Holy Cross Parish Council Minutes
October 9, 2007
Present: Kris Chatfield, Gabriela Probst, Kathy Geroski, Jim Miles, Adrian Law, Fr. Patrick, Angie Pavon, Sam Beale, Dale Bennett, Joan Oldstein-Read, Helen Homrich and Theresa O’Donnell. Not Present: Cass Catroppa, David Hernandez and Jim Moleta.
The meeting was opened with a prayer.
· Introductions – Quick introductions were made for the benefit of those who were not able to attend the September meeting. Joan Oldstein-Read announced that she would be resigning her seat on the Parish Council for health reasons, effective immediately.
· Distribution and Approval of Minutes – Minutes from the September meeting were distributed and reviewed. Motion to approve the minutes was seconded. Minutes approved.
· Time and Talent Weekends – Gabriela indicated that not many people signed up as new participants in ministries during the Time and Talent weekend. Although she had not heard back from all of the ministry leaders, those who did respond counted less than 50 new names, total. This is very low relative to the number of people in the parish. Angie reported a slightly better response for the Hispanic ministries, with over 100 new sign-ups.
· Ignatius Press Movie Nights – Adrian indicated that a group of men in the parish had donated money to purchase an LCD projector for the parish. Adrian will be responsible for purchasing the equipment and maintaining it. Once the equipment is purchased, we can plan the movie night as a fund-raiser for Habitat. The projector will also be made available for use by other ministries, with Adrian as the contact person.
· Committee Reports – Worship and Spiritual Growth, Human Concerns and Parish Life had no report. For Education, Theresa reported that the Adult Formation classes had started and they have 40 – 45 participants each week. Fr. Patrick raised the issue of problems in the room with regard to the A/C. When the A/C is off, the room gets very warm. When it is running, it is very loud and hard to hear the speakers. A repairman came and looked at it and gave us an estimate of $12,000 to fix the problem. Sam Beale indicated that he thought the estimate was too high. He will work with Steve Cook to address the issue and get additional estimates. Angie reported that the festival for Our Lady of Guadalupe will be held at 6:30pm on December 12th. She also indicated that the Mass time changes for the Hispanic masses has been very well received. Moving the first Mass from 12:30 to 1:00 has significantly improved the noise and parking issues. She also has a replacement in mind for David for the Parish Council. Once Sr. Carmen has approved the person, she will get the information to Kathy so that the new person is invited to the next meeting. Gabriela and Adrian brought several ideas to the group for increasing stewardship participation. These included having ministry presentations at the end of Mass on specific weekends, revamping how we welcome new families to the parish, and creating the e-mail newsletter that was discussed at the last meeting. After much discussion, it was agreed that Gabriela, Kris, Sam and Angie will form a task force and bring concrete ideas regarding our Welcome program to the next meeting. Jim Miles, Adrian and Theresa will form a second task force to address the issue of the email newsletter, and how this could be accomplished.
· Bylaws Review – Kathy raised several questions about the bylaws. Although our council membership exceeded the number of 12 stipulated in the Bylaws, with Joan’s resignation we are at the correct number. It was agreed that Joan will not be replaced. There was no announcement placed in the bulletin about the Council meeting, as stipulated in the bylaws. Kathy will get a list of dates to Jean this week, so we can be sure that the announcement goes in the bulletin for future meetings. Fr. Patrick indicated that a suggestion had been made to him that we increase the length of term for Council members to 3 years, and stagger them differently, so that only 4 people are rolling on and off the Council in any given year. This was unanimously voted down, with everyone agreeing that 2 years was an ample term length. We will continue as is, with half the Parish Council replaced each year.
· Next Meeting – Our next meeting is scheduled for November 6, 2007.
Meeting was adjourned with a prayer.
Respectfully Submitted, Kris Chatfield