St. Francis de Sales/St. Michael the Archangel Combined
Pastoral Council Meeting
January 14, 2014
Present: Fr. Phil Salmonowicz, Remster Bingham, Linda Griffith, Howard Bard, Joe Pallas, Kiersten Haines, Hazel Johnson, Joe VanLinden, Marti Oosdyke, Pat McKeown, Rob Bridges
Absent: Bob Stapleton, Rosemary, Jeff Hellman
Opening Prayer was led by Bucky Bingham
Minutes: St. Francis/St. Michael – 11/7/2013 – Minutes were reviewed and approved.
Updates:
· TMIY (That Man is You)
o Pat was very excited to report he had spoken with the National coordinator again and things are going very well. TMIY is scheduled to start back up Feb. 3rd.
o They have been averaging 35 to 50 men every week
· Wednesday Adoration
o Spectacular turn out, every hour has been filled
o 35 to 40 people
· Gospel of Matthew Bible Study
o The Monday sessions officially started this week; roughly 30 people so far, The Thursday session had 35 or more last week.
Round Table Discussions:
· New Parish Formation (see St. Patrick & St. Anthony Parish) – Fr. Phil & Pat
o Fr. Phil and Pat have been benchmarking St. Patrick and St. Anthony to see what we can learn from them.
o They have an organizational structure with leaders of different areas that report back to the Pastor to disseminate some of the responsibility and help provide services more efficiently.
o They had the paid parish staff goe through a personality profile exercise to help them learn how they may be able to interact better with each other.
o They study their stewardship once per year to help define strengths and weaknesses.
o Fr. Phil asked for volunteers to be on a committee to work on this further.
§ Bucky and Hazel volunteered
· Marriage Retreat and/or class – Fr. Phil
o Fr. Phil found 3 programs on marriage enrichment
o He asked for volunteers to form a small group to review and determine if one or more of these will work for the parish. Not all the team members have to be from the Pastoral Council.
§ Kiersten said her parents may be interested in participating
§ Linda volunteered
· Serving our older youth (25-35) – All
o The idea is to focus on singles specifically
o Much discussion ensued
o The discussion can be broken down to (3) age groups
o 15 to 18 – Antioch
o 19 to 24 – Post Antioch/College
§ There is a disconnect at the end of Antioch and after they graduate from High School
o 25 to 35 – Young singles post college
§ There is really nothing focused on this age group today
o Bucky shared an experience he had with a men’s group ages 20 to 30 that met for social activities and also did fund raisers and supported a Homeless Boy’s charity.
o Theology on Tap was geared toward that age range
o Everyone agreed it would be important to have some kind of social spin to whatever we did
o A common theme was what do they need and how can we provide it?
o Joe V. described a Young Professionals group that meets regularly at his work
§ Special presentations are made usually associated with a social activity
§ Fr. said talks need to be about real life choices they face every dayn
§ Sporting events may be a good idea too
· Golf outings or Golf League
· Volleyball at the beach
· Co-ed softball, etc….
o Mike Tober is making presentations in Grand Rapids, Bucky will speak with him
o Begin with a social media type roll out
o What else can we do with social media?
o Bucky, Rob, Kiersten, Joe P., and Howard volunteered to help study the issue
§ Maybe Mandy and Katy Welch would be interested too
§ Joe V. will ask his 25 year old son Matt to contact Rob and share his ideas
§ Bucky and Rob will take the leadership role in this area and report back to Fr. Phil
· Joe P. and Kiersten spoke to the Antioch group
o The Antioch group is hoping more contemporary music can be worked in
§ Maybe have a contemporary mass once or twice per month
· Dan had a group going but musicians were not able to sustain the commitment
§ Fr. would prefer to have the youth do it
o A suggestion was made that some type of kneelers be available for those that choose to kneel for communion
· Family Promise of the Lakeshore – Pat
o Ecumenical program to help families to get on their feet after some catastrophe
§ They provide a short term place to stay a few days to a week
o Prince of Peace is involved already
o Rob said Liz Traska from MCC is a volunteer
o Pat suggested we start out as a support group
§ Help financially to start
· We took a vote to ask the Financial Council if we can donate $100 once per month to this cause
· Vote was a unanimous yes
o fp-lakeshore.org web site
Day of Prayer – Wednesday 1/22/2014 – Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade:
· All Day Adoration
· Rosary at 5:30PM – Fr. Phil
· Mass at 6:00PM
o Fr. Phil will announce to parish we will have our own day of prayer
Questions/Comments – All
· Catholic Schools week is coming up soon
· Fr. Phil is meeting with the Ministry in Spirituality committee for Lent next Tuesday
o Fr. is looking for something similar to Word Among Us that may provide… something more
o He is looking for maybe a speaker to come in and make a presentation
o He is open for suggestions
o Some people missed the interactive stations provided in past years
Closing Prayer – Fr. Phil
Future Meeting Dates
Combined – March 6, 2014 Joint Meeting at St. Michael
Respectfully submitted,
Joe VanLinden