Nov's Council Meeting

2003's Reports
2004's Reports
2005's Reports
2006's Reports

Parish Pastoral Council Minutes
November 10, 2003

Preliminary

Prior to our meeting, the following committees emailed their reports to me. I collected the reports and distributed them to everyone on council one week prior to our meeting.

Publicity & Community Events/-submitted by Blair Learn
Evangelization Committee -submitted by Frank Blee and Laura Eger
Liturgical Committee-submitted by Ted Nell
Social Action Committee-submitted by Ed Walls
Vocations Committee-submitted by Bill & Connie Peters
Youth Ministry- submitted by Pat Bentley and Mark Kleuser

These reports can also be viewed at (click here)

The following committees did not submit a report for this month:
Building & Grounds Report
Children's Religious Education
Family Life

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Pastoral Parish Council

MINUTES

November 10, 2003

The Meeting:
·        Meeting called to order at 7:00pm
·        Opening prayer Pat Bentley
·        Attending: Matt Macready , Kevin Walls, Bob Senese , Ray Ring, Joan Parker , Carol Johnson, Blair Learn, Laura Eger, Joann Malecki, Ted Nell, Ed Walls, , Pat Bentley, Fr. Bob, Fr. Carlton
·        Absent: Mr. Rev. Bill Peters, Connie Peters, & Mr. Rev. Joe Becker
·        No correspondence was reported

Last Month’s Minutes:
            Changes: none
            Motion to approve minutes: Joan, and Carole seconded the motion
            Motion was accepted & minutes were approved

Discussion of Committee/Group Reports:

	Family Life : Last month 10 couples attended Pre-Cana. It was lead by a relatively new group of leaders, and it was deemed successful.
	Building & Grounds Report Ray reported the following:

	Help will be needed to put up this year’s Christmas lights
	A railing was installed in church
	The bust of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was moved. Mike Peterson donated some bricks for the job
	Resurfacing of the roof is not proceeding smoothly. For some reason, the roofers had to go back and redo some of their work.
	We are in the process of replacing the sign on Mill road with a similar or slightly larger sign
	Additional signs that will identify each building on the property are being sought.

Old Business:

A. Parish Mission : Blair noted what a great speaker Fr. McCarty is. One of his biggest assets as a speaker is reaching out to borderline Catholics. All were encouraged to invite individuals who we thought would benefit from this mission. Also, The correct time for Tuesday’s Mission for the children is 5 pm

B. The trip to see “The Producers” is set for Jan 16, 2004

C. Besides recruiting the laity to become as involved as possible with their church, the Camden Diocese is also very interested in educating the laity to be as effective as possible in their ministry. Through a program know as “Camden Diocesan Lay Pastoral Institute”, the laity can develop a closer union with Jesus Christ and learn to better serve the parish.

D. It was noted what an outstanding job Beverly and Juliana were doing in preparation for this week’s Christmas Craft Show. Considering they have never even been to a Seton Bazaar, their dedication and ideas are extremely appreciated. Fr. Bob described them as “Truly a God send”.

New Business:

A. “Called by Name” vocation program will be conducted over the next 3 weekends. Individuals are requested to submit names of people they believe may be interested in a vocation with the church. These individuals will later be contacted and hopefully that interest will develop into a life long career choice. This program is being initiated to offset the decreasing numbers in vocations. Matt mentioned that even the scouts are planning a day trip to meet the seminarians and get a feel for the life they lead.

B. Appreciation dinner will either be held January 31 or February 21, 2004

C. It appears that focus is reemerging on the deaneries of our diocese. We are one of the 10 parishes in Group One deanery. Our objective is to learn how we can best share resources and help one another.

D. Matt took the time to overview our council:

a. The bylaws were developed over a 5-6 month period

b. Jan 2002 was our first meeting

c. We are simply an advisory body. Like any other Catholic we are simply asked to “Pay, Pray, and Obey”

d. There are 3 elected members and representing chair people from each ministry

e. In May we will have our first election

f. Before our elections, we will require:

i. a Nomination Committee: to obtain a list of nominees, their bio and a photo

ii. an Election Committee: to create the ballets, and then collect and tally them

In the end, there was disagreement over the process and it was decided that Matt, Kevin, and myself would research first the way other parish council handle their elections, and then present 3 alternative ideas of how we should conduct our elections. We will then debate the pros and cons of each at our next meeting.

Open Forum

	April 3, 2004 Easter trip to see the show “Behold the Lamb”
	Kevin followed up his point from last meeting when he noted that the minutes sometime do not show how the topic of discussion is resolved. It should be clearly noted whether or not the idea is: closed, tabled, or pending. In the future, the end of my minutes will summarize exactly what topics are closed, tabled, or pending.
	Fr. Bob thanked us for taking part in Priest Appreciation Sunday and for honoring him and Fr. Carlton

Summary of topics discussed:

Those Pending: Discussion of Parish Council Elections (see New Business section E.)

Those Closed: nothing noted

Those Tabled: nothing noted

Next meeting

No meeting in December
Next meeting Monday January 5
Temporary new location: Room 115 CCD building
Time 7:00 pm

Fr. Bob will lead us in prayer

Respectfully submitted by:
Bob Senese ,
Secretary