St. Mary’s Parish Council Meeting Minutes
June 9, 2009
Opening
Prayer and Reflection: Rolande Parent – Prayer and Reflection on “The Prayer of
Recognizing Seasons”
Presided
by:
Father Raymond Goodwin
Present: John Gill, Mary Belmore, Janice Mead, Mary Szymczak,
Tom Tellier, Jo Dascanio, Rolande Parent, Rebecca Edwards, Sister Yvonne
Millman, Deacon Nick CaraDonna. Newly
installed members: Donna Verdolino,
Carol Fiorvante, Lori Dewar, Helen Rehberg
Absent: Keith
Coveney
Ministries: Helen
Rehberg, Stewardship; Lori Dewar, Religious Ed
Guests: Fred Coggins
- Deacon Intern; Members of the Veterans Ministry: Joan Shanley, Bob Dascanio, Paul Verdolino,
John Medina (St. Philip Church)
May
Minutes: Approved
Received
Correspondence:
None
Chairperson
Comments:
John Gill
• John welcomed Fred Coggins. Fred is candidate in the Diaconate program. He is in his last year of study and has been assigned to St. Mary’s for the remainder of his internship, with the goal of being ordained in 2010 and assigned to St. Mary’s as Deacon.
• Fred introduced himself to the group at the end of the meeting. Fred was a convert to Catholicism in the late 80’s. He is married with three children, ages 11, 16, and 18. He is an IT manager and web master. His home parish is St. Patrick’s in Whitinsville. He loves music and was a cantor in the Music Ministry at St. Patrick’s before he began the diaconate internship at Good Shepherd in Linwood in December of 2008. Members welcomed him to St. Mary’s.
New
Action Items:
• It was noted that the Parish Bulletins are not up to date on the parish web site. Deacon Nick will check the status of the updates with Karen C. It was suggested that parishioners would probably find it useful to post the parish bulletin before the weekend masses instead of a week or two after.
Ministry
Updates:
Religious Education: Lori Dewar provided highlights of the recent activities of the Board
·
Kathy Holdsworth and Holly Fennell will be serving on the
Board next year
·
Currently 145 families, including thirteen new families,
have registered for the 2009-2010 session.
Attempts to reach the fifteen families who have not responded yet are
being made as books need to be ordered soon.
·
The Board discussed feedback regarding the May 9th,
9 a.m. First Eucharist Mass. These included complaints about the large number
of children, the length of the Mass and the condition of the church after the
celebration. Suggestions to alleviate
the problems included having three Saturday Masses and one Sunday Mass for
First Eucharist and placing a limit on the number of participants at a Mass.
Stewardship:
Helen
Rehberg
• The ministry did not meet since the May Parish Council Meeting, no update
Finance:
Deacon
Nick
· We were still in the black for May for the same reasons as previous months.
· There has been a increase in the weekly collections, some of which can be attributed to Parish Pay.
· June, July and August usually see a decrease in collections.
Cluster:
• Two events were planned to update the parishioners on Grafton’s Parish Cluster plans
❖
May 27th – Meeting of Parish Councils and Finance
Committees. The Finance Committee had a
follow up meeting on June 2nd to finalize funding of the Business Manager
position.
❖
June 22nd
– There will be a general meeting for parishioners of the Cluster parishes
• The independence of the three parishes will be retained. Father Ray will add administrator of St. Phillip to his duties. He and Father Hanlon from St. James will alternate the Sunday 9:00 Mass at St. Phillip.
• New Mass schedules affected Sunday’s Religious Ed classes. The class times will be shorter (8:30 – 9:15 and 9:30 – 10:15) but there will be more classes. Because these changes were made after registration, letters are being sent to catechists, office helpers, aides and approximately 80 families to notify them that their selections are no longer available and they must choose another class time.
Council
Discussion:
· Veterans Ministry
o Members were on hand to present their ministry to the Council to obtain recognition as a parish ministry and to receive funding. (Refer to the 4/14/09 meeting minutes for additional information.) Joan Shanley provided handouts and an overview of the mission, history, and all the great work done by the Veterans Ministry. This ministry works with the Worcester Veterans Shelter and currently has members from St. Philip and St. Mary, and one from Holy Angels in Upton.
o Highlighted activities: Flag Day Campaigns to collect donations, dessert night and patriotic rosaries. They have recently been registered as a resource for families of deployed military for the MA National Guard.
o Currently planning a picnic in July and are in need of funding. They recently approached the Stewardship Ministry but according to the Diocesan rules, a parish cannot tithe to itself.
o Stewardship wrote a letter of recommendation for the Veterans Ministry. Members of the Parish Council agreed and recommended that the Finance Committee give the Veterans Ministry a budget of $500.
· Music Director Position Opening – The search for a new Music Director has begun. Two members of the Council are needed to review the process and to find someone with a music background to help with the search.
·
St. Mary’s Achievement Award – Mary Belmore
o
The Grade 9 & 10 Car Wash to raise funds is scheduled
for June 27th from 9 a.m. to 1p.m.
Tom Tellier is in the process of signing up volunteers.
o
Two applications have been received to date. Suggestion for next year – mail the
applications to St. Mary’s graduating seniors early on.
· Deacon Nick’s Appreciation Celebration - Sunday June 28th after the 10:00 Mass.
·
Replacement for Deacon Nick – Fred Coggins will
be interning at St. Mary’s while he is completing his last year of
studies. The plan is for Fred to stay on
once he is ordained as a Deacon.
· Parish Council Officer election results
o
Chairperson - Janice Mead
o
Co-Chair - Rolande Parent
o
Secretary - Rebecca Edwards
Next
Meeting: This was the final meeting the
2008-2009 Council. The first meeting of 2009-2010 Council will take place on
September
Opening
Prayer:
Janice Mead
Minutes respectfully submitted by
Janice Mead, Parish Council Secretary