Frank Pugliano called the meeting to order at 7:05PM.  Frank led the opening prayer.

In attendance: Fr. Farano, Frank Pugliano, Pat Tobin, Dick Connery, Jackie DeSanti, Brian Evers, Tom Christman, Jean-Baptiste Zongo, Frank Hughes, John DeFilippo, Joe tamer, Peter Ranalli, Mike Rossi and Marlene Papa.

Absent: Mark Morrison, Paul Kutey, Jeanne Pitkin, Harvey Bowks, Julianne Ruff, Dennis Mullahy and Sandy Zelka.

Frank reviewed the minutes from the March meeting.  Dick made a motion to approve the minutes as drafted, and Jackie seconded the motion.  The minutes were adopted.

Frank reviewed the Action Items from the March meeting.

COMMITTEE/PROGRAM REPORTS

Parking/No Parking Areas

Mike Rossi brought in enlarged, color copies of Google maps delineating the parking spots around the church, parish center and school.  These maps will be posted at all entrances to the church.  Thanks again, Mike, for a great job!

Discernment

We discussed the discernment schedule, and confirmed target dates.

Ministers Appreciation Night

Jackie went over information regarding the Ministers Appreciation Night.  The date is April 30, and desserts will be available from 6:30–8:00.  All are welcome. 

Frank asked all council members to attend, and to wear their name tag, identifying them as parish council members.  He also suggested that we hand out discernment nomination forms to everyone attending the event.

Prayer and Worship

Based on comments made at the last Prayer and Worship Committee meeting, Frank P. drafted a “dress code” for eucharistic ministers, describing what is appropriate attire when serving on the altar.  The draft has been reviewed by the members of the P&W committee.  Frank wants the members of the council to review it before he passes it on to all eucharistic ministers.

Also, Peter Ranalli mentioned that a number of older parishioners are no longer able to commit to spending time at Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays, so he is looking for new people to participate.  He will draft an informational note and send it to Frank P., who can e-mail it to all eucharistic ministers and lectors.

Parish Survey

The Siena Research Institute has received more than l,l00 responses to the parish survey; Dr. Don Levy of the SRI tells us that this is an exceptionally high response.  Everyone who did not respond to the original request, or to the follow-up postcard, has now been contacted by telephone.  SRI staff are tabulating the responses.

Dr. Levy will meet with Fr. Farano, Tom, Frank P. Nancy Uruskyj and Brian on May 2 to discuss the preliminary results.  He will then discuss the survey results with the parish council members.

Called to BE Church

• Four committees (Administration; Christian Service and Advocacy; Faith Formation; and Prayer and Worship) are now discussing and drafting recommendations for the bishop.  Those recommendations are due by July 1.
• Members of the Faith Formation committee have decided that it is too difficult to link programs for K–9 grades. Instead, they will probably suggest that Religious Ed leaders from each parish meet a few times a year to share ideas.  For the “young adult” group (ages 18-35), there appear to be more opportunities to work together on programs/initiatives, and to pool resources.  The large numbers of candidates involved in Confirmation programs make it impractical to link with some of the parishes most of the time, but there has been some discussion that, if two or more of the parishes have smaller candidate groups in a particular year, it would make sense to link Confirmation preparation programs, and possibly even the liturgy itself.
• The Christian Service and Advocacy reps from the six parishes are open to cooperating, but not all of the churches have the same types of programs…. and there are a lot of different programs in the six parishes.  Coordinating programs will take a lot of work, but they all realize that the benefits will be worth the effort.
• The Prayer and Worship committee members are reviewing their draft report which looks at linking opportunities among the six parishes with respect to each of the sacraments and some liturgies.  Possible revised Mass schedules are also a part of the report; this has been a topic of much discussion among the committee members.  The concern is how to continue to provide liturgical services with a declining number of priests (in these six parishes, four of the current pastors will be retiring within five years…..including one as of June 1 of this year).
• The six parishes in our Local Planning Group have to discuss how to present the proposed recommendations to their parishioners for consideration and comment; that discussion should take place at the next CTBC meeting early in May.  Father is considering two options: a meeting some weeknight; or having four meetings some weekend (one after each Mass).

Pastor’s Comments

• Father Farano said that there will be a School Spirit Day on June 20.  Contact Father is you are able to help out that day (or for part of the day) as a volunteer.
• Pre-K is full with over 20 students.  There is still room for about fifteen children in the kindergarten classes.
• There may be a fund-raiser for the Natale family.  Nate is doing a bit better, but the family is incurring considerable cost while he is being treated as an in-patient at a hospital in Boston.

  
Frank reviewed the Action Items from tonight’s meeting.

Frank led the closing prayer.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 21 at 7:00

Respectfully submitted,

Marlene Papa, Secretary