Preliminary Parish Pastoral Council Minutes
June 13, 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.   

Social Action Committee-submitted by Ed Walls 
Vocations Committee-submitted by Bill & Connie Peters
Youth Ministry- submitted by Pat Bentley
Building & Grounds Report-submitted by Ray Ring
Publicity & Community Events-submitted Carol Johnson
Parish Outreach Committee -submitted by Frank Blee and Laura Eger
Liturgical Committee-submitted by Fran Fietkiewicz

These reports can also be viewed at (click here)

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

Family Life
Children's Religious Education

To view the agenda the meeting (click here)

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Pastoral Parish Council

MINUTES
June 13, 2005

The Meeting:

·        Meeting called to order at 7:00pm

·        Opening prayer Pat Bentley

·        Attending: Bob Senese, Ray Ring,  Carol Johnson, Frank Blee, Addie Blee,  Ed Walls, Rev. Mr. Bill Peters, Connie Peters, Pat Bentley, Fr. Bob, Fr. Carlton &  Rev. Mr. Joe Becker

·        Absent:  Matt Macready,  Kevin Walls , Joan Parker , & Joann Malecki

·        No correspondence was reported

Last Month’s Minutes:

            Changes:

Under Old Business, Section B, #2, “This project could probably be completed with volunteers from our parish.”  This was probably more implied by me than actually stated at the meeting.  I hereby delete it.

            Motion to approve minutes:  Connie with Ed seconding

            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

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

Discussion of Committee/Group Reports:

1. Liturgical Committee- requests have been made to make a bundle of straw available during the next Advent season.  In the past, parishioners would take the straw home and incorporate it into their nativity scene.
2. Children’s Religious Education- in Joan’s absence, Pat advised us that Joan has been named Safety Environment Coordinator for our parish.   Her task will be to have catechist finger printed. 

Old Business: 

1. Garage- At the present time our builder, Alex Balserski, is having a difficult time getting the appropriate permits needed to begin the job.  Absecon is now stating that we must file a Site Plan Waiver.  This waiver must then be submitted at one of the next planning board meetings (6/28 or 7/12).  Ray has the application, but several of the questions are above his authority to complete.  He plans to consult with Art Basciano, the diocese’s architect in order to complete the waiver
2. Chicken Barbeque- Carole is getting it all together and everything is going well.   She has requested that each member of council donate at least an hour of their time in an effort to call attention to our existence and who we are.  I have volunteered to secure provisions for the event and some scheduling was discussed.
3. Council Elections- If we are ever going to have an election, planning should start now.  If nothing else,  we should:
1. Elect a new Vice President
2. Have Kevin move up to the President position
3. Have Matt sit ex-officiao

Our immediate goal for September is to search the parish and come back with a couple of names who we think we could encourage running for election in the spring.  Furthermore, each committee should try to encourage some younger members of the parish into becoming involved with their committee.

4. Parish Center- briefly it was mentioned that renovating the Annex probably wouldn’t work and is probably no longer being considered.  I stated that renovating the pastoral ministry building, without the addition was still our best bet.  More will be known once Father meets with the Bishop to discuss the Regional School .  So far, two of the past scheduled meetings have been canceled.  Regarding the Regional School , Pat would still like to see Atlantic City given the opportunity to attend it, and I stated that in order to help the debt structure, possibly more than the Assumption School could be sold.
5. A more understandable list of parishioner’s living outside the parish.  Kevin & Ted did present a better list to Father.  According to the list, 36% of our register parishioners live in Galloway Township .   Because of this fact, Council felt that Father Bob should strongly mention to the diocese that before any fixed assessment for the new school is levied against our parish, the dioceses should note that our parish could conceivably lose 36% of its income.  Furthermore, due to the fact that the new Assumption Church is being built in a more affluent section of our area, it can be argued that those parishioners that we do loss may be our biggest contributors.  Therefore the actual loss could be more.  In short, no diocesan assessment upon our parish should be cast in stone until we see how our parish is affected by the new church.

New Business: 

1. Stewardship talks- on Time, Talent, & Treasure will be conducted this October.  Frank stated that the ministry fair that we conducted last time did not work and won’t be tried again.  Instead he is planning something Vibrant and Dynamic.  But exactly what that is, he still is not sure.   As far as the treasure part is concerned, emphasis must be made on the constant, growing expenses and the declining income that our parish has been facing.  Frank outlined the concept of e-giving (electronic giving) as a solution to help increase the parish’s income.   Those on council who are familiar with e-payments were comfortable and thought it would be a good alternative.  On the other hand, those not as familiar with electronic payments expressed concern that a religious experience was now becoming big business.  In short, care must be given on exactly how this is presented so that no one is offended.  Other points on e-giving that were mentioned:
1. Parishes that have installed it have seen an increase in income
2. To maximize e-giving’s efficiency,  new software should be purchased ($1200)
3. The new software would also compile parishioner’s email addresses, which could later be used for a number of things.
4. How would second collections be affected?
5. Is it possibly to see if there is a significant interest in e-giving before purchasing the software?
2. Future Staffing- Fr. Bob announced tonight that he will be retiring in June 2006 and Fr. Carlton in December 2005.  As it appears now, Fr. Carlton will probably not be replaced.  To compensate for the shortage in manpower, the staff has decided to:
1. Starting in September eliminate one Sunday mass.  The 7:00 and 8:30 mass will become the 8:00 mass
2. Starting in November, one of the daily evening masses will be eliminated, a morning mass will be eliminated and all First Friday masses will be eliminated.  These masses will all be replaced with Eucharistic Services.  Furthermore, depending on whether or not there is a wedding or funeral on Saturday will dictate whether or not there will be a Saturday morning mass or Eucharistic Service.
3. Best wishes to Fr. Bob and Fr. Carlton in their new lives of leisure.  Thank you for all you have done, we will miss you both.
3. The Mission is scheduled for November 27-30 and Fr. Angello Camaco is scheduled to lead.

Open Forum

Ray would like to spruce up the church’s bulletin board and is planning on asking parishioner’s for some clever religious sayings that he would then use.

 Summary of topics discussed:

Those Pending: 

Those Closed: 

 Those Tabled:  nothing noted

Next meeting

Monday September 12, 2005
Time 7:00 pm  
Carole will lead us in prayer

Enjoy the summer.

Respectfully submitted by:
Bob Senese ,
Secretary