Present: Sharon Gidumal, Mary Beth Coté, Dave Gargula (for Pat Sormani), Fr. Bill, Joe McClory, Joe Quinn, Linda Malm, Anita Delany, Jane Hanson, Mike Reis, Jack Sanders
Absent: Fr. Greg, Deacon John, Jason Prior
Guests: Ruth Sanders, Bill Reynolds, Al Mercatante, Nancy Maloney, Dick Schwer
Call to Order: 6:33 p.m.
Opening Reading and Reflection: Sharon Gidumal
Amendment/Approval of Minutes:
May 19 minutes were reviewed and approved as revised. August 11 minutes were reviewed and approved.
Old Business: 50th Anniversary Committee update: Ruth – A revised calendar of events for the 50
th Anniversary was provided by Ruth and is included with the minutes.
New Business: Election of 2019-2020 Officers: After discussion, Sharon Gidumal was elected as Executive Officer. After discussion and vote, Mary Beth Coté was elected as Assistant Executive Officer. After discussion and vote, Pat Sormani was elected as Secretary. Al Mercatante gave closing remarks as he turned leadership over to Sharon. He offered hope that in light of the past year, that the new term can bring healing and a renewed sense of purpose.
Goal Setting for 2019-2020 Pastoral Council: Father Bill provided four goals for the upcoming year.
Committee work: Fr. Bill has a concern of dwindling membership in committees. The 5 standing committees (Liturgy, Christian Formation, Parish Life, Social Concerns, Building & Grounds) were noted and Bill Reynolds explained and expounded on the idea behind the goals. It was discussed that the stewards are to reach out to the parishoners for accomplishing these goals. Sharon will reach out to Rich Mayes to bring the Building & Grounds Committee up to speed.
Marketing Resurrection: Fr. Bill put forth that we seek people with marketing backgrounds in order to increase the awareness of the surrounding community of the existence of Resurrection. We should create a greater presence in publications such as The Dialogue. Linda Malm said the Parish Life Committee is working on creating awareness, one example being the community events in Newark. Linda Malm, Jack Sanders, and Nancy Maloney agreed to be part of a committee to put together a plan for the marketing background team.
Faith Sharing: Fr. Bill stressed the importance of faith sharing and would like to revitalize our faith sharing groups. He suggested that a team be put together to suggest topics. A short discussion on the current groups was had. Mary Beth Cote and Anita Delany agreed to be part of the team with John Falkowski.
Visiting the Sick: Fr. Bill would like to recruit 10 volunteers to visit the sick, hospital, and homebound, not just for communion but also for pastoral care. Some training would be involved, depending on the type and location of the visits. John Falkowski has a list of the sick and could assist with the training. There could be the possibility of family visits to the sick. Ruth Sanders shared examples of people who currently make visits. Jack Sanders said that millenials are looking to have opportunities such as this and should be considered. Bill Reynolds said this recruitment could be done by stewards phoning parishoners and that we should have a bullet list of points for the calls. A discussion of the stewards’ contacting parishoners ensued. Mary Beth stated that her hands were tied because she is limited by not being able to use email, phone or regular mail. (There has been some negative feedback on use of email without the use of the BCC feature.) There was discussion on some options for alerting parishoners that stewards would be contacting them. Examples included information from the presider during announcements at the end of Mass, using community weekend name tags to identify parishoners, and sending emails through the parish email system. The intention is a greater effort to let parishoners know that there are multiple stewards they can talk to, as opposed to just that steward’s “part of the alphabet.”
Finance Council Report – 2019-2020 Parish Budget Review Mike Reis said that offertory was about where it was projected to be. The budget has increased mostly due to new priest benefits. It is still early as we are only 2 months into the budget year. He said that we are still short on donations from the Annual Catholic Appeal. Al Mercatante asked if the finance council had a plan to resolve the shortfalls. Mike said that the council has not yet talked about it.
Committee Reports Parish Life Committee gave their report which is included.
Jack Sanders reported for the Social Justice Committee. They are promoting speakers and events from other faiths and they are promoting the activities of Peace Week.
Floor Open to Council and members of the Parish Al Mercatante offered the suggestion to use the “Nextdoor App” to advise the surrounding community as to the opportunities available at Resurrection.
Jane commented it would be helpful for Parish leadership to look at ways to counter the dwindling volunteers, especially in leadership roles. There are changing trends in models for leadership; do we know if the dioscese is looking at this trend? Ruth commented that we have multiple people in multiple ministries. Mary Beth expressed that Council needs to strive to express opinions in a positive manner and that we need to respect those offering different opinions.
Pastor’s Comments and Advice Fr. Bill reiterated Peace Week and he would follow up with Jason Prior. He will also follow up on visiting with the sick.
Closing Prayer
The meeting was adjourned at 8:09 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
David Gargula
For Pat Sormani