The meeting was called to order by Frank P. at 7:00 PM.  Frank led the opening prayer.

In attendance: Dick Connery, Tom Christman, Paul Kutey, Jackie DeSanti, Jean-Baptiste Zongo, Mike Rossi, Harvey Bowks, John DeFilippo, Frank Hughes, Joe Tamer, Frank Pugliano, Peter Ranalli, Marlene Papa, Pat Tobin and Sandy Zelka.  Also attending: Sue Wagner – parishioner and St. Pius X School parent

Absent: Fr. Farano, Brian Evers, Mark Morrison, Dennis Mullahy, Julianne Ruff and Jeanne Pitkin

Tom Christman made a motion to approve the minutes from the September meeting, as drafted.  Joe Tamer seconded, and all approved.

Frank P. reviewed the Action Notes from the September meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

All reports received before the meeting were e-mailed to members for review.

• No report was provided for Prayer and Worship, but a committee meeting will be held on October 23.
• Ministry Fair – No numbers or statistics were kept, but the turnout was light. Several people have suggested that the next Ministry Fair be held in conjunction with the annual parish picnic.
• Mom’s Group – six people expressed interest at the Ministry Fair.  Organizer Gayle Bouchard says that meetings will be held on the first and third Thursday mornings of each month in the front half of the parish center (not an ideal location, but the group will see how it works out).  Information about the group will be posted in bulletin.
• School Board Report (Harvey Bowks)
• Winter’s Night Out (annual fund raiser) was discussed.
• Math scores in the school are a concern for the board.  This year the scores have improved.

[Harvey] John, who has had children attend the school, said that, when his children moved on to Shaker from St. Pius, the students from St. Pius were behind other kids at Shaker in their math skills.  A question was asked as to whether or not the teachers at St. Pius follow the same curriculum as North Colonie schools.  The answer is “yes”.

Addendum:  At the November 14 council meeting, Fr. Farano stated that the math program at St. Pius school is fine, and that he has complete confidence in the school program and the teachers.

UPDATES

Parish Survey  Fr. Farano, Nancy Uruskyj, Tom, Pat and Frank P. met with Dr. Don Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute (SRI).  A decision was made to have the SRI conduct two focus groups sessions, with 6–12 parishioners participating in each session.  The sessions are scheduled for October 23 and 25, and will help SRI staff determine what questions should be asked in a telephone survey of St. Pius parishioners that SRI will conduct in January, 2008.  The cost of this initiative will be $8,000.

In Fr. Farano’s absence, Fr. Walsh suggested a number of people as possible participants; Nancy and Frank identified other candidates, at random, from the list of registered parishioners.  Frank sent letters of invitation to fifty-four parishioners inviting them to attend a focus group session (Dr. Levy said that we should send that many invitations to get the number of participants that we need).  All comments at the focus group sessions will be recorded, without attribution, and will be treated as confidential by SRI staff.  All recorded comments will be destroyed when the survey is completed.

Joe commented that many parents, whose children attend the school, do not belong to our parish, so if we are using only the parish envelope list to build our query list, we may be missing a significant part of our constituency.  He suggests that, when we do the parish survey, we make an effort to include in some way the parents of the children in the parish school.  His understanding is that as many as half of the parents of these children are not from our parish, are not practicing Catholics, or are occasionally practicing Catholics.  Because these people are right under our noses, they might be the easiest group to make significant headway with in our efforts to bring back to the church those who do not actively practice their faith.

Addendum:  At the November 14 council meeting, Fr. Farano stated that the survey is intended to focus on our parish and our parishioners.  He is much more concerned with what St. Pius parishioners think than he is with what non-parishioner parents of children in our school may think.

Additional Handicapped Parking Spaces

Jackie contacted the Town of Colonie concerning regulations with respect to the size of handicapped parking spaces.  There was discussion about placing temporary signs identifying extra parking with the same size parking spots we have in the lots.  When the parking lot is re-surfaced in 2008, lines can be added to properly identify the additional handicapped parking spaces.

Proposed Amendments to the Council Constitution

No parishioners were at the meeting to discuss the proposed amendments.  The council members did not have any questions or comments (members had discussed the proposed changes at the September meeting).

There being no discussion, John DeFilippo made a motion to approve the three proposed amendments, as drafted.  Tom seconded the motion and all approved.  Frank P will send make the changes, and will forward a copy of the revised version to all council members by e-mail.  The updated constitution will also be posted on the parish web page.

NEW BUSINESS

Christian Works and Service

Tom thanked Sandy for the seventeen boxes of her mother’s yarn that Sandy had donated to Sr. Mavis’s prayer shawl program.

With the monthly food collection coming up this weekend, Tom mentioned that Sr. Sarah from the food pantry is in need of chunky soups.  He also said that two food drives are in progress: one conducted by the school; and one conducted by the Boy Scouts.

Break-in of Parish Offices

After midnight on October 14 someone broke into the [music room] church and then some of the parish offices.  At this point, an undetermined amount of cash and checks is missing.  The police have identified two or three persons of interest based on similar thefts that have taken place in the area, but so far no one has been arrested.

Council members asked a number of questions, including: are our security measures adequate; is it common to have money (cash and checks) on-hand in parish offices; if so, how long are checks and cash held in the parish and school offices; do we have procedures/policies pertaining to depositing money that is taken in by the church and school; if so, are those policies/procedures followed; do our policies/procedures have to be improved?

Sue Wagner, a St. Pius X School parent, came to the meeting to participate in this discussion, and expressed several concerns:

• that checks she gives to the school are not always deposited in a timely manner (in at least one case, a check provided in April was not deposited until mid-summer).
• she does not know if a check that she had recently placed in a metal box outside the school office was among those stolen.
• does everyone who handles money that comes in to the school and parish know what to do with it when they receive it?

In Fr. Farano’s absence, Paul (co-chair of the Finance Committee) responded to all of the above the questions and concerns that.  Other points were also discussed:

• checks and cash received during collections at the Masses over the weekend of October 6-7 were deposited prior to the break-in, but mail was also stolen from the parish office, and there may have been contribution checks in that mail;
• identity theft is a major concern for parishioners (because of the personal and banking information that is printed on checks);
• John mentioned that most parish organizations are required to give all funds they collect to the parish business manager, but that the Boy Scouts do not do that; they have their own accounts.

Paul is trying to arrange a meeting with the other members of the Finance Committee to assess the situation.

Everyone agrees that we should take whatever steps we can (for example, increased security in the building) to try to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.

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Next Meeting: November 14 at 7:00 pm

Frank P. closed the meeting with a prayer.

Marlene Papa