Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Al Mercatante.
 
Reflection: Dick Schwer began with John 3:16, and continued with a reflection from Father Walter Burghardt about the depth of God’s love us for us, asking why God would love us, even when we reject Him.  Also, we should think about how Jesus chose to save us, suffering as He did.  The reflection continued with John 4:8, and the fact that God is love.  Love has made sacrifices beyond the limits of intelligence- welcome the mystery and move on from there!
 
Members Present: Joe Budd, Mary Louise Chesley-Cora, Anita Delaney, Deacon John Falkowski, Cheryl Christiansen for Sharon Gidumal, Father Graney, Deb Buckels for JoAnn Hedrick, Ed Baum for Rich Mayes, Al Mercatante, Mike Mitchell, Maritza Poza-Grise, Joe Quinn, Mike Reis, Mike Rzucidlo, Jack Sanders, Dick Schwer, Susan Sheahan, Kathy Swain.
Guests: Elaine Little, Linda Malm, Nancy Maloney, Ruth Sanders.
 
Minutes Approved:  Mary Louise moved to approve the February minutes, Maritza seconded the motion, and the motion carried.  Father Graney requested that in the future, any modifications to the minutes should be marked more clearly so that people can quickly find the errors and corrections.  Future deletions will be struck through, with additions being in green (until final approval.)
 
Old Business:
 
Planning of parish’s 50 ^th anniversary celebration: Sharon had an invitation that was to go in the bulletin.  There was a question of whether it made it to the bulletin- Jack and Father Graney volunteered to take care of this.  Also, Ruth volunteered to assist on committee planning the celebration.
 
Youth participation on Pastoral Council: Al mentioned that he had talked with Elaine about chatting with the kids in the Youth Group to make a personal appeal to participate on Pastoral Council.  Al mentioned that a questionnaire will get sent to the youth asking “What do you like about the parish?” and “What should we do more of?”  The idea was brought up to see if the responsibility could be split between multiple people, rather than having one representative.  Elaine noted it was difficult enough to get one volunteer, and that it’s a small pool of people to choose from, especially with limited participation after confirmation.
 
Dick noted that the Bylaws require the Youth Representative to be at least 14 years old and in high school, and said that we may need to modify the description to make more people eligible, or possibly find something else to do.  Susan asked if it would be possible to make the Youth Representative’s business first on the agenda, and then let them leave early so that they wouldn’t have to attend the entire 2-hour meeting (might be less intimidating for them, too.)  Al and Elaine agreed to discuss plans soon. 
 
Nominating committee:  Mike M. and Dick provided update for this.  A sign-up sheet for covering the nominating weekends was passed around.  Weekends for the elections were also discussed- the weekends of May 5-6 and May 19-20 were proposed.  It seemed that the council members were in agreement about these two weekends, noting that the weekend of May 19-20 was busy with the final weekend for CFP, the announcement of student awards at the 10:30 AM Mass, and the Parish Picnic following the 10:30 Mass.  It was agreed that higher attendance at the picnic would be good for participation in elections.
 
Adult Formation Program and Coordinator:  Jack mentioned that with Andre Dagenais, he was working on putting together a questionnaire which would be shared with the children in the CFP program, to take home to their parents.  The questionnaire would ask parents about their level of involvement in the parish and similar items.  Jack indicated that a first draft would be presented to others, so that it could be refined before going out.  The information from this questionnaire would be shared with the Pastoral Council.
Dick asked how this questionnaire would relate to developing an Adult formation Coordinator.  He also asked if the questionnaire would request information from the parents on the best timing for an adult formation program, and the type of program they would be interested in (faith sharing, and topics.)  The question also came up about whether parents would be requiring babysitters, and whether it might be a good idea to establish a nursery to help more parents participate in a program.
 
Al asked if Jack could get the draft of questionnaire put together.  Maritza noted that the Parish Council has wanted to seek input from parishioners, and that it would be good to be more cohesive in how we request information- we want to avoid bombarding people with information requests, and we don’t want to ask for the same information multiple times.  Cheryl stated that a good topic for adult formation would be teaching of the foundations for Catholic social justice.  She mentioned that the “Just Faith” program had been used at the parish in the past, and that at Family Promise, there’s a more ecumenical program “Just Neighbors” that might be suitable to use in the parish.  Al suggested that Cheryl and Jack could work together on the questionnaire and the possibilities for an Adult Formation Program.
 
Ruth noted that the “Just Faith” program may seem like a big commitment for people, but that encouraging people to at least just attend the first course would make a difference.  The quality of the program will keep people wanting to come back to participate!
 
Committee reports were then reviewed.  Below are the reports, with additional discussion in red.
 
Objective: Communicate more effectively to all parishioners about our Jesus-centered faith community
 

Activities/Accomplishments:
Collected notes from Suggestion Box. Met with ministry leaders to facilitate adoption of Flocknote for their communication needs. Continued to study Flocknote uses, benefits, limitations. Updated parish information in Yellow Pages listing: office hours; no longer a 5:30 Sunday Mass.
In the course of doing your project work, please note any overlaps you see with other Objective Team goals. Possible overlap with Attracting New Parishioners committee on submitting parish services, events, and activities to Dialog for inclusion in Happenings section. Could work with New Parish Model team on utilizing Flocknote to keep parishioners informed of developments in parish structure.
Challenges/Discoveries:	What did you do about the problems or challenges you encountered: actions taken, results achieved, people informed, etc.?
Challenge: Haven’t been able to respond to comments on Google page. Action Plan: Will investigate further, contact Google if necessary; take into consideration that Google’s review pages may not provide opportunity to respond. Challenge: Had modestly successful meeting on using Flocknote with staff, ministry leaders. Actions Taken: Followed up with ministers to answer questions, provide links to Flocknote pages with information relevant to their purposes. Challenge: Not able to pin down a Signup Sunday for Flocknote. Action Plan: Ensure that those who have joined Flocknote are comfortable using it; consult with pastoral council, staff on possible date(s) for signup.

 

Resources and Information Required: Do you envision a point where PC approval is needed prior to implementation of goals?	What additional resources or information do you require to continue to make progress? If so, from whom would you like assistance and for what actions?
Committee would like input from council on how best to respond to notes left in suggestion box. One idea would be to include discussion of notes in Parish Buzz segment of council meetings. Need feedback from ministers and/or staff using Flocknote, specifically on ease of use, groups created. We need council’s input, decision on when to hold next parish Community (Welcoming?) Weekend.
Consider the impact that implementing your goals or actions are likely to have on parishioners. What will you do to prepare parishioners for the changes you are proposing to implement?	Please describe your approach to inform parishioners of the changes you are proposing. What parish committees will be impacted by your proposed changes?
Ensure that parishioners know location and purpose of suggestion box, through bulletin announcements, announcements at liturgy. Likewise, with monitor. We hope our efforts to address concerns, consider ideas, raised in sugg box notes will serve to strengthen the relationship between parishioners and pastoral council. Adopting Flocknote as a parish will change manner of communications among and between parishioners, ministers, staff, and families. Preparing community via ministry leaders, announcements at Mass, bulletin inserts, Signup Sunday.

 
Joe Q. asked if people had received the e-mail message that went out through Flocknote.  Flocknote appears to be working for most people.  Joe Q. also noted that the suggestion box is still up and running.  A couple of examples of suggestions were given, such as moving the chime from the front to the back of the church; and providing education on the meaning of such terms as relics and scapulars.  Elaine suggested making a bulletin insert with a glossary of terms.  Maritza asked how the flow would be managed for suggestions coming in, making sure that the suggestions and questions made it to the right person.  Al noted that the suggestions wouldn’t have to go to the entire council, and that funneling to the right person could be continued.
 
A question came up about how to address anonymous suggestions and questions.  Kathy suggested putting responses to anonymous suggestions in the bulletin.  Cheryl pointed out that people making anonymous submissions do not necessarily expect a response.  Ed Baum suggested a “Dear Abby”-type column for the bulletin to address such submissions.
 
Apparently the parish has received Google reviews.  Father Graney noted that he has looked at the reviews, and has responded to some of them.  Maritza asked if the parish had a public Google account that could be used to respond to the Google reviews- the answer was no.
 
A question came up about how to handle requests to put slides into the monitor presentation.  Father Graney said it’s most direct to have those requests go to Debbie, since she’s already been doing this well.  Maritza asked if we could enable technology to make the presentation more flexible- Al suggested that the Communications committee could look into iPad/laptop use to help with flexibility.
 
A discussion of Flocknote then ensued.  Joe Q. noted that there are ways to send things out to the whole group, and then there are ways to reply either to everyone or to privately reply.  Joe B. noted that he’s used Flocknote to send a message out, and that it’s worked well for him.  Maritza asked what the current intent for using Flocknote is, and what is the plan is to progressively extend the use of Flocknote for more functions and to more people.  Should we be using Flocknote for all e-mail communications, or should we continue with e-mail for most things?  Is the goal to have the entire parish using it?  Elaine commented that she’s had trouble with importing contact information into Flocknote using the directions that were provided for doing so.
 
Al asked if everyone was willing to use Flocknote, and Anita asked if we should be using Flocknote to send out committee updates.  Joe Q. stated that committee updates could be sent out in Flocknote- it would require the sending of a link to the document, rather than attaching the document to the Flocknote message.  Cheryl noted that use of document links would require access to a shared file location.  Dick noted that not everyone has access to Flocknote yet, and Ruth agreed, saying that if the parish staff members are not on the council, then the staff wouldn’t receive messages through Flocknote, either.  Ed asked if alternates would be on Flocknote.  Anita suggested that it might be best for the Communications team to be the only group to send their monthly update via Flocknote, and that more could use Flocknote as the process is validated.  Maritza noted that it’s good to see newer technology being used by the parish, and that it would be helpful in attracting the younger parishioners.
 
Objective: Increase parish membership
 

Activities/Accomplishments:	Since your last Status Report, what have you accomplished on your Objective & Goals work?
Talked with a few young adults & invited to cancelled meeting, March 7. (snow) Did reading and checking with others for discussion at March 7 meeting. Planning for Palm Sunday And Easter to make sure people feel welcomed and willing to return more often.
What overlaps do you see with the objectives and goals of other Teams?	In the course of doing your project work, please note any overlaps you see with other Objective Team goals.
Challenges/Discoveries:	What did you do about the problems or challenges you encountered: actions taken, results achieved, people informed, etc.?
No one has the answer to attracting more.   But we will evaluate & try initiatives that other parishes/ churches have tried.
Resources and Information Required: Do you envision a point where PC approval is needed prior to implementation of goals?	What additional resources or information do you require to continue to make progress? If so, from whom would you like assistance and for what actions?

 
Father Graney noted that someone, when asked how you re-engage people, said “nobody knows.”  He noted that he has lined up young people to provide input, and that events (speakers, activities) are needed at the parish that would attract people.  He also noted a “racial sobriety” program that might be helpful for the parish.  The program would include a sobriety test to determine how racist people actually are, and to get issues of race out on the table.  Such a program might be good for a small group to participate in during the fall.
 
Al asked if there are parishes that Resurrection Parish could link with, in terms of LGBTQ ministries.
 
Susan asked if the parents of students in CFP participate in the parish, and noted that we could select activities to get them more involved.  Maritza noted that St. Thomas More Oratory had held a kids movie night, and serendipitously, the parents ended up gathering after dropping the kids off and going out for dinner and discussion.
 
Nancy announced that April 13 is the date of a child parenting class, and that the Spring Fling will be on April 20.  Babysitters are needed for these events, and Nancy asked for volunteers to contact her.
 
Objective: Develop new parish model in absence of a resident parish priest
 

Objective: A New Parish Model			Date: 3/5/2018
Team Members: Maritza Poza-Grise, Dick Schwer, Rich Mayes,                                Mike Reis, Al Mercatante			Reported by: Maritza Poza-Grise
Activities/Accomplishments:	Since your last Status Report, what have you accomplished on your Objective & Goals work?
Met with Bishop Malooly and Msgr Steve Hurley, Vicar General, Moderator of the Curia, on Feb 26 Completed 15 Focus groups with 7 Faith Sharing groups, 6 after weekend Masses and 2 weekday sessions. 185 participants, 144 feedback forms, 88% strongly supportive, 99% either Strongly or Somewhat supportive! Communicated to Parish Community through the Bulletin, Mailchimp email and will also update via gathering space TV monitor starting  March 5
What overlaps do you see with the objectives and goals of other Teams?	In the course of doing your project work, please note any overlaps you see with other Objective Team goals.
Primary intersections: Communication Team: communication, prayer and engagement plan with the extended Resurrection community in January-February and beyond Improve Pastoral Council Team: review by-laws and update Pastoral Council approach to support the new parish model.
Challenges/Discoveries:	What did you do about the problems or challenges you encountered: actions taken, results achieved, people informed, etc.?
Insights from meeting with the Bishop: With a priest for every slot and one extra priest, it is possible that Resurrection would get a resident pastor when Fr. Graney retires! The Diocese has many moving parts.  Establishing a PLC parish is a step not just for Resurrection, but for the Diocese.  Bishop Malooly must consider all these factors to discern the path and timing for any changes. In the Bishop’s view, should the Diocese use the PLC model, Resurrection would be the right community, and ready to move forward. We will need to decide what, if any, near-term steps we should take based on expected slower than desired clarity from the Diocese.
Resources and Information Required: Do you envision a point where PC approval is needed prior to implementation of goals?	What additional resources or information do you require to continue to make progress? If so, from whom would you like assistance and for what actions?
The final proposal for a new model, including budget impact will require Pastoral Council approval. Assistance needed: your daily prayers for discernment in our path in this major transition for Resurrection and the Diocese.
Consider the impact that efforts are likely to have on parishioners. What will you do to prepare parishioners for changes you are proposing to implement?		Please describe your approach to inform parishioners of the changes you are proposing. What parish committees will be impacted by your proposed changes?
Continued multi-channel updates as things change: bulletin, MailChimp, monitor. We will need to also update through periods of silence that nothing new is occurring yet, so people come to expect our transparency.
Planned Activities (Please use the Timeline on page 2)	What are you planning to accomplish prior to your next scheduled Status Report? (Please use the Timeline on page 2)
Status update via monitor. Prepare PLC Job Description draft for the Diocese. Clarify what our path is now – do we hire a Parish Life Associate? Do we wait for more clarity?

 

Gather Data & Benchmark 100% COMPLETE

Refine Preferred Model Engage Key Stakeholders 100% COMPLETE

Finalize Option & Activate Readiness

   

Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	April	May
Conduct “expert interviews”  to understand approaches, “better” practices and what to pay attention to.  Jane Hanson Mary Louise -done Fr. John Hynes – done Carol Pacione – St. Pius X – Dec. 8 Deacon Fred Passauer - St. Bernadette, Severn MD (TBD) Pete Schafer – Youngstown Diocese Dec 14 Others TBD		Engage Bishop Malooley and key Diocese stakeholders Prepare Summary Findings report and Proposal for new Model Engage Staff & PC for input Engage Finance Council to ensure financial implications align with 2018 budget	Initiate Parish Communication plan Review Resurrection by-laws for implications of a New Model   Refine role description for the diocese   Clarify search strategy and whether to Initiate candidate search for PLA   Refine budget plan   April / May TBD		Initiate candidate search Establish candidate search team Begin candidate interviews Down-select to short list of candidates Select final candidate and hire in 3Q 2018 May and beyondà Select final candidate and hire in 3Q 2018 Begin search for sacramental ministers Transition and successful onboarding is the next phase of work.  Activating Parish communication plan, additional change management actions to ensure successful transition, etc. to be chartered separately

 
Maritza reported that the key action items right now are to refine the job description for a Parish Life Coordinator position and send it to Bishop Malooly for review; and to outline the different scenarios and paths of action, moving forward.  Kathy asked when the bishop would be retiring, and Maritza responded that he’d be retiring late next year.  Maritza also noted that it’s still possible that a pastor would be assigned to Resurrection Parish after Father Graney retires.  There’s the possibility, for instance, with linkage of another parish, and that a priest from one of those parishes would be assigned to ours.
 
Dick asked if we should go ahead with the search for a new position and have that person work with Father Graney, noting that the ability to do this would depend on the parish budget.  A point of clarification was made- the parish can make the decision to hire a Parish Administrator, but hiring a Parish Life Associate/Coordinator requires diocesan approval.  Maritza suggested that Monsignor Kelly could look at a job description for a parish administrator for us, and let the parish know whether it’s going in the right direction, independent of the scenario.
 
Maritza noted that the current job description that was put together for Parish Life Associate/Coordinator was based upon a description appearing in the Diocese of Los Angeles, and that a refined job description could be used by the Diocese of Wilmington in the future, should such a parish model be approved.  Maritza asked everyone to keep praying for guidance!  Al asked if more could have been done to communicate the process to parishioners.  Deb replied that people have liked the feedback received, including the note concerning the delayed meeting with the bishop.  Jack requested that everyone try to reach out to at least one parishioner to solicit their thoughts on this topic.
 
Objective: Improve visibility and presence of Parish Council in Parish community
 
The committee did not have an update for this meeting.  Kathy is planning to meet with Communications group to discuss Flocknote and other potential methods of having an online directory.  She is also planning to meet with the Social Concerns group to discuss timing for an informational table throughout the year.
 
Objective: Communicate, Increase Participation in Social Concerns
 

Activities/Accomplishments:	Since your last Status Report, what have you accomplished on your Objective & Goals work?
Prepared Bulletin Announcement/Insert which requests information from anyone who is currently coordinating any Social Concerns Ministries. Coordinators will be instructed to contact Sharon Gidamul, and Sharon will email coordinators a form regarding info for ministries. We may use survey monkey for this. After information is received, Social Concerns is seeking a person or team to compile the information so we can update our website. Plan is to have bulletin insert or blurb in the bulletin by the end of March. Jack Sanders suggested we add Birthright “Bottles for Babies” to Charitable Giving. Cheryl Christiansen informed us of that Charitable Giving has remained unchanged over several years and a certain allotment is given to each organization. We concluded that if we add Birthright, the amount of other charitable giving would decrease.  Previously, Dick Schwer suggested to resurrect the Charitable Giving Committee; however, as Sharon mentioned Charitable Giving is already in place. We are putting this on hold for now since working on volunteer ministries is our focus. Jack Sanders initiated discussion on the idea of giving a flyer to CFP families with a list of Social Concerns Ministries asking what ministries families might be interested in. Discussion of possibly resurrecting FIRE (Family- Centered Intergenerational Religious Education) in the future. Survey details are being worked out with Andre Dagenais, approved by Fr. Graney.
What overlaps do you see with the objectives and goals of other Teams?	In the course of doing your project work, please note any overlaps you see with other Objective Team goals.
If we make flyers with list of Social Ministries for CFP, we would coordinate w/ CFP.  There will be an overlap with communications committee.
Challenges/Discoveries:	What did you do about the problems or challenges you encountered: actions taken, results achieved, people informed, etc.?
We can’t predict how many people will respond to bulletin request. Updating the website with all of the Ministries including videos and links to websites is a huge undertaking.
Resources and Information Required: Do you envision a point where PC approval is needed prior to implementation of goals?	What additional resources or information do you require to continue to make progress? If so, from whom would you like assistance and for what actions?
We will need information from current ministry coordinators, Communications Committee, and Debbie Seymour with updating the website; this will be time consuming. Do we need extra help? We will need to discuss further with Debbie.

 
Anita noted that a bulletin announcement and blurb will be in by the end of March.  The announcement will request information from people heading up the different social concerns activities so that it can be compiled and used to update the website.  Al asked if we could also e-mail the parish to request this information (via stewards) or via MailChimp (system currently used to send parish e-mails to large groups.)  Maritza asked if the blurb could contain a sentence or two of context, so that people know why they are being asked to provide this information.
 
Anita noted that the key current activity is gathering information for contacts for social ministries.  It was noted that Jack is the contact for prison ministries, and Deb is the contact for Family Promise.
 
New Business:
 
Charitable Giving Committee: Dick noted that 5.5% of offertory income is devoted to charitable giving, and that Cheryl has been a member of the committee in the past.  The committee has allocated where this giving has gone, and that the responsibilities of this committee eventually fell to Sandy Landoll, and then to Father Graney.  Dick said that this committee should get back together to take on its former responsibilities, and that it should involve interested and knowledgeable parishioners.  He suggested that the Social Concerns committee would be in a good position to fill the role, but that allocation of funds would be outside the scope of what they currently do, and that this committee also has their hands full right now.  Dick also noted that something should be done before the next fiscal year starts, and proposed chartering the Charitable Concerns Committee.  Cheryl commented that Katie Hegedus had chaired the committee in the past.
 
Dick suggested using a questionnaire to invite the community to indicate what causes we should be supporting.  Al asked how many people the committee would have- Dick mentioned 4-5 people.  Mike Reis noted that the parish supports 7 organizations on a monthly basis.
 
Dick moved to reconstitute the Charitable Giving Committee, whose function is to suggest allocations to propose to the Pastoral Council.  Mike Reis seconded the motion, and the motion passed.
 
Finance Council Quarterly Update, 2018-2019 Budget Prep:
 

 
Mike Reis gave the report.  He noted that budget preparation is still underway for the next fiscal year, and that work is ongoing to gain access to all financial accounts.  For instance, there had been an issue with paying an annual bill because of access issues.  Last year’s offertory campaign was successful: 136 pledge cards were completed, vs. 125 last year.  Also, there were 9 new electronic givers.  Also, the parish received $65,000, over three years, from the Sustaining Hope Campaign.
 
The offertory obligation of the current budget is being met; however, the budgeted offertory income was also at the lowest level in 6 years.  Collections from January to March had been $122,000, which was why the budget number was reduced to $510,000 for the year.
 
Property and Grounds was over budget due to snow removal.  Fixed costs (salaries) came under budget because of Father Corrigan and John Werner coming off the payroll.
 
The budget is similar to last year’s; however, there will be a 7% increase in healthcare costs, which will affect the fixed costs budget for 2019.  Mike Reis and Tina will be meeting March 13 ^th to continue work on the budget.  Al asked if we are closer to doing the audit- Mike Reis responded that we should be closer by the end of the fiscal year (June.)  Maritza said we should pray that Tina stays with us, and Al thanked Mike Reis for all of his work!
 
Christian Formation Program Annual Report:
 

Pastoral Council Report

March 7, 2018
Elementary Christian Formation/Children’s Ministries

Many things have changed and many things have remained the same!
A New Vision: Growing Disciples:  Helping the children of Resurrection Parish to know, love and serve the Lord.
< >Elementary Christian Formation serves K-5 ^th Grade. We serve 53 students and 38 families. 2 Full Time Catechists, 6 Part Time Catechist, 4 Full Time Assistants, and 2 Part Time Assistants ranging from middle school students, high school students, parents, parishioners, and grandparents.  This is a gifted and devoted group of people who serve our children for over 30 Sunday mornings a year. Many thanks to them!!! CFP is always looking for additional substitute assistant and catechists. We currently have six substitute catechists and one substitute assistant. We look to grow this pool because substitute catechists may become CFP catechists in the future. Your nominations are welcome. Please send to Nancy. Sacramental Preparation includes 11 children and 11 families. They will receive their First Holy Communion on April 29 ^th at 10:30am Mass. We have offered activities outside of the classroom/Sunday AM to help engage families in the life of the church, and hope to continue to grow this ministry: The Rosary, Gratitude Service, Advent Adventure, Epiphany Party, Stations of the Cross, Spring Fling, Child Inc. Parenting Class, May Picnic, and VBS. CFP has been involved in the following Community Services Projects: donating and creating comfort bags for foster children during Spring Fling, donating school items for Adopt a Family, and collecting items for the Resurrection Food Pantry. The Parish Picnic is May 20 ^th. We appreciate the continued support of the Pastoral Council with the May Picnic. All are welcomed to the picnic. If you are able to help, please let Nancy or Debbie know. Action vs Advocacy What would you do?- looking at real life scenarios Refugee simulation (CRS) What is success?/time management Conscience formation Corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Mini Retreat February 3 (works of Mercy-the Resurrection Way) Stations of the Cross: March 9 Seder Meal March 18 Annual Diocesan Pilgrimage March 24 Hunger for Justice Event April 15 Seven youth confirmed on November 18, 2017 One 7 ^th, three 8 ^th and seven 9 ^th graders are preparing for the sacrament to be held on Sunday November 18, 2018 at 4:00 PM at Holy Family Parish with Holy Family youth. Day long retreat held February 10, 2018 Attending Pilgrimage as a group with either their sponsor or other family member on March 24, 2018 Resurrection will begin offering Confirmation classes every other year.  Resurrection will not offer a Confirmation program in January 2019.  It will again offer a class for both current 8 ^th and 9 ^th graders January 2020. Summer Service Group.
We are headed to Brooklyn, NY July 15-21, 2018 with Young Neighbors in Action, a ministry of the Center for Ministry Development.  We will be staying at the Jesus of Nazareth Retreat Center 475 E 57th St, Brooklyn, NY 11203
Seven youth and either three or four parents will join us.  Our souper supper and winter arts festival were both very successful due to the amazing support of the parish.
Sunday April 22-We will hold a car wash during the Sunday 8:15 and 10:30 Masses to finish up our fundraising.
Blessings and Awards  The annual blessing of graduates and award presentations for the Fr. Dave Baumgartel Award, and St. Timothy Award will be held at the end of the 10:30 Mass on May 20, 2018.
Vacation Bible School June 18-22, 2018.  Each year several of our middle and high school youth take a week out of their summer to volunteer to help decorate before, to work with the children during the VBS program and to help clean up at the end.  VBS has to have youth volunteers for it to be a success.  Registration to volunteer will begin at Easter.
Elaine gave the report.  In the report, she noted that there have been a number of changes in the diocese affecting youth ministry, including the resignation of Kyle Thompson and Jennifer Watson moving into the role of Associate Director of the Office for Catholic Youth and Young Adult Ministry.  Elaine asked people to pray for Jennifer in her new role.
 
Elaine also noted that the program could use more catechists.  Currently, Bill Reynolds teaches the lessons and Elaine Ambra assists with classroom management, and that the arrangement has worked very well.  This year’s focus was the Works of Mercy.  Elaine noted the difficulties in teaching a lot of concepts to the students, with the group only meeting twice a month.  “Less is more” is the more successful philosophy; otherwise the students don’t retain a lot of information.  Also, confirmation classes were moved to being every other year because of the small number of students being confirmed.
 
Parish Buzz:
 
Father Graney noted that the diocese thanked us over the work on the new parish model.
 
 
Jack moved to adjourn, Mike Reis seconded, and the motion carried.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM.
 
Respectfully submitted, Mike Mitchell