Preliminary Parish Pastoral Council Minutes
January 9, 2006

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
Parish Outreach Committee -submitted by Frank Blee and Laura Eger
Liturgical Committee-submitted by Fran Fietkiewicz


These reports and the agenda can be viewed at (click here)

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

Youth Ministry
Building & Grounds Report
Publicity & Community Events
Family Life

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Pastoral Parish Council

MINUTES
January 9, 2006

The Meeting:

·        Meeting called to order at 7:00pm

·        Opening prayer Bill Peters

·        Attending:  Matt Macready , Kevin Walls , Bob Senese , Ray Ring, Carol Johnson, Frank Blee , Addie Blee, Joann Malecki, Ed Walls, Rev. Mr. Bill Peters, Connie Peters,  & Fr. Bob,

·        Absent:  Joan Parker , , Pat Bentley, & Rev. Mr. Joe Becker

·        An email from Blair Learn  was reported

Last Month’s Minutes:

            Changes: No changes were requested, but a request to review the “pending” section of these minutes and better incorporate them into the upcoming agenda was again suggested

            Motion to approve minutes:  Ray, and Bill 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

Liturgical Committee 
Children’s Religious Education 
Parish Outreach Committee
Vocations Committee
Social Action Committee

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

Building & Grounds Report
Publicity & Community Events Committee
Family Life
Youth Ministry

Discussion of Committee/Group Reports:

Regarding the Public Relations work with Assumption Regional School- An effort was made to increase parish awareness of our responsibility to this school.  Originally fund raising ideas and Assumption Regional School meeting dates were placed in Seton’s bulletin.  Since that week, the amount of space dedicated to Assumption Regional School has diminished.  It was decided that more space should be permanently allocated to Assumption Regional School in an effort to increase parishioner awareness that this is our school and we are responsible for it.   Other suggests made to achieve this goal were to:

Family Life- Joanne finally got to talk with someone from the diocese regarding what the Family Life Committee should do.  According to Joanne, it appears that the diocese would like the committee to offer counseling for such situations as marriage, parenting, or death.   Fr. Blee cautioned not even to consider going in that direction, because to pass oneself off as a consoler you must be state licensed, have a psychiatrist  backing you up, and carry liability insurance.  Should a person need counseling, the best advice would be for them to contact Family Services.  This means that Joanne’s committee is still without a purpose.  According to Joanne, this is why no other parish that she knows of has a Family Life committee.  It also has shown what a poor job the dioceses has done in offering guidance for a parish that would like to develop a Family Life Committee.  Fr. Bob has asked her one more time to try to come up with some sort of purpose for this committee.

 Old Business: 

1. Constitution/Election Update-Matt still has not yet gotten to create a draft for our constitution.   He promises a 100% effort to have it for the next meeting
2. Vice President Candidates:  Council did approach 11 parishioners about filling the vacancy, all of whom stated they were not interested.  Fr. Bob stated that he did have someone still debating the idea and Addie mentioned another woman who was interested in the Liturgical Committee, but might also be interested in the council.
3. Parish Center Renovations- Doors and doorways have been completed.   Painting, lights, carpeting are next.  A face lift for the bathroom is also planned, while renovations to the front door ramp will proceed at a slower pace.
4. Comments on the Parish Mission- “Excellent”, “great”, “good”, and “I liked it a lot”

New Business: 

1. Fr. Cosme Dela Pena will be arriving soon from the Philippians for a 3 year stay with us.  With another priest, it was discussed if the mass schedule should change.   (An email from Blair Learn to council was also referred to during this discussion.) After much discussion, it was decided that the Sunday masses will remain the same ( 8:00 , 10:00 , & 11:30 ) and whether or not to bring back the Tuesday and Thursday evening mass will be up to Fr. Cosme.
2. Bishop’s Vision- Fr. Bob handed out cards stating the Bishop’s vision for the diocese.
3. Vocation Awareness- This month is vocational awareness and it will be mentioned in the Prayer of the Faithful, and Fr. Bob has asked the deacons to mention it in their homilies.
4. Parish Host Lenten Prayer- Blair Learn had request Fr. Bob to be able to use some of the church’s facilities during lent.  His charismatic prayer and praise event is to be held in our hall during the first 3 Friday’s of Lent.  Unless this would conflict with s Seton event that is already scheduled, Fr. Bob does not see any problem in granting Blair’s request.
5. Consultation for a new pastor- It appears that council will have an opportunity to specify what it feels are our parish’s needs.  Fathers Ferraro and Volozo will attend next month’s parish council meeting.  It will be a fact finding visit to try to determine what strengths we feel our next pastor should possess.  This information will then be revealed to potential pastors.  From this information, these priests will then have the opportunity to see if they feel they are qualified or desire the challenges we have set.  The guidelines will also be used by the appointment committee in selecting the best priest for the job.
6. The Appreciation Dinner is scheduled for January 28.  Mary & Marge are once again heading the committee

Summary of topics discussed:

Those Pending: 

Those Closed:  nothing noted

Those Tabled:  nothing noted

Next meeting

Monday February 13, 2006  
Time 7:00 pm  
I will lead us in prayer

Respectfully submitted by:
Bob Senese ,
Secretary

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