The St. John Fisher Pastoral Council held a monthly meeting on November 7, 2007. Council President Mike Noble called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm.
Present: Msgr. Sork, Msgr. Balee, Dave Kurt, Arminda Au, Robert Keefer (visitor from Seekers), Mike Noble, Shirley Giltzow, Pat Dahlberg, Viktor Rzeteljski, Billie Morgan, Ian Counts, Heather Cassano, Christina Britt, Maxim Ofina, and Michael Jules.
Absent: John Barbieri and Ann Armstrong.
Viktor Rzeteljiski led the Council in the First Fifteen reflection.
The minutes of the October 3, 2007 meeting were approved as presented.
Mike Noble clarified his desire for the ad hoc on nominations committee to meet before the February 2008 meeting to come up with a recommendation, to be in compliance with the operational guidelines, and review and make a recommendation. A staff member would be needed only for the February meeting.
Pastors Report:
Update on the Building Project
The architect has recommended we start the grading this summer. By March she'll have a better idea on the grading.
Architect recommendations:
- Grade this summer.
- Start renovating the Convent to a new Rectory
- Or, do it all at once.
Committee recommendations:
- Start on grading.
- Tear down Rectory and renovate Convent.
- The grading would include: parking lot, slope grade from Crenshaw, new play area for school, with hard grass.
A parishioner has volunteered to do all the landscaping around the new Rectory
RPV is now looking at possible traffic problems. Civil engineer has to submit more grading surveys.
Capital campaign
Received $15.8 million pledges.
Pledges are not coming in very quickly. The plan is to contact people who have not pledged, and also people who have pledged and may need payment reminders.
State of Parish
Msgr. Sork stated that his "State of Parish" speech was under 2000 words and took less that 20 minutes. One parishioner complained about the use of the word "evangelization."
Finance Report
The question was raised, "What is Capital Campaign Consultant?" Dave Kurt addressed the question. Because the Campaign was such an ambitious project, and there were no parishioners or staff who could devote that much time to the project, a consultant firm was hired. They were on site for 1 1/2 years to facilitate the program. They may be back if we don't reach the goal in Phase II. The consultant is a huge organization. We need Q&A to cover the who and why. There are 155 fully paid pledges.
Msgr. Balee
Recounted his background before coming to St. John Fisher. He had always worked in institutions and wanted to be part of a parish He was Secretary General of the Catholic Church in Ghana from 1984 to 1992. The government of Ghana wanted to register all religious bodies. The Council said it would not register all of them. All Christians, Protestants and Catholics, for this one time stuck together. The Government did not want to use force, so the Constitution was approved in 1992 for freedom to worship. He will return to his Diocese. 38% of population in Ghana is Christian.
Parish Staff Report - Time and Talent review, Commitment Sunday, Stewardship
Arminda played a video of the Time and Talent Festival. Explained why the tent was condemned--because some of the parishioners who are also engineers said it was unsafe. The tent company was a one-stop organization. They provided booths also. Arminda is working on getting a portion of the money back from them. In final analysis, it was decided that not having the tent was more productive than having it. People were freer to wander from kiosk to kiosk and sign up.
Arminda passed out the Annual Financial Report which included a more extensive report of outreach donations. The Thrift Shop is a St. John Fisher ministry, but is legally a separate entity. Arminda also passed out the Stewardship letter from the Archdiocese.
PASTORAL PLAN FULFILLMENT COMMITTEE REPORT
- The Pillar Report is on the web site, as is the entire Pastoral Plan. Pastoral Council members will meet with leaders to start communications by end of the year. They will meet with 1/3 of ministries at a time. Suggested that whole Pastoral Council get involved.
- Other method of communication. Think outside of the box.
- What are the accomplishments, and making sure our goals are met.
Pastoral Council members bio for Impact
- Mike Noble will be first member highlighted.
- Pictures will be required of each PC member.
- One member of PC will be highlighted each month in Impact.
Other Topics
Ad hoc - Discussed at beginning of meeting.
| Mass Count |
| Oct. 20 | Sat. | 5:00 p.m. | 330 |
| Oct 21 | Sun. | 7:30 a.m. | 257 |
| | 9:00 a.m. | 557 |
| | 10:45 a.m. | 432 |
| | 12:30 a.m. | 203 |
| | 5:00 p.m. | 415 |
| | Total | 2,194 |
| vs 5/10/97 (-22%) | 2,830 |
Recognition of Retiring/New Members
- Put on the church calendar
- Include staff for recognition
- Probably a June event for a recognition party
Meetings
- Monday, 1/14/08, 7:00 p.m., a special meeting for Pastoral Council and Staff. A second meeting in June will be a social and to meet new members. Also to
Recognize retiring members.
- 1/9/08, Pastoral Council meeting. Agenda would include Pastoral Plan (Four Pillars), the whole staff stating what their responsibilities are and state their goals.
Msgr. Sork led the council in a closing prayer and the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Teddy Sparrman