St. Pius X Loudonville

St. Pius X Parish Pastoral Council
March 21, 2007

Present – Father Farano, Frank Pugliano, Jackie DeSanti, Tom Christman, Joe Tamer, Jean Baptiste Zongo, Rudy Paulsen, Tracy Coffey, Paul Kutey, Frank Hughes, Dennis Mullahy, Peter Ranalli, Pat Tobin, Jeanne Pitkin, Steve Morgan, Julianne Ruff and Marlene Papa.

Absent – Sandy Zelka, Brian Evers and Dan Slavin

Frank P. called the meeting to order at 7:00 and led the prayer. A number of personal intentions were offered by members of the Council, asking for God’s help and intercession.

Frank P. welcomed Diane Houle, representing the St. Pius X School Board, to the meeting. Diane is the current president of the Board. Frank P. said that he would like a Council member to attend each School Board meeting, and that he would try to represent the Council at each School Board meeting for the rest of the year. However, because of a conflict on the date of the next Board meeting (April 17), Marlene Papa will be the Council representative at that meeting.

February Meeting Notes – Frank P. offered an amendment to the February meeting notes. He said that the first line of the new parish mission statement was inadvertently omitted from the notes. The statement “….with God, all things are possible” is added at the beginning of the statement. Paul made a motion to approve the February meeting notes, as amended; Steve seconded. All agreed.

Frank reviewed the Action Items from the January meeting:

  • with respect to nomination dates for new Council members, Marlene and Jackie reported that the dates have to be split because of conflicts with other activities. Nominations will be solicited on the weekends of April 14-15, and May 5-6.
  • Ellie Peterson will distribute the new mission statement to parish staff and leaders of ministries and organizations, now that she has returned to work in the parish office.
  • Jackie spoke with Bob Higgins at the Town of Colonie concerning the number of spaces available in the church parking lot for persons with a disability. He is sure that we are in compliance with Town regulations, but says that we can have as many such spaces as we want. Once the snow is all gone, we can take another look at where the current spaces are, and decide if we want to add more. There may not be much we can do about it, but it would be helpful if we can move some of the handicapped spots closer to the church.
  • parking in fire lanes is still a concern. It seems that people who come to church late park in the fire lanes most often. It isn’t because there aren’t enough parking spaces, but people who are late for Mass probably don’t want to have to park further away and then walk the longer distance to church. Paul says that he would be glad to stand at one of the church entrances and tell people who park in the fire lanes that they must move their car (perhaps a few others would be willing to do that, too). Father says that what he has to do is talk about this from the pulpit, but he is firm in not wanting to have the Colonie Police ticket cars that park in the fire lanes.
  • the choir raised $10,000 at their Italian Night festivities for their upcoming trip to Italy.

Committee Reports

(Several reports were distributed by e-mail prior to the meeting.)

Adult Faith Formation

Tom reported that 15-20 people attended each of the first two Lenten Series discussions (Joe Tamer’s presentation on Baptism, and Robert Murphy’s presentation on Confirmation), and that more than 100 people attended Fr. Walsh’s explanation of everything pertaining to the Mass.

Christian Works and Services

  • Tom said that the collection of toiletries, white socks and sleeping bags was a great success (16 sleeping bags were brought to the Homeless Action Group on Western Ave. in Albany, which serves as a refuge of last resort when all other shelters are filled). He thanked all parishioners for their continuing generosity and compassion, as well as offered specific thanks to Marlene and Tracy for their help.
  • Tom also mentioned that the parish provided about 20 gallons of bleach to the Capitol Lutheran Church shelter in Albany. That is more than they use in a week, so they were thrilled to receive it.

Pastoral Care

Jeanne said that everything she has to report has already been provided in the weekly bulletin.


Prayer and Worship

Only two additional people have expressed interest in serving as greeters. An announcement will be made at Mass on the weekends of Mar. 24-25 and Mar. 31-Apr. 1 to recruit greeters for Holy Week. After that, Jackie will try again to solicit people to serve as greeters on a regular basis.

Jackie says that a suggestion was made to integrate the role of usher and greeter into the same ministry. She says that this is something we may want to look at in the future.

“Called to BE Church” Update

Fr. Farano reported that the March CTBC meeting (the last one to be held at St. Ambrose) was a good one. The focus was faith formation for families with very young children (infants to kindergarten). The sense among the representatives from the six participating parishes is that, up to the age of five, parents are the principal educators for their children, and that the church/parishes should find ways to work with those parents to help them instill faith in their young children.

Someone at the Council meeting mentioned that parishes used to have a program called the Catholic Family Movement (CFM). Does this program still exist?

Joe said that, as the parent of several young children, he would appreciate anything that the church can do to give him and other parents time to get together each week, even for just a half-hour or so, to talk and share. Can child care be provided so the parents can interact without having to supervise, their children?

Joe’s comment led to other comments about making a “drop-in” place available for parents to get together when they bring their children to school on Sunday for Religious Education classes. Jeannie made the point that it would be a good idea to start such a program at the beginning of next year’s Religious Ed classes. She suggested including a flyer about the idea in the registration package that parents receive to enroll their children in Religious Ed, and to discuss the idea at a meeting with parents during the first week of Religious Ed classes in the fall.

Pat said that she takes her grandchild to a drop-in once a week at a church in Albany. The church does not sponsor the program, but does provide space for everyone to get together.

Father said that there would not be a problem for St. Pius to provide space for such an informal get-together. One of the conference rooms is usually available at some time during the day, and the sacristy might make a good meeting place once renovations are completed.

Paul suggested that we discuss the ideas about drop-in programs with other parishes in the area, thinking that we may want to collaborate with them in putting something together. Can we bring this up at the next deanery meeting, or the next monthly CTBC meeting?

Steve said that it is very likely that many of the parents who drop their children off at St. Pius for Religious Ed classes, do not go to church themselves. Having a drop-in program available in the school or parish center, where they can interact with other parents while they all wait for their children, might be a low-key but effective way to begin to bring those people back to the church.

All of the discussion resulted in two separate, but similar, ideas being proposed. Father will talk to Brian Evers and Judy Ranalli about a Sunday morning drop-in program for parents who bring their children to Religious Ed classes. Frank P. will contact Gail Bouchard and Julie Murphy for ideas about setting up a similar type of drop-in (maybe just for mothers?) at St. Pius during the workweek.

Discussion re: “The Mission of a Contemporary Parish” (Part 5)

Because of the lengthy discussion with respect to possibly establishing a Sunday morning get-together for parents whose children are attending Religious Ed classes, as well as a mother’s group that would meet socially during the week, Frank P. decided to postpone discussion of Part 5 until the April meeting.

Pastor’s Comments

Father Farano said that a number of parishioners from the Watervliet parishes that were recently consolidated have sent a petition to the Vatican asking that the decision to consolidate be overturned. They are claiming that Bishop Hubbard took more than ten million dollars from their parishes to finance the repair work that is being done on the cathedral. Father says that the bishop will likely be soliciting donations for this repair work.

One hundred and seventy priests will be visiting St. Pius on the evening of Tuesday, March 27 to celebrate Bishop Hubbard’s 30th anniversary as bishop of the Albany diocese.

The “Beacon of Hope” event on behalf of Catholic education went very well, thanks in large part to the various corporate sponsorships that the bishop has obtained.

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Frank P. reviewed the Action Items from this meeting.

Frank P. led the closing prayer. Tom asked everyone to remember his mother in our closing prayer, as she celebrates her 92nd birthday.

Next meeting is on Wednesday, April 18 at 7:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Marlene R. Papa
Secretary