ST. MICHAEL PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
Minutes of the Regular Meeting
August 26, 2008
In attendance: Father Jim King, Deacon Merle Runck, Sharon Bernard, Chair, Joe Carpine, Len Grantner, Mike Gunkel, Ralph Herrman, Mary Jager, Richard Marks, Mary Manchester.
Gary Gunther was absent.
The meeting opened with a prayer at 6:05 p.m.
June 24, 2008 meeting minutes were reviewed and approved, one typographical error was corrected.
OLD BUSINESS
-Parish Picnic scheduled for September 14th, Richard Marks reported that the food has been ordered, games are planned and the park permit has been obtained. Becky Church has a group of parish youth to set up and break down tables and chairs. Rolly Kuhlman and Paul Masar have offered to have a trailer and pickup available for transport of items to and from the school. Richard will contact them to verify prior to the picnic. There will be a bulletin insert reminder one week prior to the picnic, and Father Jim will continue to include it in his announcements at each Mass.
-Sharon proposed to include adult games such as a cake walk and bingo at the Parish Picnic. After much discussion of the logistics involved, the consensus of the committee was not to include adult games this year, but to encourage adults to join the kids in their activities.
-The St. Michael Parish Pastoral Council Workshop directed by Sister Laetitia Slusser, S.C. is scheduled for Saturday, September 13, 2008. It will be held at the St. Thomas More Community Room from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. Sharon encouraged all to participate.
-Sharon reviewed highlights of the guidelines for the Committee Liaisons.
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Each Pastoral Council member is responsible to attend the monthly meeting for the committee which he or she has chosen. At the monthly meeting, the liaison should communicate information from the most recent Parish Council meeting to the members of that committee. Information on activities from the committee, along with a copy of the Committee’s most recent minutes, is to be shared by the liaison at the next Pastoral Council meeting.
Each Pastoral Council member is responsible to attend the monthly meeting for the committee which he or she has chosen. At the monthly meeting, the liaison should communicate information from the most recent Parish Council meeting to the members of that committee. Information on activities from the committee, along with a copy of the Committee’s most recent minutes, is to be shared by the liaison at the next Pastoral Council meeting.-Sharon reported that she had asked for information from Father John Ozella, Director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life for the Pueblo Diocese, on the appropriateness of placement of the national flag in an area outside the Worship Space, such as the gathering space. Father John had responded that this would be acceptable as long as it was not placed in the Worship Space. However, as this is a pastoral decision, Father Jim stated that his opinion on this issue has not changed, and that he prefers not to display the flag at this time.
-Sharon asked Father about the status of the project to place a statue in the Prayer Garden in memory of Mary Gindro. Father has contacted Huberto Maestas, the artist in San Luis, to discuss the designing of a bronze statue of the Risen Christ, like the one at the San Luis Stations. It will be approximately ¾ life size. This will be placed in a corner and will not obstruct access to the fire hose hookup.
PASTORAL COMMITTEE REPORTS
Parish Life – No meeting was held in July or August, the June 4th mtg minutes are still current.
Evangelization – ▪ The annual trip to San Luiz is scheduled for Saturday, September 20th. Father will announce the trip at weekend Masses and there will be parishioner sign up after Masses on the two weekends before. ▪ The committee discussed at length the possibility of bringing back the Disciples in Mission Lenten Project. There is still much research and planning to be completed. The need for a sufficient number of volunteers to lead the groups could be an issue. This was tabled until next meeting.
Outreach – Father Jim said that two parishioners have volunteered to recreate the Outreach Committee. One more person, liaison from Pastoral Council, would make a committee of three. The purpose of this committee would be to identify the needs of the community, determine how we can best help people in need and to create a list of people willing to assist when there a need is identified. When a request for assistance is received, a person or persons on the list would be contacted for help. Len Grantner and Mike Gunkel both expressed an interest in being a liaison to that committee. Sharon verified with Father that this committee would also have membership representation from all outreach ministries such as Bereavement, Prison, SHARE, Shut In and Nursing Home Ministries, Peace and Justice, etc.
Christian Formation – ▪The committee welcomed Sheila Tarnaski as her co-coordinator for the children’s religious education program this year. ▪ It has been determined that they will return to the Blest are We curriculum which is a more doctrine based series rather that Pflaum which is more lectionary based, although it will continue to be used for Pre-K and K students. ▪ The youth core team met 3 times this summer. Goals for the youth program were established and this will be made available to youth, their parents and the parishioners in September. ▪ The confirmation program is moving to a 2 year preparation model. The new program has a team teaching approach. ▪ Religious education programs’ emphasis is on strengthening catechesis for our youth. ▪ The Vacation Bible School was a resounding success. There were 39 participants and 40 volunteers. ▪ Training for the Discovering program teachers for grades 6 through 8 was held on August 20th. 9th grade will be using a program called Total Faith Initiative. ▪ A monthly calendar for all youth activities has been created in order to keep the youth and their parents informed. This will also be available on the website.
Administration – A Parish Internal Control Procedure report which was comprised of 81 questions to be answered was recently completed and returned to the Diocese. Questions included information regarding how offertory monies and handled, how receipts and disbursements are handled, etc. All parishes in the Diocese are to participate. Some parishes do not have formal guidelines in place to operate in a fiscally sound manner. The Bishop’s Office is making this effort to bring all parishes up to speed. There are no specific problem areas for St. Michael. ▪ Copies of the end of year Financial Report to the Parish are available in the gathering space. ▪ Three CDs that are invested at High Country Bank and Security Services are valued at over $100,000. In order to keep all within the insured limits, any excess can be reinvested in an additional CD. Father is in contact with Bruce Smith of Dain Rauscher who carefully watches the status of financial institutions and can warn the parish if problems are on the horizon. ▪ The town of Brookside has entered into a contract to buy the St. Anthony Church property for $76,000. They plan to use it for a town hall and are hoping to get a grant to pay for the property. Joe Carpine stated that the town is asking for $6,000 for a water tap to the old St. Anthony church building. The water to the building has been turned off. All icons and religious items have been removed from the building.
Worship – ▪ The new ministry schedule was made available in the gathering space. There were far less problems in this schedule. The ministry leaders are quite pleased with the format and are encouraged that the scheduling will continue to improve. ▪The children’s and youth choirs sign up sheets are available with the religious education registration forms in the gathering space. Choirs will start practice on Wednesday, October 1st. ▪ Laurie Mendon and Stephanie Nolan are reviewing the OCP publications for a change in music for the Mass parts. ▪ In order to gather all ushers for a meeting, more than one meeting may have to be scheduled. ▪The pool party on July 27th was well attended. ▪ Beginning the first weekend of September, the new Mass schedule will include a 7:20 am Mass to allow those who wish to be at the school by 8:30 a.m. to attend programs there. ▪ A new set of inexpensive vestments has been purchased for use at daily Mass. ▪ Ralph Herrman stated that he believes there should be a dress code for ushers, music ministers, etc. Sharon suggested that, since he is one of the liaisons to the Worship Committee, he can bring the issue forward at their meeting.
Knights of Columbus – ▪The monthly pancake breakfast will resume in October. ▪The 25 week ticket drawing continues. There have been 11 winners so far. ▪Some K of C committees have been recreated through the establishment of committee chairpersons. ▪ The Knights are planning a rosary to be said before each Mass in October, the month of the Holy Rosary. ▪In order to Keep Christ in Christmas, religious Christmas cards will again be sold. ▪The Knights will again provide liquid refreshments for the Parish Picnic on September 14th. ▪ Preparations are continuing for the Charity Golf Tournament on September 27th, with proceeds going to the K of C Scholarship Fund.
Youth – Richard Marks reported that he, Sharon and Becky have met regarding youth activities. There is no active youth group at this time but they are focusing on specific activities for interested youth as well as getting youth more involved with ministry. There are four people who are willing to develop a mentoring program. Nothing is formalized yet. He will stay in touch with Becky and report any further information to the Pastoral Council.
NEW BUSINESS
-Father stated that the parent survey results to determine the time of the Sunday youth program were mixed. 59 were mailed, 31 returned. Of the 31, 21 preferred the morning session with eight that supportive comments. Eight were in favor of the evening classes. All had comments strongly recommending that we stay with the evening times. Two respondents wanted all classes to be held at the same time (which is not possible with the space available). Since Sunday night has not had very good attendance, Fr.'s decision is that we need to give this new time a try.
-Father noted that it is disappointing that the parish website is not accessed by most parishioners. It was suggested that the website be noted on the inside pages of the bulletin as well as on the cover. A suggestion to place the Pastoral Council meeting minutes on the site was approved, but not before review and approval of those minutes. Therefore, the minutes will be a month old on the website.
-Mike Gunkel spoke of a business acquaintance from Buena Vista who brought her family to a Mass at St. Michael and had many positive comments about the liturgy, the music and the friendliness of the church members. Father Jim stated that one of the principals of a parish is to be a welcoming community. There have been many positive comments made by visitors.
-Sharon asked if we could use the prayer that Mary Manchester provided for tonights meeting for the whole parish. Fr. suggested that it be placed in the back of each book in the pews and prayed after the Rosary during the month of October. This will be done.
The meeting was closed with a prayer at 8:30 pm. Next meeting is September 23rd at 6:00 pm.
Gary Gunther will provide prayers and refreshments.
Respectfully submitted by Mary Manchester
