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Preliminary Parish Pastoral Council Minutes
January 10, 2005

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.

Children's Religious Education-submitted by Joan Parker
Social Action Committee-submitted by Ed Walls
Vocations Committee-submitted by Bill & Connie Peters
Youth Ministry- submitted by Pat Bentley

These reports can also be viewed at (click here)

The following committees did not submit a report for this month:

Building & Grounds Report
Publicity & Community Events
Parish Outreach Committee
Family Life
Liturgical Committee-

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Pastoral Parish Council

MINUTES
January 10, 2005

The Meeting:

· Meeting called to order at 7:06 pm

· Opening prayer Ray Ring

· Attending: Matt Macready , Kevin Walls, Bob Senese , Ray Ring, Carol Johnson, Frank Blee, Joann & Ted Malecki, Ed Walls, Pat Bentley, & Fr. Carlton

· Absent: Joan Parker, Addie Blee, Rev. Mr. Bill & Connie Peters , Fr. Bob, Rev. Mr. Joe Becker

· No correspondence was reported

Last Month’s Minutes:

            Changes: none
            Motion to approve minutes was made by Ray, Ed seconded
            Motion was accepted & minutes were approved

Committee/Group Reports:

Prior to our meeting, the following reports were submitted and distributed to council. As always they can be viewed at our website www.stelizabethannseton.com

	Children’s Religious Education
	Vocations Committee
	Youth Ministry
	Social Action Committee

The following committees did not submit a report for this month:

	Building & Grounds Report
	Publicity & Community Events Committee
	Parish Outreach Committee
	Family Life
	Liturgical Committee

Discussion of Committee/Group Reports:

	Family Life: There is a Pre Cana scheduled for April 17 & 24. So far one couple has signed up
	Liturgical Committee: They are in the progress of preparing the Lenten Services

New Business:

This is the year of the Eucharist. The parish is offering Adoration of the Eucharist every Friday. Everyone was encouraged to participate.
This year’s appreciation dinner is January 29 at 7:30 . In an effort to eliminate people standing in buffet lines, this year’s party will substitute those lines with hors d’oeuvres tables.
Fr. Bob requested information on the status of our parish’s prayer & study groups. This issue was already discussed and noted in October’s & November’s parish council minutes. I volunteered to email him copies of those sections.
The Knights of Columbus has made it known that they would like to contribute their manpower to our parish. The council made the following suggestions for their services:

	Help with the Christmas lights
	Help with True love waits
	Help with the Evangelization Committee

A call for Christian Unity will be conducted January 18 -25. A daily scripture and prayer guide was distributed for our individual participation in this event.
The subject of the council photo board is on the agenda once again. This time we were asked for a new volunteer to bring the project to life. Unfortunately, no one knew where we stood on the project, and no one volunteered bring new life into it.
Our new bishop is interested in strengthening our deanery council. The deanery council will be involved with discussing ways parishes could share each others resources. Fr. Bob is currently looking for 3 individuals to represent the parish on this council. Beings no one knew exactly when the council would meet, or where, there were no volunteers.
The bishop is trying to visit every parish in his diocese. We are on his list. No further details.

Old Business:

Parish Center is still planned to be built along with the garage. However due to some turn of events, progress is not where we would have expected it to be at this time.

Open Forum

Just as the Knights of Columbus questioned if our parish would be in need of any of their services; it was asked if any of the individual committees/ministries could benefit from help from the parish council. Several committees stated the need for more manpower, which lead us to conclude that more of an effort should be made to recruit new volunteers. In an effort to do so:

	A brochure will be created stating and describing the various ministries that are currently operating in our parish.
	This brochure will be made available to parishioners in an effort to first educate them of exactly what is available.
	A survey card will then be made available to them (possibly placed in the pew) through which they could sign up.
	I volunteered to create the brochure and survey card, return it to council next week to be revised and/or approved
	Similarly, I volunteered to find out exactly what happens at the rectory when a new parishioner joins our parish

Still pending and briefly discussed is obtaining facts from the diocese regarding the future of our parish. Exactly what are their plans for us in the next several years? Then again, it was wondered if the diocese was really on top of our situation or do we know more than they know?

The House of Charity officially began this week

Council is beginning to realize that in the not to distant future, they may be the main continuity between the next shuffling of priest to our parish. With both Fr. Carlton & Fr. Bob appearing to be looking to retire in the next few years that would leave the council as the guiding force for the next administration. Hopefully, we will be able to be more proactive then reactive in our guidance.

Finally, Kevin made points about the council tackling more strategic issues. Also, issues that were pending from the last meeting were total ignored in today’s agenda. If the council is not going to be a waste of time, more effort has to be made in planning strategies for the parish.

(Unfortunately, I was not able to stay to the end of the meeting, and am not aware what transpired afterwards. If necessary, I will amend these minutes at the next meeting.)

Summary of topics discussed:

Those Pending:

	Fund raiser for Parish Center
	Questions for the diocese concerning the affects of the new Assumption Parish on us.
	I volunteered to create ministry brochure and survey
	I also volunteered to find out exactly how the rectory hands signing up new parishioners.
	Volunteer to finish the council photo board
	3 Volunteers for the deanery council

Those Closed: nothing noted

Those Tabled: nothing noted

Next meeting

Monday February 14, 2005
Time 7:00 pm
I am not aware who volunteered to lead us in prayer at the next meeting.

Respectfully submitted by:
Bob Senese ,
Secretary

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