PRESBYTERAL COUNCIL MEETING Catholic Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania Thursday, March 8, 2018 St. Mark Catholic Center ~ Erie, PA 10:30 A.M. Members in Attendance: Bishop Lawrence Persico, Very Rev. Richard Allen, E.V., Very Rev. Zab Amar, V.F., Very Rev. Joseph Czarkowski, V.F., Very Rev. Michael Ferrick, V.F., Very Rev. Raymond Gramata, V.F., Very Rev. James Gutting, V.F., Rev. Brandon Kleckner, Very Rev. Matthew Kujawinski, V.F., Msgr. Edward Lohse, V.G., Very Rev. Jeffrey Lucas, V.F., Very Rev. John Malthaner, V.F., Very Rev. Jeff Noble, V.F., Rev. Philip Pinczewski, Msgr. Joseph Riccardo, V.F., Rev. Matthew Ruyechan, Msgr. Richard Siefer, E.V., Msgr. Robert Smith, Msgr. Thomas Snyderwine, Rev. Richard Toohey, Rev. Glenn Whitman. Members excused: Very Rev. Joseph Gregorek, V.F., Rev. Nicholas Rouch, Rev. Christopher Singer. Guests: Ms. Ann Badach, Mr. Jim Gallagher, Mr. John Dey, Rev. Justin Pino, Dr. Eric Dart, Ms. Anne- Marie Welsh, Ms. Mary Solberg. I. Opening Prayer The meeting was called to order at 10:33 am by Fr. Malthaner, who led the group in daytime prayer. II. Approval of Minutes The draft of the minutes of the meeting on December 4, 2017, was reviewed. Fr. Amar moved to accept the minutes. Fr. Toohey seconded. Motion passed unanimously. III. Update on Opioid In-Service Day Ann Badach and Jim Gallagher A. Work of the task force began in October of 2017. B. The goal of the task force has been to provide priests with practical, useful information and tools to understand the crisis, and to help lay people deal with the problem and also to pray through it. C. The in-service session on February 22 was recorded and will be available online at the diocesan website. D. A folder containing prayer and program resources was also distributed. See attachment A for the list of presenters and other items. The set of prayer resources can be found at http://www.eriercd.org/priestpersonnel.asp under Presbyteral Council. E. Priests are urged to form parish action teams made up of trusted advisors. See attachment B. IV. Priest Compensation John Dey A. See attachment C. B. The average raise is 2%. V. Clergy Continuing Formation Fr. Justin Pino A. Emmaus, diocesan sponsored priest retreats and study sessions have been brought together under one committee. B. The goal is to have a three-year plan and schedule. C. Father Pino raised two questions for consideration and input from the Presbyteral Council: 1. Should the January Diocesan Study Week stay with the Clergy Continuing Formation or be moved to the Religious Education office? 2. How often should we have evenings of recollection?
2 Bishop Persico pointed out that the Clergy Continuing Formation Committee is entrusted with these matters, and he urged the committee to answer both of these the questions rather than to survey the priests. D. There was a consensus that the Diocesan Study Week should go on as scheduled for next January, but there is no certainty that it will continue after that. VI. Gannon University Master s Program Dr. Eric Dart A. Gannon s Institute for Pastoral Theology is intended to provide ongoing training in pastoral care across a variety of platforms, from in-services to graduate degree programs. The various platforms will be kept affordable and transportable to make them easily accessible. B. There was discussion about what the actual needs are in the diocese, and how Gannon can best help to meet those needs. C. There was a consensus that Deacons and qualified lay people wouldn t need Masters degrees in most cases, but they would need to be trained in pastoral administration, including a canonical component. Perhaps a certificate program could be helpful. D. Current technology and online offerings should be used as much as possible. VII. Update on the Grand Jury investigation Bishop Persico A. It appears the report will be out in April. B. It is uncertain just how the report will be released. C. Independent investigators have conducted very thorough investigations of all of the abuse allegations from the past, which has been a great help to the diocese in discovering the truth in each instance. VIII. Revision of child protection policies Msgr. Lohse A. The substance of the policy is mostly unchanged, but there are two areas of significant modification: 1. The section giving definitions has been greatly expanded to cite the current Pennsylvania law and provide a more thorough description of things such as what actually constitutes abuse. 2. The diocesan Office for the Protection of Children and Youth will have a much-expanded role and will become the central depository for allegations of abuse (past and present) as well as indications that individuals culpably refuse to comply with diocesan policies. B. A step-by-step card describing the procedure for reporting abuse will be published. C. Once the revisions are finished and approved by the Diocesan Review Board, the new policy will be on the diocesan website. D. The names of people who ought not to be working with children will eventually be on the diocesan website. There is founded evidence of misconduct on the part of these people. IX. Preparing for the Grand Jury report Anne-Marie Welsh and Mary Solberg A. Publicity about what the diocese has done and is doing is expected before the Grand Jury report comes out. B. The Office of Communications will prepare scripted notices that pastors and parish secretaries can use. X. Updated on pastoral planning: Faith Formation Msgr. Lohse A. After extensive interviewing, no applicant was chosen to lead this project. B. There were two finalists, but neither was chosen. The search for additional applicants will continue. C. It was suggested that another update like the one published in 2017 would be welcomed so that people could know what is going on, and there was general agreement to that suggestion.
3 XI. Mandatory Parish Websites Msgr. Lohse A. Msgr. Lohse asked for the Presbyteral Council s input as to whether or not the diocese should require parishes to have websites. There are currently 21 parishes which have no presence on the internet. B. After some discussion, it was generally decided that it would be better to encourage parishes to have a website rather than to require them to do so, because if a parish has no interest in updating its website, it can sometimes be worse than having none at all. C. The diocese can help interested parishes with websites. Call Kathy Papalia, 814-824-1111. Around 30 parishes have already used this service. There is an annual cost of $15.00, which is the annual fee for registering a web address. Parishes are strongly urged to use this service. XII. Updates for Deans Msgr. Lohse A. Parishes sharing confirmations should share costs, responsibilities, and planning for the celebration of the sacrament and for the reception to follow. B. Priests need to make sure they access their own diocesan email account to get all the notices coming from the diocese. The diocese will no longer forward diocesan email to other email addresses, because doing so has increasingly resulted in diocesan emails getting blocked by major providers like gmail and hotmail and others. XIII. Dean s reports A. The opening of this year s CSA wasn t as successful as in the past. B. Not all parishes got the materials that were supposedly sent. XIV. Meeting adjourned at 2:45 pm. Moved by: Fr. Amar, seconded by: Msgr. Siefer. Motion passed unanimously. XV. Next Meeting: May 16, 2018 in Punxsutawney. Respectfully submitted, Tom Snyderwine Secretary