Holy Cross Parish Council Minutes

September 11, 2007

Present:  Cass Catroppa, Kris Chatfield, Gabriela Probst, Kathy Geroski, Jim Miles, Adrian Law, David Hernandez, Fr. Patrick, Jim Moleta, and Theresa O’Donnell.  Not Present: Angie Pavon, Sam Beale, Joan Oldstein-Reid, Helen Homrich.

The meeting was opened with a prayer.

· Pastor’s Comments – Fr. Patrick explained the role of the Parish Council, as consultant to the pastor in decision making for the parish.  Introductions were made for the benefit of the new members.

· Elections – Kathy Geroski was nominated as the new President of the Parish Council.  The nomination was seconded, voted and approved.  Kris Chatfield was nominated to continue as Secretary.  The nomination was seconded, voted and approved.

· Distribution and Approval of Minutes – Minutes from the May meeting were distributed and reviewed.  Motion to approve the minutes was seconded.  Minutes approved.

· Time and Talent Weekends – Gabriela reported that Time and Talent weekends will take place the last two weekends in September.  Human Concerns and Worship and Spiritual Growth will take place on 9/22 and 9/23,  Parish Life and Education will take place on 9/29 and 9/30.  Tables will be in the gathering area with signs for the various ministries.  Ministry leaders have been asked to provide ministry members at each Mass to answer questions about their ministry.  Gabriela will meet with Sr. Carmen to identify ministries that can be expanded to the Hispanic community. 

· Ignatius Press Movie Nights – Gabriela reported that Ignatius Press has a program for parish movie nights.  They feature 3 movies each year that are family friendly.  They will send the movie, materials about the movie, and various books and products for sale on consignment.  The parish hosts the movie night, and provides the products for sale to the attendees.  The parish earns profit from the sale of the products and returns the movie and the unsold items to Ignatius Press.  The only cost to the parish is the postage to return the unsold items.  A suggestion was made to look into this as a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity.  Theresa will try and identify someone from the group of Habitat volunteers who might like to take on this project.

· Committee Representatives – With new members joining the Parish Council and other members leaving, the various ministry commissions needed to be reassigned.  Each ministry commission has 2 representatives assigned to it from the Parish Council, and those representatives are responsible for contacting ministry leaders about any issues that need to be brought to the Parish Council meetings.  The new representatives are as follows:

Worship and Spiritual Growth – Kathy Geroski and Helen Homrich

Human Concerns – Jim Miles and Joan Oldstein-Reid

Education – Theresa O’Donnell

Parish Life – Jim Moleta and Sam Beale

Stewardship – Gabriela Probst and Adrian Law

Hispanic Ministries – Angie Pavon and David Hernandez

· Committee Reports – Theresa O’ Donnell reported that Faith Matters begins again on Sunday.  Religious Education also starts back on Sunday.  Theresa also indicated that she has several email lists that she has developed to send out information about Faith Matters.  She also uses these lists to notify parishioners of funerals, illnesses, etc.  She would like to see some sort of email bulletin or newsletter developed, but does not have the computer saavy to do something professional.  Jim Miles and Adrian Law will look into doing something in conjunction with the newly designed website.

· Volunteer Forms – Cass indicated that she is still working on collecting volunteer information forms from all volunteers in the parish.  Anyone volunteering in any capacity has to fill out the basic volunteer application.  Anyone volunteering that would be alone with children or vulnerable adults must also complete the mandatory background check.  We are being audited in November by an independent auditor and need to have all our information completed.  This audit will be going on across the country in all dioceses.

· Next Meeting – Our next meeting is scheduled for October 9, 2007.  Kathy requested that everyone review the bylaws for the next meeting.

Meeting was adjourned with a prayer.

Respectfully Submitted, Kris Chatfield