ST. PIUS X PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL The meeting was called to order by Frank P. at 7:05 PM. Tom Christman led the prayer. In attendance : Jackie DeSanti, Sandy Zelka, John DeFilippo, Frank Hughes, Mike Rossi, Paul Kutey, Julianne Ruff, Jean-Baptiste Zongo, Tom Christman, Harvey Bowks, Joe Tamer, Dick Connery, Frank Pugliano, Father Farano, Dennis Mullahy Absent: Pat Tobin, Marlene Papa, Peter Ranalli, Jeanne Pitkin, Brian Evers Frank P. said that Tom had asked to speak about Circles of Mercy and Emmaus House. Those items were added to the agenda under “New Business”. October Minutes Harvey mentioned that the note incorrectly reported that he made comments about the St. Pius math program at the October meeting. The notes should have referred to John, who stated only that, in his experience, St. Pius students were behind students from other schools in math skills when they reached Shaker HS. In reference to the October meeting notes about math scores, Father Farano said that we do not compare St. Pius X School to any public schools, but that we prepare our students well to go to any school. Dennis has met with people from Shaker to be sure that the needs of our students are being met. Father is proud of our math program, and has complete confidence in the school faculty and the math program. With respect to October notes about the break-in, Father said that, except for the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts (which are not parish organizations), all other groups have parish accounts that are overseen by the parish business manager. October Action Items Frank P. reviewed the Action Items from the October meeting. COMMITTEE REPORTS School Board: Marlene attended the November school board meeting, but she was absent tonight, and could not give us a report of the meeting. Sister Parishes UPDATES Parish Survey On October 23, Dr. Don Levy of the Siena Research Institute facilitated a focus group session with thirteen parishioners from St. Pius. Dr. Levy was very pleased with the energy of the group and with the responses he received to the questions that were presented to the meeting participants. He hopes to have a second focus group session on November 27; registered parishioners who we believe no longer come to St. Pius, or who are not involved in parish life will be invited to this meeting. Joe spoke about ways to identify young families to become active parishioners. He says that younger Catholics have different ideas of “belonging”. Frank spoke briefly about the November meeting, which focused on lay leaders in parishes. There is no December CTBC meeting; monthly meetings will resume in January. Sandy noted that the next series of meetings will be “turning the corner”, in that these meetings will result in specific recommendations to Bishop Hubbard concerning the six parishes in our local planning group. Paul said that many people may not be ready to accept the forthcoming changes. As an example, he cited the church closings and mergers in Watervliet, and the reactions of the parishioners in those churches. Joe talked about the planning experiences of parishes in the Syracuse area, where people had very little input in the process. There was a discussion about the fact that most parishioners at St. Pius don’t seem to have any real sense of what is happening in the CTBC process, or about the fact that there is a very real possibility that changes will have to be made at St. Pius, as well as at other parishes in the area (for example, the expectation is that, within a few years, there will be only five priests for the six parishes in our local planning group). We talked a bit about what we can do to inform our people about what has taken place so far with CTBC, and what we can do to impress on them the seriousness of the discussions that will be held between January and June. A suggestion was made to use more town hall meetings (the way we began the CTBC process) to inform everyone. Frank P. said that he is scheduling a meeting of our CTBC representatives and guidance team members to discuss this important issue; parish council members will also be invited to that meeting. Break-in Father talked about the recent break-in, and described what steps have been taken to secure the building. NEW BUSINESS Christian Works and Service Tom spoke about being approached to help out both Circles of Mercy, which has sixty-eight needy families, and Emmaus House which also has needy families. We already have more than 900 tags on our Giving Tree, but Father and Tom will discuss this further. Proposed Amendment to the Council Constitution Frank P. introduced a proposal to amend Part 11 of the council constitution. The proposal will be discussed at the December meeting. Movie “The Golden Compass” This soon-to-be-released movie (December 7) is based on the first of a trilogy of books aimed at pre-teens and teens, that were written by a self-proclaimed atheist. The books have generated a great deal of controversy because, in the third book, God is destroyed. We discussed whether or not we should provide information to parishioners about this movie, because many parents may not be aware of the issues related to the movie and the author of the books on which it is based. Father said that he is usually inclined to not make any more of an issue of things like this than is necessary, because it may result in more people seeing the movie than would otherwise. But he will check with the “Evangelist” to find out if they have a position on this movie, and will then decide if it warrants making a statement to parishioners about it. Annual Financial Report Paul reviewed the annual financial report that was printed in the most recent edition of the parish newsletter. Review of Action Items: NEXT MEETING: December 19 at 7 pm (annual council Christmas party; remember to bring whatever you volunteered for) Frank P. closed with a prayer. Respectfully submitted, Jackie DeSanti
NOVEMBER 14, 2007
November “Called To BE Church” Meeting
A point was made that one good thing that has come out of the meetings so far is that the six parishes in our local planning group have begun to develop a sense that we are not six individual parishes, but that we are really the Catholic Community of Colonie.