead of time .
Lauraannounced thatHuman Concerns is collecting warm clothes and blankets—in boxes at each church and at all Masses, Nov. 19-20.
Laura also announced that a parishioner approached her suggesting a CD of the OLR choir & musicians be made and sold for fundraising. Anna Z. reminded us that the choir would need to get permission to sing copyrighted songs and there would be copyright issues.
CLERGY REPORT:
Fr. Randy reported in Fr. Matt’s absence. He went to the Caritas celebration sponsored by Catholic Charities of SCC on October 12. He and the other priests had a fruitful clergy retreat on the topic of living a balanced life in ministry: [if you are not working with challenge and effort, you will not be a balanced priest; a priest has to pray, has to find a time to pray with energy; it is important for a priest not only to have allies on all sides of the political spectrum but to have real friends regardless of the political winds; a happy priest should have fulfilling leisure time—spending his day off out of his room, enjoying his pursuits and relaxing, too.]
Oct. 23 was the Edge retreat; he enjoyed seeing the teenagers, even with their attitudes. Our seminarian dealt well with the teens. All Saints and All Souls days were busy, masses well attended. Cross International Outreach program had two priests here last week; Fr. Randy had a nice conversation and dinner with them. He offered thanks to Nora for the space heater in the room in the rectory that the Cross priest occupied—it was cold. Last night at STA he had dinner with Msgr. Holleran before his STA talk. With Fr. Matt gone, the three of them in the rectory are handling things well.
SCHEDULED REPORTS:
Seton School: Principal Ms. Evelyn Rosa met the PSC for the first time. She reported that she feels blessed to be at Seton. She began in mid-June, met with every member of the staff to hear their concerns; the kids are great; parents are respectful and appreciative of the support from donors and staff and Daughters of Charity.
She was hired by the Daughters of Charity and the superintendent of schools in the Diocese of San Jose so receives support from both of them. There is lots to do. Her goal is to get computers in the classroom. Maintenance items will be accomplished over time. She ordered a new play structure, which was just installed. Numerous people come in to tutor, and she’s met with each of them. These tutors are retired folk and Stanford students and high school students—they are assisting after school. The school has received several bequests recently: $1,000,000, $850,000, $200,000, and $265,000. They hope to break ground in summer 2012 on two new separate buildings connected by a common roof which will house a pre-school and a kindergarten; the plans are in the permitting process. Also restrooms in the school building will be remodeled. Completion is expected by Jan. 2013. She has her work cut out for her. The demographic of the school is approximately 86% Hispanic, one Caucasian family, the rest Tongans, African Amercans, etc. George Schulz will come tomorrow as usual to give out the Citizenship Awards to current 8th graders. The recipients were selected last spring: each received a $1500 gift toward 8th grade tuition. Laura asked if green considerations were in play for the renovations, and Evelyn said the architect John Miller designed it as a green building. Evelyn meets with John Miller every two weeks. She has been holding coffees, 8:30-9:30, one Wed. a month, talking about the plans for the new buildings. Neighbors will be invited to a special meeting so they know what to expect during the building phase. She then showed a slide show of the school children.
Community Life: Micky Martin just finished the report before the meeting and handed out copies. This year in Community Life has been at a high point, thanks to very able leaders: Bev Wade and Jeanne Ramos were co-chairs for several years. Now Bev is chair with lots of good helpers. They are busy with the Jubilee Year festivities, large funeral receptions, and celebrations of birthdays, etc. She went through the events since the last report. At each event, various committee members have taken part, mostly under Bev’s direction. Bev chimed in that the beauty of the committee is that many people will do a little something, even if they don’t attend meetings or take charge. The major innovation this year has been the establishment of a Cookie Crew.
Finance: Chuck presented the first 4 months of the FY—we are down about 12% from last year. By mid-year we’ll have a better idea of the full picture of the budget. The Christmas collection will probably keep us strong. Jerry Lucha commented that collections appear to be down. But Chuck said that he expects that with increasing use of ACH and credit card payments, the summer months will even out. Kay asked if there was a pressing need that a special fundraiser might be mounted to fill. Chuck did not think so. A brief discussion on TH rental of apartments ensued, with Jerry Lucha and Jim McLaughlin expressing dismay that the 3rd apartment has yet to be rented. Chuck said that he had not pressed for a third tenant because the Bride’s Room door is still to be replaced. Kay mentioned that the Site Committee is preparing a proposal for the use of the 3rd apartment as an alternative to renting it. Jerry commented that he believed such a thing would be an egregious breech of trust.
CONTINUING BUSINESS:
Catechetical: Hal Fletcher described the faith formation program for catechetical parents that he is conducting at SAG. He brought a copy of the book he is using: YouCat--a shorter version of the Catholic Catechism geared for youth. What he’s trying to do in the class that he teaches, “The Joy of Discovery”, is look at the riches of our Catholic faith. He does a little series with the adults (parents of kids in catechism) to bring them to a consciousness of what we have here in our Faith. The point is to try to bring a relevance to the truth that we know. He believes that when parishioners really know what we have in our faith, then we see the parish come alive—with time, talent and treasure offered in response. Anyone is welcome. He does this the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at SAG, 10:15 – 11:15.
Micky noted that Sue Clingingsmith does parent catechesis at OLR. Fr. Randy said he has met with the Hispanic parents to encourage them to be catechized too so they can teach their children.
Dermody Committee: Jerry said we’ve had a building inspector and a termite inspector, and they identified about 75 areas that needed work. During the last month, the committee attempted to put a price tag on each action item—all added up to just under $100,000. Committee Chair Bill Morrison presented this to the B&EM Committee, which asked for a complete spreadsheet of the costs. Needs were prioritized: $60,000 is priority 1, $20,000 is priority 2, and $20,000 is priority 3. This information will come back to B&EM, which will forward on to Finance. Some items are health and safety issues. The philosophy is that many of the items are of the nature that a handyman or plumber or the termite company can do—and we will be our own “ general contractor”, so to speak. The intention is not to do it as a single renovation job. Much that needs to be done is long deferred maintenance. Jim McLaughlin said that anything that needs to be done with a permit will be done with a permit—mainly electrical. A few of the jobs were so urgent that Chuck has started working on them. The mold re-inspection after the treatment has allowed the building to be used by the Youth and Knights of Columbus, and a regular faith group on Wed. nights.
Time and Talent: Kay reported on the T&T numbers, based on the returned Volunteer Registration Forms. Only 13 were received by Roland Quintero, 5 of which appear to be totally new. Micky said she had a couple more from OLR. Kay said there will be a more complete report at the December meeting. Bev said Community Life will do a push in January, spelling out their needs and inviting helpers to step forward. Other ministries would do well to do something similar.
Adult Spiritual Development: Bev reminded us that we have 3 more STAs before the Dec. meeting.
Communications: Kay reported briefly on an analysis of the numbers of page “hits” to the parish website during October, provided by Nora Lundin. The most popular page is the “Mass Times” page, followed by “Sacristans” page, then the “Contact Us” page. Not all parish directories have yet been distributed to those who had pictures in the directory; efforts are being made to finish that part of the process. The Annual Reports have been distributed to those who wanted a printed copy; it is posted on the website as well.
Human Concerns: Laura reported that the Congolese refugee family is going okay. Parish volunteers meet with one teen girl for math tutoring each weekend, and take care of small ones who need to be read to. Their house is small so finding a study space in it is hard.
Liturgy: Kay and Chris Lundin noted that the new Roman Missal will come in Advent. There will be pew cards and projected texts where possible. Anna said the LifeTeen program has 3 videos on YouTube on their page on the website, explicating the changes to 3 levels.
NEW BUSINESS/Other Comments: PSC retreat: Kay announced that May 19 has been reserved for the annual PSC Ministries retreat. She reminded us that new ministry reps should be appointed by the March 2012 meeting and pointed us to the chart on the reverse side of the agenda which outlines which ministry reps can be reappointed and which need to be replaced. [ Liturgy, and STA and SAG site committee reps will have served the 4 year maximum. Youth,Facilities,Finance and Hispanic representatives will have served one term and may be replaced or re-elected for another two year term at the option of those ministries.]
Youth: Anna said the Youth Ministry has raised $1200 with their “flamingoes” project, the monies from which will be used to send all the youth on retreat next summer. They need about $2500, so they are well on their way. Look on the website for more information.
Jim McL’ s new email is . Please make a note of it.
Anna commented that the new folding chairs are very nice.
The meeting adjourned at 9:10 pm.
NEXT MEETING:
Next meeting will be at the Thomas House on December 14th, ( 2nd Wed ).
Opening prayer/Faith Sharing: Facilities
Scheduled to report: Facilities, Hispanic
Respectfully submitted,
Jerry Lucha (PSC Secretary)