Present: Jackie DeSanti, Tracy Coffey, Rudy Paulsen, Jean Baptiste Zongo, Peter Ranalli, Steve Morgan, Frank Hughes, Frank Pugliano, Sandy Zelka, Father Farano, Paul Kutey

Absent: Dennis Mullahy, Jeanne Pitkin, Brian Evers, Dan Slavin ,Julianne Ruff, Tom Christman, Pat Tobin, Marlene Papa, Joe Tamer

Frank P. called the meeting to order at 7:00, and opened with a prayer.

April Meeting Minutes – Tracy made a motion to accept the April minutes, as drafted; seconded by Sandy. The minutes were approved as drafted, with all in favor.

Frank reviewed the Action Items from the April meeting.

Committee Reports

No one had any questions or comments concerning any of the reports that had been previously distributed to members via e-mail.

Discernment Committee

Nine nominations were received. At least five candidates (for four vacancies) are confirmed to participate in the discernment meeting, which will be held on June 5, with Sister Monica Murphy as facilitator. An information meeting for candidates will be conducted on May 23.

No members of the council expressed interest in serving in an officer position. Consequently, no discernment meeting is needed for officer positions. The 06-07 officers (Frank Pugliano, president; Jackie DeSanti, vice-president; and Marlene Papa, secretary) will all remain in their respective positions for 07-08. Sandy Zelka will remain as member-at-large, and join the three officers on the executive committee.

Updates

Parish Census – A diocesan staff member referred Tom to Father Noone at St. Francis de Sales. Tom found out that St. Francis updates their parish data twice a year, using in-pew forms. They solicit the information at Christmas time and when they collect for the Bishop’s Appeal.

Sunday Morning “Drop-in” – Brian Evers and Judy Ranalli will work on this, and will identify “leaders” in the fall when Religious Ed resumes.

Weekday Parent Group – Gayle Bouchard has contacted a few people to get reactions to this proposal. She is also willing to take the lead in getting this proposed program started.

The council members agree that the front half of the parish center may be the most feasible place for a parents group (with children) to meet.

Fire Lane Parking – There was a bulletin announcement two weeks ago, and so far there hasn’t been much change; parishioners are still parking in marked “fire lane” areas. Father wants to continue advising people of the need to avoid parking in the fire lanes. Pulpit announcements, to be read by lectors at the end of Mass, will continue for a while.

“Called To BE Church”

The topic for the May meeting was “Life Long Faith Formation”, with an emphasis on adults.

Frank P. said that Sister Anne Bryan Smollin began the meeting by acknowledging the frustrations that meeting participants are feeling at trying to cover too much in too little time at each meeting. She urged patience and cohesiveness.

The participants worked on an exercise that required them to decide how to spend $500 for an adult faith formation initiative. The fact that all of the parish reps agreed with the concept of working together and pooling their resources in this exercise, reinforced the need for our six parishes to do the same thing on a continuing basis in the future.

Near the end of the meeting, a decision was made to immediately put together a work group of representatives from each parish to do two things: identify faith formation issues with respect to junior high school and high school students; and make recommendations to address the issues that the group identifies. Fr. Tom Konopka (yes, our own Fr. Konopka) will facilitate the group’s sessions, which he expects will take about eight months. Brian Evers and Judy Ranalli will represent St. Pius at the group’s first meeting, scheduled for June 7.

Frank reminded everyone that all information about “Called To BE Church”, from the beginning town hall meetings to the present, is posted on the parish web page.

Amendment of Parish Pastoral Council Constitution

Changes to the constitution had been proposed at the April meeting, and had been printed in the bulletin to advise parishioners of the proposed changes. No parishioners were in attendance to comment on the changes.

After minimal discussion, the discerned members present (8 members) voted to adopt the changes or to turn them down. All of the proposed changes were approved unanimously.

Thanks to Paul Kutey for all of the time and work he invested in reviewing the constitution and determining what changes to propose.

New Business

A parishioner contacted Frank P. to express concern about how the cross at the left-rear of the sanctuary is decorated for Easter (it is draped with a yellow cloth and adorned with white flowers).

The members of the council recognize that the church makes a distinction between a cross and a crucifix. A crucifix depicts the body of Christ (the corpus), while a cross does not. If a crucifix was not present in the sanctuary, then the members of the council would agree that the decorated cross would not be appropriate. However, as required, a crucifix is present in the sanctuary (the one that hangs from the ceiling over the altar). And, during Mass, a second crucifix is also present in the sanctuary; that is the one that is brought into the sanctuary in the procession at the beginning of Mass.

That being the case, the decorated cross is not intended to be a crucifix that is required in the sanctuary. It is intended only as a symbol of the Risen Christ during the Easter season, but it is there in addition to the crucifix that is permanently in place over the altar. Consequently, the consensus of the council is that the appearance of the cross is appropriate and liturgically proper.

Frank P. will advise the parishioner of the council’s determination.

Mission of the Contemporary Parish (Part 6)

Frank P. distributed separate notes concerning this discussion.
President’s Comments

• Frank P. reminded everyone about the “Ministry Appreciation Night” on May 22, and asked all council members to try to attend.
• He also reminded everyone about the Discernment Info Night on May 23 and, again, asked all council members to try to attend.
• Religious Ed is losing some teachers, so Frank encouraged the council members to consider becoming a teacher, and to mention it to others. Anyone who is interested in becoming a Religious Ed teacher has to attend a VIRTUS training program first.
• (Tracy mentioned that her summer camp for exceptional children has openings for campers, counselors and aides.)
• Frank said a special “thanks” to Tracy, Rudy, Tom and Steve for their service to the parish by being on the Council. Steve spoke about how he represented “the masses” of parishioners. He expressed his continued concern about discernment versus election.

Pastor’s Comments

• Father also thanked our departing members for their service and dedication to the council. He hopes that members will continue to freely speak their minds and express their opinions at meetings.
• The school will be getting new windows. The windows to be replaced (except for those in the wing constructed in 1992) are from 1954 (upper school) and 1959 (lower school)!
• Returns for the Bishop’s Appeal are still coming in and being counted. Paul said that some effort should be made to make parishioners aware that their employers may make matching gifts to the Bishop’s Appeal.

Frank P reviewed Action Items from this meeting.

Frank P. led the council in a closing prayer.

NEXT MEETING --- WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 at 6:30.

NOTE: Dinner will be served before the June meeting as a thank you to our retiring council members, and as a welcome to our new members. Please let Jackie Desanti know if you will be in attendance so we will know how much food to order from Genoa’s.

Respectfully submitted,
Jackie DeSanti (for Marlene Papa)
May 25, 2007