SJN Parish Council Minutes – November 21, 2016

In Attendance: Fr. Colavito, Joe Daverso, Tony Rodrigues, Ann Fredrick, Mark Hughson, Mike Miller, Mary Ann Cerwonka, Robert Johnston, Frank Grochal, Karen Tordy, Donna Weldon, Al Van Sciver, Tess Rubino, Sara Moynihan

Guests: Rick Cerwonka

Shari Zavodnick

Linda and John Nasuti

Our meeting began with a prayer.

Octoberminutes were approved by council.

Old Business:

  1. Constitution/Bylaws Changes: Still pending
  1. Faith in the Future: Fr. Pfleger has a diner meeting with the council and Bishopson the proposal and timeline. January 6th the bishops will arrive at a decision for all parishes. This will move very quickly.
  1. Youth Ministry: The retreat was great. Upcoming BOLD event dates:

12/16 - Middle School at SJN

12/20 – High School at SIJ

In January there will be meetings 2 times a month due to the interest.

  1. Handicap Seating: Officially has been implemented. There are three front pews on the Tabernacle side of the church and two pews at the back of the church closest to the foyer. Eucharistic Ministers will be distributing Holy Communion to the reserved pews in the back of the church first, and then to the reserved pews in front of the church.

Mike will inform the Ushers regarding these new procedures and how to work the communion line on that side of the church.

  1. Collection processors: We received some good input from the new volunteers. This is still on-going.
  1. Ushers: On-going. We had a family sign up at the ministry fair along with two individuals, but we need more volunteers. The 11:30 Mass is a big issue.
  1. Liturgy Committee: Fr. Colavito will hold a discussion on: “The Mass: Why We Do What We Do” on December 6th at 7pm.There may or may not be a penitential Mass on 12/18, decision is still pending. We will be doing a St. John Neumann Novena starting January 5th, 2017. There will be a pre-Lenten mission for 4 nights starting on January 29, 2017.

We have schedule 40 Hours Devotion March 13-16, 2017. This will not be a perpetual 40 hours but 10 hours every day with solemn evening prayer and benediction.

Fr. Colavito is planning to hold a formal installation of new Extraordinary Ministers with an official issuing of a mandatum, which is a card identifying SJN as the parish they are permitted to serve.

  1. Fall Ministry Fair: Overall it was a great job. We may consider having one on a semi-annual basis.
  1. Social Activities: SJNs assets are the hall and parking facilities. The kitchen is not up to code. The building committee will look into getting estimates for possible upgrades. Fr. Pfleger wants the hall to be more utilized. We have set aside Friday, February 17, 2017 on the church calendar for a Valentine’s Day Dance. Mary Ann added we have “Jack the Music Man” and suggested we could have a big heart for the entrance and set up banquet style. But we need volunteers to get it going.

Mike met with the SIJ PC Chair, Margaret. She volunteered to help us obtain licensing for events, if needed.

  1. Parish Census: on hold right now. Mark will follow up with the overall security question Fr. Pfleger had with Survey Monkey and how secure it is. It should be ready to roll out for February, 2017.
  1. Digital sign: It is becoming a priority. Mike needs to get proposals.
  1. Proposed Sunday Mass Schedule: With Fr. Charles leaving 12/18 from SIJ, there will only be two Diocesan priests remaining. We want to make sure we have enough coverage for the Mass schedule.
  1. Establishing a Sister parish Relationship in Panama: Frank Falcone will come to a PC meeting possibly in January to discuss how we can get this going for our parish.
  1. Movie night: waiting for a projector.
  1. SJN Website: Minutes from the PC will be published on our website. Donna will contact the office to set this up.
  1. Parish Financial Statement: Audit has been completed. Before the financial statement can be published to the parish it must be approved.

New Business:

There will be no December meeting.

Preparation for the PC Elections for the one term members needs to start in January. Joe will look at this process and get it going.

Tony handed out an updated Parish Org & Ministries spreadsheet. There were no changes or comments.

Round Table/Public Comments:

Karen: The Divine Mercy group reported they received new members from the ministry fair. Their feedback was that it was great and they will be more prepared for the next one.

The Parent Community Association (PCA) scheduled a Pancake Breakfast with Santa on 12/3/16, in the parish hall. The PCA had their first Fellowship Sunday and although it was not very well publicized, they had a very good turnout. They feel that a small announcement from the altar would be very helpful just letting everyone know they are welcome. Also, the PCA will be holding Fellowship Sunday every month.

Joe: The Pre-Cana class went great. There were 30 couples and they had great feedback.

Frank: For the new Usher sign-ups, no one wanted to commitment to a specific Mass on a weekly basis. We need to get some anchor points.

Fr. Colavito: There will be a pizza party on December 16, 2016 for the Altar Servers. He will also take this time to go over new instructions for the Mass.

Our next meeting: Monday, January 16, 2017 at 7:00 PM.