Welcome and Photograph: Connor Reagan was welcomed to the Pastoral Council as the Youth Representative!  Also, photographs were taken of the Pastoral Council by Steve Grise, for the parish directory.
 
Reflection: Mike provided a reflection from Imitation of Christ about taking up of the cross, and being willing to give of ourselves, even if it means suffering as a result.
 
Members Present: George Brown, Mary Louise Chesley-Cora, Pat Sormani for Mary Beth Coté, Anita Delaney, Deacon John Falkowski, Sharon Gidumal, JoAnn Hedrick, Jody Maliga, Rich Mayes, Al Mercatante, Mike Mitchell, Maritza Poza-Grise, Joe Quinn, Jack Sanders, Dick Schwer, Susan Sheahan, Kathy Swain.
Guests: Linda Malm, Nancy Maloney, Bill Reynolds, Ruth Sanders.
Members Absent: Father Graney.
 
Minutes Approved:  Sharon moved to approve the August minutes.  Kathy seconded the motion.  The motion passed.
 
Election of New Officers: Dick described the roles and the responsibilities of each of the executive officer positions before the election process was started.  The results of the election are as follows:
 
                Executive officer- Al Mercatane
                Assistant executive officer- Sharon Gidumal
                Secretary- Mike Mitchell
 
Dick thanked the officers for being willing to run for a second term.
 
Old Business:
 
Pastoral Administrator Search Team Update: Maritza stated that we cannot extend an offer for Pastoral Administrator until Father Graney is back as pastor, so that the search/hiring process is on hold.
 
October Annual PC Retreat: JoAnn volunteered to help with the retreat, as did Ruth.  Ruth noted that it might be good to ask Father Corrigan what help he needs with organizing the retreat.  Al agreed to contact Father Corrigan.  Timing of the retreat was discussed, and Deacon John recalled that last year’s retreat was on a Saturday afternoon, before the 5:30 p.m. Mass.
 
Kitchen Update: George looked at the kitchen design and made a few suggestions- he noted that the double oven/stove/microwave oven should be on the rear wall, for ventilation purposes.  The plumbing looked fine to him as well, and he noted that it would be better to go with thicker flooring.  He also approved of having Rich, a parishioner and a contractor, doing the work, in the very likely event that Rich’s estimate was the best.
 
George got a hold of two more estimates and provided those to Father Corrigan on Friday the 6 ^th.  Sharon and others thanked George for his work on obtaining the necessary alternate estimates.  Dick asked about a timeline for starting the project, and Rich answered that once a quote has been approved, that the work could start.
 
 
Update on Financial Audit: Dick reported that Ed Collins and Leo McDermott have agreed to take a look at the books and the process.  Dick, Maritza, Tina, and possibly Father Corrigan and Mike Reis), will meet with them to do the forward-looking review for the procedures set forth by Tina and Mike R.  Al thanked the Finance Council for all their work.
 
Update on Parish 50 ^th Anniversary Celebration: Ruth updated everyone on the meeting that was held and provided a copy of notes from the meeting.  A lot of parishioners are involved- the steering committee consists of Ruth, Henry and Anitha Xavier, Peg Hirsh, Kay Lennon, Linda Malm, Trish Herron, Demcy/Deepa Rosario, Sharon Gidumal, and Susan Sheahan.  A sub-group for promoting the celebration includes Pat Debski, Jean Bernhardt, and possibly Cheryl Christiansen.  Ruth was happy with the number of people participating and said that the emphasis was to allow people who are interested to get involved, with the time that they have.
 
A confirmed calendar of events (in 2019) includes a Parish Renewal with Father Simeon Gallagher from April 27 through May 2; a 50 ^th Anniversary Mass at 10:30 a.m. on June 9 (Pentecost Sunday), followed by a modest reception; and a 50 ^th Anniversary Celebration Picnic on June 23 (Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ), after the 10:30 a.m. Mass.  Also, there would be another Parish Renewal with Father Simeon Gallagher in 2020, from February 29 through March 5.  Ruth commented that Father Herron, in his notes, had mentioned something about a theme of renewal.
 
Maritza asked if there would be ways of involving different age groups with the 50 ^th anniversary celebration.  Ruth noted that, among the events, all ages will be included.  The steering committee would be responsible for the big events, which were noted above in the calendar of events.  There has been discussion within the Steering Committee and with staff of having standing committees sponsor an event or activity for the 50th anniversary, which they would arrange.  This would offer more opportunities for all ages.  More discussion is needed on this possibility, however.  The next meeting of the steering committee will be on September 26.
 
Someone brought up the fact that $2500 was budget for the anniversary event and asked if that would be enough.  A comment was made that catering for a picnic would cost more than this, on its own.  Dick suggested that Ruth could talk to Mike Reis and the Finance Council about funds, and Al thanked Ruth for her work
 
New Business:
 
2018-2019 Pastoral Council Objectives and Goal Setting: Bill Reynolds led a session to provide updates on accomplishments, identify goals that had not yet been accomplished, and brainstorm ideas for other goals and objectives that could be tackled.
 
Attract New Parishioners: Susan noted that she had contacted the senator regarding signage for the parish.  She also added that “marketing” activities needed to be developed or continued.  These would include community events and actions of a welcoming committee aimed at new homeowners and the newly baptized.  Engaging CFP parents was also noted.  Jody felt that evangelization would be a key activity to develop, and that we need to determine how we can reach out / evangelize / invites others to our parish.  The final list looked like this:
 
ATTRACT AND KEEP NEW, ACTIVE PARISHIONERS

• Implement suggestions from workshop on parish development
• Faith sharing groups
• Welcoming committee- marketing?
  • New homeowners
  • Newly baptized
• Signage
• Parish presence and involvement in community events
• Multi-cultural events- Christmas caroling
• Parent involvement- CFP
• Attracting young parishioners- CFP
• Evangelization: How do we, as parishioners, reach out to diverse and non-represented groups in our parish community?
• Committee members: Susan Sheahan, Linda Malm, Wayne Bunting, Maritza Poza-Grise, Connor Reagan, Rich Mayes

 
Social Concerns: Sharon described the key items that need to be worked on at present and in the future.  These included updating of the parish website; a way to handle administration of social concerns in light of Sandy Landoll retiring at the end of November; finding ways to engage the parish in social concerns; determining the level of support from Resurrection Parish in establishing a Mill Creek / Pike Creek empowerment center; and migration of the food closet.  George added that the Dual Recovery Anonymous 12-Step Program does a lot of good, and should be actively promoted to people in need of help.  Mike Mitchell added that the parish could get involved in pro-life ministry, as the church currently is not active in this area.  The final list looked like this:
 

 
Communication: Joe reported on key action items moving forward.  These included putting together FAQs about Resurrection and including these on the website and in handout form; implementing Flocknote if the parish is okay with the platform and cost; and creating a digital suggestion box.  Maritza suggested a well-designed survey might be useful to get the voice of the community, although this should be done in concert with other information-gathering efforts so that parishioners are not inundated with requests for information.
 
Improve Pastoral Council: Kathy reported on key action items for the present and moving forward.  These included getting help to work on the Parish Directory; and working with standing committees to provide displays for their ministries after weekend Masses during the year.  Dick added that revising the by-laws, which have not been modified since ~1975, should be a collaboration between this team and the New Parish Model team.  Al suggested that this committee should identify ways for the Council to work more collaboratively with the staff, and be more supportive of the staff.  Sharon added that quarterly communication on what the Pastoral Council is up to could be worked on by this committee.  Maritza said that having Pastoral Council members write a “Why I Serve” piece could encourage more people to want to participate in Pastoral Council.  Susan noted that enforcement of wearing name tags would be good- many people do not wear their tags before and after Mass.  Regarding modes of communication, Pat mentioned that less than half the people actually read the bulletin.  Linda added that having announcements near the end of Mass would be received better, and by more people.  Deacon John responded that we do not want to do this often, and that the end of Mass isn’t the best time for making announcements.  Susan suggested that a quick announcement could be made to suggest that people read the bulletin for announcements and details.
 

 
New Parish Model: Maritza reported that the committee can shift their focus toward implementation once Father Graney is back in the role of pastor.  This would include educating parishioners on the Pastoral Administrator role and establishing a support system for both the new Pastoral Administrator and the current staff.  Deacon John relayed that there was some confusion in the parish regarding the original role of Pastoral Life Coordinator and the current role of Pastoral Administrator.  Connor suggested that upcoming communications to the parish should explain the difference between the two roles.  Ruth stated that it’s not exactly a New Parish Model that we’re going to if we hire a pastoral administrator, and that it’s actually an added staff member.  Kathy noted that communications to the parish should have an associated timeline.  The final list looked like this:
 

 
Other Topics That We Are Missing: Jody indicated that security is an issue that needs to be addressed.  Al and Deacon John both mentioned that people from the diocese would be visiting the following Wednesday to cover security issues.  Maritza added that accompaniment would be a topic to add under “Attract New Parishioners”.  Kathy added that attracting young folks, and keeping them in the parish as they got older, should be directly addressed.  Jack commented that Indian visitors from another parish were very impressed with the Mass today where members of the parish sang and read in Tamil.  Jack suggested that we need to have more diverse, cross-cultural events like this.  Ruth commented that this Mass was about meeting the needs of current parishioners.  George noted that there weren’t many young people at the 8:15 Mass, and that we need to get more young people to Mass and participating in Pastoral Council.  Dick opined that we focus more on small faith-sharing groups; he was worried that active participation in this area was fading.  Susan noted that we need to get young adults involved with Mass.
 
Bill, after making notes of the action items noted by the committees and the additional ideas and concerns brought up by everyone, said that there was no need to vote on which committees would continue.  All of the committees had enough activities to work on.  Bill said that people need to sign up for committees with which they would like to be involved.  After people had signed up, Al noted that only one person signed up for the “Improve Pastoral Council Team.”  Deacon John suggested that people could join standing committees, rather than joining a separate objective/goal committee that is closely aligned with a standing committee.  Rich suggested using Debbie’s Friday update as a way to recruit new members.
 
Kathy moved to close the meeting, with Mary Louise seconding.  The motion passed unanimously, sometime after 9 p.m.
 
Respectfully submitted, Mike Mitchell