Frank Pugliano called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.  Tom said a short prayer, and several council members asked us to remember specific individuals who are ill.

In attendance: Brian Evers, Julianne Ruff, Jean-Baptiste Zongo, Tom Christman, Dick Connery, Frank Hughes, Mark Morrison, Harvey Bowks, Sandy Zelka, Frank Pugliano, John De Filippo, Jackie Desanti, Peter Ranalli, Fr. Farano and Marlene Papa.

Absent:  Pat Tobin, Paul Kutey, Jeanne Pitkin, Mike Rossi and Dennis Mullahy

Frank asked for comments, corrections or changes concerning the draft notes of the April meeting.  Tom made a motion to approve the minutes as drafted, and John seconded the motion.  All agreed, and the April meeting notes were approved as drafted.

Frank reviewed the Action items from the April meeting.

COMMITTEE/PROGRAM REPORTS

Discernment

A note about parish council nominations will be inserted in bulletins on the weekend of May 24-25.  Nomination forms will be placed in the pews on the weekends of May 31-June 1 and June 7-8.  Yellow envelopes will be placed at the three entrances of church for nomination forms.

There will be an informational meeting for prospective candidates on June 17.  The discernment meeting for prospective candidates is scheduled for June 25.  Frank P. requested that as many council members as possible attend the information meeting on 6/17.  He also reminded everyone that it has become increasingly difficult to find parishioners who are willing to serve on the council.  He urged each council member to identify one or more people as prospective council members, and to discuss being nominated with those people.

School Board (Tom Christman)

Tom attended the school board meeting and reported that there was discussion regarding a call line that will automatically alert all parents in the school if there is an emergency.  It is not something that would be used for school closings.  The system is expensive, and is under consideration.

School board elections were held.
Science scores were excellent on 7th and 8th grade tests.
A fund-raising golf outing is scheduled for July 14.  There will also be a tennis tournament in conjunction with the outing.

Finance (Mark Morrison)

Mark distributed summaries of income and expenses for the church and the school, and provided details concerning that information.  He then responded to several questions from council members.

One question that came up concerned the number of blank spaces in the advertising section of the weekly bulletin.  This is very unusual.  Father Farano said that some of that is due to the fact that we are behind a bit in updating/renewing accounts.  Some consideration is being given to turning the advertising section over to an outside contractor to coordinate advertising sales and revenue collection.

Frank thanked Mark and the other members of the Finance Committee for all of the good work they do on behalf of the parish.

Parish Survey

Dr. Don Levy of the Siena Research Institute will be attending the June meeting to present the results and findings of the recently-completed survey to council members.  There were 1,164 responses to the survey (an excellent 51% response rate).  Frank said that some results and comments are very interesting, and mostly very positive.  When council meetings resume in September, council members will have to begin discussing what actions to take to follow-up on the issues identified in the survey results.

Called to BE Church

The four committees established in our Local Planning Group (Administration and Finance; Christian Service and Advocacy; Faith Formation; and Prayer and Worship) have drafted a number of recommendations.  Those recommendations were boiled down to one summary page for each committee, and the summaries will be made available to all parishioners as a bulletin insert on the weekend of May 24-25.

We will hold meetings for parishioners in the parish hall after each Mass on the weekend of May 31-June 1.  At those meetings, parishioners will be asked for their comments concerning the draft recommendations.  Substantive comments will be brought back to the respective committee for consideration before the recommendations are finalized and presented to Bishop Hubbard (due date for a final report to the bishop is July 1, 2008).

Pastor’s Comments

Father’s only comment was to thank everyone who was involved for their yeoman work on the Corpus Christi celebration.

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Frank reviewed the Action Items from tonight’s meeting.

Frank led the closing prayer.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, June 18 at 7:00 (preceded by dinner at 6:30)

Respectfully submitted,

Marlene Papa, Secretary