Monday August 23rd, 2010

Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes

Opening Prayer: Marilyn Wickel
Present: Fr. Bill, Joann Gardner, Steve Gemma, Donna Lance, Bill Harrison, Marilyn
Wickel, Eileen Papson.
Absent: Mike Mastro and Pam Casserly

Reflection: Father Bill distributed and read handout The Parent X Factor/ Source:
Millennials Go to College Research (2007).The purpose was to serve as background
knowledge for understanding and further discussion of Millennials, Baby Boomers, and
Generation X. He noted that our Catholic Heart Work Camp is reflective of the Team
Oriented trait or characteristic of Millennials.
An additional handout “Teens getting less involved in Church Groups” was reviewed.
Periodicals distributed by Father Bill in July (Can we bridge gap between Church and
Millennials?) will be discussed at next meeting.

Committee Meeting:
Updated Committee Liaison Calendar distributed.
Dr. Rose Fay will represent Religious Education at September meeting.
Anthony DeStefano will  attend our October meeting .

Old and Continuing Items of Business:
Marilyn Wickel gave a report on the August meeting of the Diocesan Commission
about Future Staffing. Marilyn will give further report after their September
meeting.
• The updated prayer schedule was distributed with readings through December.
Marilyn will complete a schedule for the new year when new book or readings is
received. Prayer for September is changed to Donna Lance.
• Five Year Plan Update: All committee liaisons should be having a discussion with
respective committee chairs to absorb brainstorming results.
• Our goal for 2010/2011- to educate ourselves on transitional leadership options
and future staffing at St. John’s continues.
Subcommittees:
• Five Year plan Update committee to plan meeting.
• Archives: Steve Gemma has flashdrive from Bill Harrison to keep archives of
written records.
• Communications: Monday, November 15th tentatively planned for next Town
Meeting. Pizza will be 6:30.Meeting at 7PM. Marilyn will give suggestions for
speaker on topic of leadership options and future staffing.
New Pastoral Membership: We will begin our search for new members earlier,
possibly March. Suggestion was made to have prospective members attend a
Pastoral Council meeting as part of their discernment process.

New Items of Business:
Pastor’s Items of Business
Father Bill has been working with Lyle Garcia , Marilyn Wickel, Jim DeVito, and Mary Connolly to formulate a plan to
create an invitational DVD about our parish. They have discussed whether it is something
they can do “in house” or if they need a more professional sense of direction for this.
Pastoral Council should continue to work with other parishes, perhaps St. Joseph’s, and
continue to get to know one another.
We are experiencing a difficult financial year, although not an impossible one.
Father Bill spoke with St. Joseph’s about possibility of sharing a religious director with
them. Because of declining religious education enrollment this will be Dr. Rose Fay’s last
full time year.
Father Bill had a conversation with Jeff Korgen who suggested that St. Joseph’s might
consider an administrator model approach.
Father Bill expressed concern that detailed information about the picnic was given early
enough to the parish. An email was recently sent out with details of the event. The picnic
is indeed an opportunity for the two parishes to get to know one another.
The article, Fundamentalism: The Real Problem in Any Religion. What is it about
Twenty Somethings? was distributed.
Father Bill spoke about his concern and bewilderment about why parishioners are
choosing to relocate to different parishes.
Closing Prayer: Marilyn Wickel
Next meeting: Saturday, September 18th 8:30AM
Minutes prepared by Donna Lance