CLUSTER 22 PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

Monday, April 27, 2015 at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church

Present: David Steinbrick, Kathy Williamson, Msgr, Henchal, Msgr. Stefanko, Dave Greeley,

Anne Marsh, John Moreshead, Bill Krahe, Chris L’Abbe, Kathy Sparda, Bob Danielson, Tom Sheehan

Meeting opened at 6:35pm with a prayer by Msgr. Henchal.

The minutes from the February 23rd 2015 meeting were approved via email and have been posted on the web site.

  1. The meeting opened with a prayer by Msgr. Henchal at 6:35pm.
  1. The School Report was presented by Chris L’Abbe, principal.

Updates were given:

·  Enrollment for next year underway.

·  Registration for this year recently increased by 5.

·  A few of the upcoming events :

·  Regional speech contest at St. Dom’s – two Holy Cross Students in the competition

·  May 14th- Science Fair at the school

·  May 16th- Annual Auction at Purpoodock club

·  May 21 Wax Museum

·  May 28 Musical – preK through 4th grade

·  Testing for the grades 3rd-8th.

·  June 4th – teambuilding for the 5th,6th & 7th graders

·  Focus for next year will be on writing across the curriculum.

·  Discussed interest in having a Robotics team/club since there are students with that interest. Would need an adult to help lead it. John Moreshead will check into some Knights he knows with that skill set and reconnect with Chris.

·  Kindergarten position open

·  June –new roof for the school.

  1. Financial Update provided by Tom Sheehan

a)  WEShare- electronic giving program has increased the offertory across the parishes by 16-20%. Very helpful. It also spurred some people who attended church to officially register.

  1. Liturgical Planning Minutes
  2. Were distributed to the members and questions responded on such were responded to by Kathy Williamson.
  1. Parish Cluster Organizational chart
  2. Was compiled and provided by Kathy Williamson to help the Cluster Council understand how the different focus areas of the Cluster connect and when they meet etc. This will help with communications with the different areas.
  3. An idea was offered to considered an annual meeting of all the committees and groups with the Cluster Council.
  1. Cluster Council review and input – Tools for Rebuilding

a)  The Council have read Tools for Rebuilding and we focused on two chapters for discussion at this meeting.

b)  From our discussions of the Chapters, People Tools and Kids and Student Tools, we had following recommendations:

  1. Consistent with the book, people do not always realize that they need God and the Church until there is an event, such as baptism, Communion, a Wedding or a Funeral.
  2. Use the preparation for Communion and Confirmation more effectively to also focus on raising consciousness of spiritual needs and why Jesus matters. Involve parents more regularly.
  3. Make Ministry more accessible – invite/ask people to try one thing once. Allow people to try something and if they wish to pursue it further , great. If not, perhaps something else another day. One quick example was to ask someone to help with Name Tag Sunday on May 3rd. It would be to help for just that Sunday, just that Mass. This is to encourage more people to become involved by defining the service and time commitment.

Have existing ministers ask others to participate – ask directly about a specific service. More than just the Monsignors and the staff can solicit people.

iv.  Create a Welcome package for visitors to our parishes. Greeting and Ushering are also key focal points of interaction when new people come to our parishes.

v.  Asking the families who are having anniversary Masses said to bring down the gifts at that Mass was another idea to include more people and to make them feel welcomed.

vi.  From an email sent by a member unable to attend, an idea to hold a monthly Children’s Mass with the homily revolving around the children etc.

vii.  Holding a Strawberry Festival for the cluster –end of June/Beginning of July –with shortcake, homemade ice cream/pie was also offered as an idea.

Next Meeting for Cluster Council will be Monday, June 15th 2015 at 6:30pm at St. Maximilian Kolbe.

The meeting adjourned at 8:40pm.

Respectfully submitted:

Anne Marsh, Council Secretary