Minutes of Resurrection Parish's Pastoral Council Meeting August 21, 2018 I. Meetings of the Committees of Council: The business meeting was preceded by the Committees of Council meeting in the church hall for one hour, beginning at 6:15 PM. II. III. IV. Call to Order and Opening Prayer: a. Michelle Rager, chair of the Pastoral Council, welcomed those in attendance and called the business meeting to order at 7:17 PM. b. Father George opened the meeting with a prayer. c. Michelle welcomed all in attendance. Before proceeding with the meeting Michelle reiterated some key points of her management style and how she would like to incorporate them in moving the Council forward. Included are: i. Bringing issues to a timely resolution. ii. Conducting meeting following the Rules of Order iii. Moving the parish forward in a positive manner. iv. Explore new ways of doing things. v. Avoiding tunnel vision by getting a panoramic view of the issues brought before the Council. Roll Call: Present: Fr. George, Ray Gorman, Gregg Majercsik, Jeff McKissick, Cindy O Connor, George Pisula, Michele Rager, Steve Reasbeck, Larry Sestrich, Joe Strihan, Faith Thomas, and Gary Vitko. Excused: Meaghan Veney. A quorum was present. Five parishioners and the parish manager were also present. Approval of the Minutes: The June 2018 minutes were approved with the following two changes: a. Steve Reasbeck s name was added to those present in the roll call. b. Since George Pisula was asked to continue as recording secretary, the Latin phrase LABOR MEUS HIC CONSUMMATUS EST was removed from the end of the minutes. V. Status of the Standing Committees: Before the start of the committee reports, Michelle asked each liaison to limit their report to three key items. 1 P age
a. Activities i. A recap of the upcoming fundraising activities and those under consideration was given. Included in the listing is: 1. Gob and cinnamon bun sale 2. Meat Raffle (November 3) 3. Fly by Dinner (take out only) 4. Developing a parish cookbook 5. Organizing a pie sale b. Communications i. With the help of Cindy O Connor, the Protecting God s Children tab on the web site has been updated with the current forms and links needed to obtain clearances. ii. George noted that the online calendar is kept current on the web site with information passed on to him. This tool could be better used to keep track of bookings and activities if the information is passed on for posting. c. Education i. The Arise Together in Christ parish team continues to prepare for the upcoming Fall session. As a result of a preliminary survey, 20 parishioners have shown interest in taking part in the program. The formal sign-up weekend will happen on September 8 & 9. The following weekend we ll be asking all parishioners to make a commitment and pray for the success of the program. The first sixweek segment of this program will begin on September 30 in our parish. d. Parish Family Life i. A covered dish dinner is planned for Saturday, September 8. This will be held in conjunction with Sign-Up Sunday for the Arise Together in Christ program. Since September 8 is also the birthday of the Blessed Mother, a birthday cake will be featured for dessert. Coffee and donuts will be available after the Sunday morning Masses as part of Sign-Up Sunday. ii. Self-defense training is planned for September 11. It will be limited to those who are 10 years old and up. 2 P age
iii. Resurrection parish will host a Community Lab Blood screening event on Saturday, September 29 in conjunction with the Chan Soon- Shiong Medical Center at Windber. iv. First Aid/CPR Certification class will be held on Tuesday, October 9. The class will be taught by members of the West End Ambulance Service. e. Liturgy i. Since the formation of the parish, care has been taken to celebrate Mass, the summit of Catholic worship, according to guidelines of Vatican II. Accordingly, the laity have been actively involved in the roles assigned to them. Currently we are experiencing a shortage of liturgical ministers, mainly altar servers especially for the 4:00 PM Saturday evening Mass and the 8:00 AM Sunday Mass. ii. The remaining liturgical celebrations for the year were reviewed. Three celebrations were noted: a. There will be no cemetery Mass on All Souls Day. b. Since Veteran s Day falls on a Sunday, a special Veteran s Day Mass will be celebrated on Monday evening, the day the holiday is celebrated nationally. c. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception falls on a Saturday this year. Because of the conflict with the Sunday Advent Mass, there will be a 6:30 PM anticipated Mass on Friday evening at 6:30 PM and a 9:00 AM Mass on the morning of the holy day. There will be no Holy Hour Friday evening. iii. On July 21, 2019, we will be observing the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Resurrection Parish. It was suggested that plans start to be developed to celebrate this event. Father George favored a one-day event. He asked the activities and liturgy committees to work together to begin planning for the event. f. Properties and Maintenance i. An estimate was received from Johnstown Construction to complete the necessary sewage work in the parish owned buildings. Included are the office, rectory, oratory, parish center, and St. Anastasia hall. This estimate amounted to $86,177. The parish also has $25,000 in an escrow account to cover the sewage work at St. Casimir School. This was mandated when the building was sold. ii. As prep work was started for the painting of the church windows, it was discovered that the windows are in worse shape than previously 3 P age
thought. Each window will require up to $400 worth of repairs before painting can take place. g. Youth i. For the past three years it has been futile to find a young person to represent the youth of the parish at Pastoral Council meetings. This position was directed by Bishop Joseph, who wanted the concerns of young people heard by the parish leadership. After some discussion, George Pisula put the following motion forth to replace Article IV, Section 5; it was seconded by Jeff McKissick. If interest exists, a Youth Representative may be appointed by the Pastor to serve on the Pastoral Council for a oneyear, renewable term. This individual must be of high school age at the time of appointment. The Youth Representative enjoys all privileges of council membership except for the right to serve as an officer. The youth representative should be a minimum of 15 years of age. h. Cemetery i. There was some previous discussions to merge this committee with the maintenance committee. Tonight it was decided to keep it as an independent committee. ii. A tree needed to be cut down at St. Casimir Cemetery. iii. There are limited activities at the parish s six cemeteries. Some burials do take place. The only cemetery having lots available is Immaculate Conception with approximately 35 spaces for sale. i. Finances i. The committee, in working on the 2018-19 fiscal budget, projects a deficit for the parish of $100,000. ii. Bi-monthly meetings are being planned with the committee members having access to the parish and diocesan-maintained financial records. iii. Some bookkeeping issues occurred when the Sweet Shoppe was setup on the diocesan payroll system. The error was traced to back to an incorrect account/group being used; the issue is being resolved. iv. Some topics related to the Grove were discussed, all need more study and review: 1. Is the Grove benefiting the parish or is the parish just supporting its existence? 4 P age
2. Is better security needed when not in use? 3. When the Grove is rented or used for a non-parish event, a parish representative should be on site the entire time. 4. All fees need to be reviewed. These include rental, security deposit, garbage collection, use of chairs, etc. 5. There is some money left from St. Rochus for the Grove. More research is needed on this item. v. Beginning with next year s trip, all moneys related to the Mission Trip will be placed in a separate account. VI. VII. Comments from the Parishioners: a. None. Old Business: a. Cindy O Connor made a formal proposal to establish a Safe Environment Committee at Resurrection Parish. Although the focus of this committee will be to provide safety for our children, all ages will be encompassed by the work of this committee. Some of the duties for members of this committee will be: i. Youth protection training ii. Mandatory reporting training; how to report child abuse iii. Ensure that employees and volunteers have proper clearances. iv. Conduct pre and post audits for events. v. Monitoring sign-in sheets for all activities involving youth. vi. Inspect all sites for possible issues. Those inspecting should include someone from insurance, legal, social work, medical, maintenance, and religious education. Report findings to the parish. vii. Install signage where needed. viii. Ensure that the parish s safeguard initiatives are in line with the guidelines put forth by the USCCB. b. Promote awareness for: i. April Child Abuse Month ii. October Bullying Awareness Month c. Based on the above discussion, Gary Vitko made a motion to create a Safe Environment Committee to become a special committee of the Pastoral Council. Larry Sestrich seconded the motion. d. In an attempt to better communicate with our parishioners, Michelle will post the key points of each Pastoral Council meeting in the bulletin within two weeks of the meeting. Although the minutes are posted on the 5 P age
parish s web site, there is often a several month lag from meeting time to posting time. c. For the past two years, there has been thought that there would be a better flow of direction if the Pastoral Council met before the standing committees met. The objection to this proposal was that the meeting time would be too late for many of the standing committee members. After some discussion, Gary Vitko made a motion, seconded by George Pisula to do a pilot change to the meeting times. The pilot will run until the end of the year at which time it will be decided if the Pastoral Council bylaws should be amended. The proposal is as follows: The meetings of the Pastoral Council and the standing committees of Council will meet on separate evenings. The Pastoral will meet on the third Tuesday of the odd-numbered months at 6:30 PM (Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov). The standing committees of Council will meet on the third Tuesday of the even-numbered months at 6:30 PM (Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec). e. This past year, only the phone number of the Pastoral Council chair was listed in the bulletin. Michelle asked if members would like to have their numbers listed. A sign-up sheet was circulated requesting the phone numbers of members who wanted their numbers listed. f. At the June meeting it was suggested that a letter of thanks be sent to the family who funded the work in the church sanctuary. The work included moving the relief of the Last Supper to become part of the altar of sacrifice, the moving and enhancement of the ambo, the extension of the floor where the presider s chair is located, and the installation of a cantor s stand found in storage. Michelle read a copy of the letter that she penned. The letter was signed by Michelle and Father George. VIII. IX. Comments from the Parishioners: a. None New Business: a. The need for a recording secretary was again discussed. Holly Vargo was mentioned as a possible candidate. Father George said that he would approach her. b. Some thoughts were voiced about the monthly financial statement that is currently being distributed with the bulletin. The questions were asked Is it understandable? Does it give an accurate snapshot of the status of the parish? Father George indicated that the Finance Council is working on modifications to the report. 6 P age
c. Conversation centered on the need for more liturgical ministers. Altar servers seem to be of the greatest concern especially for the 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM Masses. George said that when he approaches people, their main reason for declining is the fear of making a commitment. Two possible solutions proposed was to have Christine Babik do some recruiting during the religious education classes and having a ministry fair. d. Related to our shortage of liturgical ministers, membership of many of our standing committees also are suffering. Recruitment is also needed in this area. e. Michelle recanted the key points that she will post in an upcoming bulletin: i. Establishment of a Safe Environment Committee. ii. Repairs needed to the church windows. iii. Change of the meeting schedule for the Pastoral Council and the standing committees of Council. iv. Tentative cost of the sewage repair project to the parish X. Comments from the Parishioners: a. One way of participating in Ethnic Fest without taxing our elderly parishioners would be to call on the culinary department of either Penn Highlands Community College or Vo-Tech for assistance. One counter argument was the set-up required. Set-up would still remain an obstacle. XI. XII. Pastor s Closing Comments: a. Father thanked all present for being supportive during the ongoing clergy scandal in the Church.. Adjournment and Blessing: a. At the conclusion of Father George s comments, at 8:58 PM Gary Vitko made a motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Jeff McKissick. The meeting was adjourned. The meeting concluded with the Council reciting the Doxology after which Father George bestowed his blessing. Upcoming Pastoral Council Meeting 7 P age
Tuesday, September 18 at 6:30 PM Upcoming Standing Committee Meetings Tuesday, October 16 at 6:30 PM Submitted by George G. Pisula Recording Secretary 8 P age