St. Francis de Sales Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes September 22, 2015
Attendees: William Bankert, Sylvia Brokos, Viviana Cajigas, John Fisher, Susan Gallagher, Father Jaime Garcia, Kathy Glover, Iris Hernandez, Alice Long, Mary Ann Palmer, Erin Perkins, Sally Raphel, Deacon Jim Sullivan and Father Jack Ward
Absent: Rob Hardy, Julie Lindner, Ray Traube and Carolyn Webster.
Order: Susan Gallagher brought the meeting to order at 7:00pm.
Opening Prayer: The Embracing Our Mission – Shaping our Future prayer was said by all.
Approval of Minutes: August draft minutes were not available, therefore they will be presented for review and approval at the next meeting.
Parish Update
Fr. Jack stated that pre-school was up and running. Mold problem seems to be under control.
Also discussed moving the statutes from the Narthex back into the Worship Center and purchasing a statue of Blessed Bishop Romero to fill the fourth niche.
On November 7th, at noon, Fr. Franzyk will say a patriotic rosary on the parking lot of the County Office Building in downtown Bel Air.
The Liturgy Committee agreed to the placement of the American and Papal flags. The Knights of Columbus will purchase the Papal Flag, stand etc. while the Fourth Degree Knights will purchase the American Flag.
The times for the Christmas Masses at both SFDS and Prince of Peace were decided.
Fr. Jack will be offering teachings on the Blessed Mother a/k/a “Mary 101” in Room 205 of the Education Building from 7-8 on various dates printed in the bulletin.
The SFDS Parish Council and Staff are invited to meet their counterparts at Prince of Peace at a gathering at Prince of Peace on Thursday, November 5th at 7:00.
Website Committee
The website should launch on October 10th or 11th. Fr. Jaime is working on the Spanish translations.
Jubilee Planning Committee
Note cards are selling well. After this last weekend of September, there will be a hiatus on these sales. Susan told the committee that the Committee would also be selling car magnets and Christmas cards later in the Jubilee year. Rob Henry, with assistance from Sally and the choir, is working on the music for the opening Mass scheduled for January 16, 2016. Susan ash written the Archbishop about attending the closing Mass on the weekend of 1/21-1/22/2017. So far, no reply from the Archbishop’s office.
Ministry Reports
Connections: Mary Ann Palmer reported:
Reviews of the Spring Retreat have been good.
The Parish Fall Retreat is planned for Saturday, October 24th with a viewing of the movie “God Is Not Dead” followed by a group discussion.
Father Jack is presenting a 5-part lectures series entitled Mary 101. All are welcome to attend.
On Saturday, February 27, 2016, there will be a Lenten Day of Recollection presented by Beth Taneyhill and Mary Jo Piccolo.
Faith Formation: Mary Ann Palmer reported:
Elimination of Monday evening classes seems to have increased the class size for many of the classes and many of them now are closed.
Children’s Liturgy of the Word is resuming.
There was a meeting for those who do home study on September 20th.
Latino Community: Iris Hernandez reported:
The September 12th bilingual youth Mass was very well received and there probably will be another. Faith formation begins on September 27th and currently 17 youth are registered. Taste of Latin America is scheduled for October 3rd and the tickets cost $10.00.
Liturgy: Sylvia Brokos reported:
In addition to the items mentioned by Fr. Jack, Sylvia urged Council members that if they attended Mass at another parish and observed a different way to celebrate, they should inform Deacon Jim or the Liturgy Committee as the committee is looking for ways to refresh our liturgies.
Parish Life: From the report:
There are 6 groups of Girl Scouts at SFDS. There will be leader training on campus at a future date. The scouts will celebrate Juliet Gordon Lowe’s birthday in November.
Service: From the report:
September blood drive was a success. Outreach saw 211 clients, gave out 203 bags of food and gave financial assistance to 78 clients. Boy Scouts will be helping with donations & filling the panty. On October 10th, there will be a breakfast retreat for the Social Action participants in the Knights’ Hall.
Stewardship: John Fisher and Deacon Jim reported:
The Council approved taking a second collection four times per year to cover extraordinary expenses like snow removal, heating and air conditioning. Deacon Jim has alerted the envelope company to put specific envelopes into the packets.
John reviewed one estimate for the brass railings to be installed in the sanctuary and along the Baptismal pool. He described in detail the mountings and he also circulated a picture and drawing so that the Council could visualize the result.
Youth: Viviana Cajigas reported:
After the bilingual Mass on 9/12, all of the youth socialized in Kilduff Hall.
The high schoolers met that evening and planned out their events until February. Trunk or Treat again will be in the Education Building as that seemed to have worked better.
The Middle Schoolers are doing a corn maze on 10/9.
There will be another round of tile painting on 10/2.
The youth continue to sell their Ravens raffle and Dingo tickets to raise money to attend NCYC but the big event will be the Taste of Latin America fundraiser on 10/3. There are about 20 youth attending at an average cost of about $1,000/per attendee.
Good of the Council:
Deacon Jim reported that there are two endowments of $48,000 each and that monies may be withdrawn only once per year for the stated purpose of the endowment. The staff is going to meet with someone from the Archdiocese to get more information and training about how to use the endowments.
The Council agreed that all of the various parish ministries could benefit from attending a meeting where the ground rules were explained. Sylvia and Susan will take this back to the Liturgy Committee to coordinate this.
Council’s Corner:
In the month of August, St. Francis Outreach saw 211 clients, distributed 203 food bags, and 78 families received monetary assistance.
To further our stewardship efforts, the Council approved adding quarterly second collections to help defray some of the extraordinary expenses of the parish (e.g. snow removal, air conditioning and heating needs).
Closing Prayer:
The closing prayer was prepared by Susan Gallagher and said by all. At the conclusion, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15.
Respectfully submitted,
Sylvia Brokos