Pastoral Parish Council

Meeting Minutes

April 15, 2015

In attendance: Eammon Ahern, Fr. Bob Binta, Nadine Condon, Joseph Fagan, Deanna Massung, Mick McLaughlin, Charlie Schifano, Deacon Ed Winklebauer

Absent: Dr. Marie Axman, Joyce Petrowski

6:51 pm Charlie opened the meeting with a prayer

Fr. Bob apologized for having to delaying the parish council meeting due to meeting with the ministry to assist those gluten free parishioners receiving Communion.

Strategic plan updates

Master Plan- Eammon- In 2 weekends, the master plan will be presented to the congregation at all the masses. Members of the Steering Committee will be available to answer questions. There has been some reconfiguring of the plan since the initial roll-out to ministry leaders, consisting mainly of additional parking.

Faith and Discipleship-Nadine-The group is awaiting approval of their plan prior to another meeting.

Effective Communication-Deanna-On April 20th the group met and finalized their plan. Linda Schifano has joined this group; more members are still needed.

Vibrant Ministries-Charlie-The next meeting is April 21st; expect to finalize the plan at this time.

March meeting minutes: Approved-Nadine; seconded-Joe

Parish updates

Portables-Deacon Ed-We are awaiting a final design for the sprinkler system; the scouts have offered to level some areas prior to granite going in; doors and windows need replacement; the security system must be completed. We’re looking at another week or so for completion.

Liturgy-Fr. Bob-All Lenten programs were well attended. A thank you was placed in the bulletin commending all groups on the work they did throughout the Lenten Season. Charlie requested chairs/benches be provided for the choir members since they presently stand throughout all Masses.

CDA-Fr. Bob-Our goal was accomplished in the first 3 weeks of the program. Total pledged: $101,198. We will have an ice cream social when we find a sponsor for this.

Finance Committee-Fr. Bob-The 2015-16 budget will be finalized at the next meeting and presented to the parish council in May.

SJB-Fr. Bob- Ryan Watson (SJB assistant principal) has accepted a position of assistant principal at Bourgade High School. Seven candidates have been interviewed to assume the position of assistant principal at SJB; 2 have emerged as very promising and a final decision has not yet been made.

New Business

Mick proposed that Fr. Bob offer a brief introduction to each of the readings at mass to set the scene for the congregation. Fr. Bob indicated that although this is the style of some priests, they are liturgically discouraged from this homily within a homily type of preaching. Nadine suggested that perhaps this could be added into the bulletin in the Liturgy Corner.

Deanna announced 3 open positions on the parish council; applications will be accepted until May 15th.

The question arose concerning a meeting with the steering committee in order to share with them any comments council members receive once the master plan has been presented at all the masses.

The traffic study has been pushed to September when school will be in session.

Next meeting is May 6, 2015

7:58 pm Mick closed the meeting with a prayer

Respectfully submitted,

Marilyn Johnston, recording secretary