Parish Pastoral Council Minutes - January 22, 2024

Parish Pastoral Council Minutes
Monday, January 22, 2024

In Attendance: Fr. Guy Roberts, Deacon Tom Hosty, Matt Sierp, Ben Laker, Mark Rund, Amberlie O’Toole

Father Guy opened the meeting with a prayer and shared the Great Commission passage from the Bible with a reflection. The minutes from the November meeting were not approved since the quorum was not met. Currently we only have 7 council members. Matt would like to update the bi-laws to state that the majority pertains to the number of council members present at any particular time.

Pastor’s Report:  Father Guy shared that 35 women had just attended the parish women’s retreat. First Confession will be this coming Thursday for second graders. The preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation is also underway. There is a Holy Hour coming up next week. The Blessing of throats will be after the vigil mass on February 3rd. Lent starts early on February 14th this year. A meeting was held for the newly forming engagement committee, previously referred to as the evangelization committee. This will focus on evangelization within the parish, specifically on people inviting and informing others and assisting ministries. Also, helping those homebound to feel engaged in the parish and recognizing new members of the parish. 16 people were invited to join the engagement committee, 4 discerned it wasn’t for them and 12 have remained, which is an ideal number. Christine Woodruff is the chair and they will be meeting next week. They will designate a committee secretary and liaison for the parish council.

Principal’s Report: Ryan was not in attendance. School events that were mentioned that are currently happening/upcoming: the book fair, Catholic schools week, School Open house, and the school fundraiser Dinner for Warriors.

Financial and Operational Report:
December tithing was down. It was $40,000 lower than expected. Online giving was consistent. This may have been due to the fact that Christmas fell on a weekend. The Finance Council decided to wait and see what January looks like. Tuition rates are going to be consistent with what was laid out already. Parish financial aid is being finalized for adversely impacted families. Installation on HVAC is halfway done. Field project is underway. The Church will be getting a preset lighting feature, the annual report will be coming out soon and the Covenant renewal will be happening in March.

The Safety grant is almost ready to go. On February 3th and 4th, the safety video will be shown at Masses. The school nurse is currently out on maternity leave, but prior to she had been working on getting people trained on CPR.

Faith Formation: Matt Sierp shared that Bi-laws were created by the Faith Formation committee a few months ago. Scott Williams from their committee put together communications with ministry leaders.

Ongoing Business:  It was noted to keep accountable each person’s respective commission/ministry that they are staying on track with the pastoral vision. We are maintaining the 3 year phase-in for the school funding model. There is a Ministry appreciation dinner Sunday, February 25th. It will be a catered dinner for key leaders in the parish.

Deacon Tom closed the meeting with a blessing.

The next Parish Council meeting will be Monday, February 26th at 7 pm.