Saint John Fisher Pastoral Council Meeting: March 2, 2011

In Attendance: Msgr. David Sork, pastor; Gayle Plecha, Parish Administrator

Members Present: Msgr. David Sork, Peter Angelini, Steve Baker, Christina Britt, Wally Castelo, Chuck Huebner, Kathy Keller, Joan Ortolano, Gayle Plecha, Roman Ventura and Wadsworth Williams.

Members Absent: Ann Armstrong, J. L. Garcia, Lisa Hills, and Flo McTaggert.

Visitors: Nick Masero and Dick David.

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm and began with the First Fifteen led by Chuck Huebner. Sharing followed.

Review and Approval of Minutes: The Council reviewed the February minutes. A spelling correction was made to CRHP on page four, 1st para. Chuck Huebner moved and Kathy Keller seconded and the members unanimously approved the minutes. Joan agreed to forward the corrected February minutes to Celeste Cummings for posting on the SJF website.

Chairperson's report:

• Pastoral Planning: Christina reported that J. L. Garcia and Lisa Hills both recommended that all members of the Pastoral Council (PC) review the website htpp://vimeo.com/20020746. This website focuses on Pastoral Planning and takes an hour to review. The video will be beneficial and will inform us on the Operational Guidelines that we will be discussing next month.
• Recap of Parish Event: The recent community building event "Til' Death Do Us Part" was a big success with almost 400 people in attendance. The event was sponsored by the Adult Education Board and was staffed by 40 volunteers. The show netted a few dollars now earmarked for further adult education events. The free will collection taken up at the end of the performance benefited the Daughters of Mary and Joseph.
• CCS Fundraising Update: Amando Balbuena, Executive Director of CCS, reported that his work on Campaign 21 would end on Friday, March 4, 2011. Amando started working on the continuation campaign on October 25, 2010. He said he spent the first three weeks reviewing the history of prior donations and pledges and so he could develop a prospect list and strategy to meet the goal of raising 5 million dollars during the continuation campaign. He explained that continuation campaigns are more complicated that the initial phase of a campaign. There were many factors to consider e.g. the past pledge history, the amounts people initially pledged, their payment stage, and current financial condition. Solicitations began on December 2, 2011.

  He reported that the leadership and major gift phase was very successful. The leadership phase focused on six figure gift prospects. We received eleven six-figure gifts, totaling $1,781,368 and $187,116 in down payments. The major gift phase focused on prospects that could be expected to pledge between $25,000 and $99,999. We received eighteen pledges totaling $577,322 with $109,822 in down payments. He reported that the Phone-a-thon that was designed to reach out to 1,600 prospects was less successful, because not enough people showed up to make the calls. Only eleven people volunteered and that group eventually decreased to eight. The Phone-a-Thon raised $89,300.00. As the campaign widened its reach, pledge amounts began to decline as did the average gift. We received $644,174 from 141 donors who pledged less than $24,999. Armando reported 102 donors had pledged $3,572,359 in the previous campaign and those same donors pledged $2,611.890 in the continuation campaign, demonstrating an incredible amount of generosity. The 56 new donors pledged $388,899 in this campaign.

  As of the date of his report, the continuation campaign had raised a total of $3,002,864.00. The final two solicitations that he recommended would be two In-Pew Appeals, one scheduled for the weekend of March 5th and 6th and one scheduled for March 12th and 13th. This will be followed by a final appeal letter sent out by the Pastor. Armando reported that we have collected about 10 million dollars in cash to date of the total 18.5 million dollars in pledges that we have achieved to date. This should be enough to allow the parish to complete its plans to build the new church and remodel the exiting church into an auditorium. There is a one million dollar pledge prospect still in the works that hopefully will be resolved by March 30th.

Pastor's Report:

• Building Project Update: Gayle Plecha reported that the rectory has been completed and the priests would be moving in during the weekend of March 5th and 6th. She encouraged people to start using the Crest Road driveway as there was a lot of parking in that area of the parking lot. She reported that the parish has recently received permission from the geologist to start backfilling and asphalt the area of the parking lot that is currently dug up, however, if we get more rain this will be delayed. It is still projected that the parking lot will be completed by the May 15, 2011 kick-off date for the parish 50th year Jubilee Celebration.
• An Evangelizing Parish: Msgr. Sork spoke about his hope that we would act in the future on the information that was presented to the PC by Sherry Weddell from the Catherine of Siena Institute, in Colorado Springs at the January PC meeting. He thought that the figures and percentages that she related about present day Catholics were staggering. (For example: Sherry shared statistics showing that of those adults who were raised in a Catholic home, 30% are practicing, 38% seldom attend, 3% are now non-Christian, 14% are unaffiliated and 15% are Protestant. About 48% of all Catholics feel that you can have a personal relationship with God and 29% of Catholics view God as an "impersonal force.") Msgr. Sork noted that Sherry reported the most significant factor having the most influence on people's attendance at Mass is whether or not they feel they have a personal relationship with God with those who feel a personal relationship being more faithful about attending Mass.

  Msgr. Sork said that Katherine Coolidge is the point person on staff with the responsibility of working on SJF becoming an evangelizing parish; however, developing our evangelization plan will require more than just the staff's involvement. We need to develop entry points to give people more opportunities to return to the church. We can do this by utilizing some of our existing programs like Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) and the Christian Family Movement as well as developing some new programs. Msgr. felt we need to involve influential parishioners in this process and we need to invite people to participate who have never been actively involved in the parish before. Some of the factors we need to look at are: people's attendance at Mass, their involvement in ministries, and the amount of financial support they give to the church. We need to invite more people into prayer groups and focus on making SJF an evangelizing parish. Msgr. Sork stated that he wants to keep the conversation going and encourage the PC to attend workshops. Gayle Plecha stated that the important thing is for us to figure out how we can help people to foster a personal relationship with God. Msgr. Sork suggested that PC members need to look at other parishes that have been successful in establishing evangelization programs, like the parishes previously discussed that are located in Chicago, Boise, Idaho, and Northern Los Angeles. He suggested we can do this by calling the parishes and talking with them about their experience with their programs. He suggested PC members may contact Katherine Coolidge for contact information for these parishes. A general discussion ensued and some suggestions were made and questions were raised. It was suggested that SJF could partner with other parishes in the "Called and Gifted Workshop" programs. This would reduce the costs of hiring program leaders. It was mentioned that Bishop Solis is involved with a San Pedro parish in a "Making Disciples Workshop" and that there are multi-day workshops available to train SJF parish on how to become an evangelizing parish. Peter felt that the church offers a lot for people who are at a crisis point in their life, however, he also felt that SJF needs to create big programs and events (like a Christmas show, a summer chicken barbeque, etc.) that would draw people to the church in a large, social setting, so that people would come to the church for a sense of community and not just during times of crises. Others suggested that we build programs and events that would provide entry points for people, e.g. bible study and social events that would build a culture and identity and lead to the development of fellowship in our church community. It was mentioned SJF's Adult Education Board is soliciting ideas for topics and the names or people to invite as speakers. The upcoming annual Religious Education Congress to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center starting March 18, 20111, is a religious celebration that draws 40,000 people and an internationally known group of speakers on a variety of religious subjects. Msgr. Sork recommended the RE Congress to all PC members as an excellent source of ideas for an evangelizing parish.

• Jubilee Celebration: Msgr. Sork sees our Jubilee Celebration that begins on May 15, 2011, with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Gomez as a community building event. There will be a barbeque immediately following the 3:00 pm Mass. Planning is currently going on to design the invitations and the invitation lists. We expect to invite local dignitaries and perhaps send invitations or do something special to recognize our pioneer parishioners.
• Parish Mission: There was little discussion other than noting that tonight was the last night of the mission and that J. L. Garcia was absent from the PC meeting because he was attending the mission.
• PC Nominating Committee: Kathy Keller and Steve Baker are chairing the Nominating Committee. Christina Britt and Ann Armstrong terms end this year because they are both competing their second two year term. Wally, J. L., and Lisa are completing their first year terms and are eligible to repeat their terms if they so desire. Gayle Plecha stated she and Msgr. had reviewed the matter and confirmed that Joan has a two year term. She joined the council in September, 2011. It also was mentioned that the parish runs on a fiscal year that starts in July and ends the following June. Whether PC members' terms will begin with the fiscal year or in September each year is still under consideration and will be discussed next month when we discuss our Operational Guidelines.

  Steve Baker presented some written materials that he had prepared to be distributed by the parish staff to the various ministries. He also drafted a bulletin to be distributed to our parishioners and a special application for our youth. Steve revised the application form to delete the date of birth question. Msgr. Sork confirmed that our youth members must be confirmed and at least in their sophomore year when they apply and junior year at the beginning of their two year term. The youth applications will be handed out in the Confirmation classes and at the Youth Mass. Steve distributed copies of his nomination materials to the PC members.

  Gayle stated that an Orientation Meeting for PC applicants and interested parties will be held in the auditorium after the 12:45 pm Mass on March 27th. There will be a five minute presentation followed by a Q & Q. This event needs to be advertised in the bulletin on March 13th and March 20th. Candidate applications are to be presented to the Council at the May meeting at which time the PC will decide May who to interview. The interviews will be conducted in June and the Council will vote and select the new members in July.

Staff Report: Nick Masero discussed four programs that he directs. As Coordinator of Youth Ministry he is busy working on the Confirmation program and the upcoming Youth Day that will be held in connection with the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim in March. He said that the youth group is still discussing the international event, but no decision has been made as to whether anyone will go to Spain. Nick has several staff responsibilities. As Coordinator of Social Outreach and Coordinator of Pastoral Care, Nick has been working with Katherine Coolidge on the Evangelization Initiative and he has been working on a difficult task as part of his Emergency Outreach responsibilities. Nick has also been spending a lot of time lately trying to find a residential facility for a young man who has a borderline personality disorder. The young man's family residence was foreclosed and he is homeless. Nick has been unable to date to place the young man in housing. Nick also recently met with Michael Ciminera, a SJF parishioner who is on the Board of Directors for Christian Outreach in Action (COA) in Long Beach. COA provides meals and clothing for the homeless, a safe house for abused women and children. It has recently opened a shelter for men and initiated a program to assist homeless veterans. Nick disclosed that the parish will begin making a financial contribution to COA through the Peace and Justice Committee.

PIP Update: Chuck Huebner distributed a four page PIP Positioning Statement & Script to be used in our annual telephone parish information survey. The materials stated that the survey should take about 10 minutes for each call and each PC member will be given a packet of 25 names in order to be able to complete at least ten calls. After reading the script, Joan suggested that based on her experience in the building continuation campaign phon-a-thon, she did not believe that all of the material in the script could be covered in 10 minutes. A discussion ensued, but did not resolve, the issue of how much of the material in the script needed to be covered in order to make the survey valid. Chuck said that it would be okay to skip around rather than follow the script exactly, but he noted that the form questions are prioritized with the most important information to be questioned appearing at the beginning of the form. Msgr. Sork expressed a concern that there would be trouble in collating all of the material covered by the questions.

Chuck said it was up to PC members as to whether they will make the calls from their home or from the parish office. There was no specific time of day that the calls had to be made, unlike the building campaign phone-a-thon that restricted calls to 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm each evening. The PIP phone survey is scheduled to begin during the first week of April.

Closing Prayer: The Council closed with the Prayer of St. John Fisher Parish and the meeting was adjourned at 9:54 pm.