Holy Cross Pastoral Council Minutes

January 25, 2011

Present: Fr. Richard, Dave Culver, Jan Arias, Jim Miles, Joan Ford, Pat Reiley, Donovan McGee

Apologies: Kris Chatfield, Don Cirino

1. The meeting was opened with a prayer.

2. Fathers Report:

a. The School buildings were flooded in the wake of the snow and recent rain.  The numerous repairs to the roof have not been successful and the next course of action is to propose the replacement of the roof to the Finance committee.

b. The success of the Catholics Come Home program as implemented at Holy Cross is difficult to measure.   Members on the Pastoral Council felt that perhaps more signage could be posted along with a more visible “presence” before and after Mass.

3. Ministry Feedback:

Having not done this in recent months, and at the suggestion of Kathy Hoffman, the Council has agreed to reach out to the ministry leaders with the aim of updating the ministry descriptions and contact information in the Ministry Directory.  It was agreed that Donovan would assign the ministries among the Council members.

4. Memorial Garden:

Donovan provided feedback on the results of the Columbarium survey that was conducted through December.  The number of surveys returned was disappointing.  Donovan will meet with Fr. Richard to discuss the next steps.

Dave Culver pointed out that because of the way the Memorial Gardens survey was conducted and the fact that the resulting responses came from only 4% of the households in the parish, it would be wrong for us to ascribe any validity whatsoever to its results.   We learned nothing from it.   If we wish to elicit the desires of the parish with regard to the Memorial Garden, Dave pointed out that a valid way of doing so would be to select a random sample of households, mail out the survey, follow up a few weeks later with a second mailing to the non-respondents, and then follow up a couple weeks later with a telephone call or personal visit.

5. Items for Discussion:

a. Don Cirino (via email) raised a concern over the apparent lack of communication (or disregard?) between the Anglo and Latino demographic in the parish.  Specifically, he made reference to the removal of decorations that had been put in place for the Feast of our Lady of Guadeloupe, and which were moved prior to the 5pm Mass, and (apparently) not put back in place.

6. The meeting was closed in prayer.