Sts. Peter & Paul
Pastoral Council Meeting
January 5th, 2017
6:00 p.m. in Family Room
Those in attendance:
Father Tony Jill Peterek Margaret Poling
Deacon Rusty Curt Hand Herbert Strunk
Patrick Mattingly Juanita Lopez
Toby Gualandri Lidia Rodriguez Peter Hudson Dan Bumbernick
Darla Strawther Richard Pedraza
Mike Senneway
Those not in attendance:
Mario Silva Bob Stewart
Greg Machalec
I. Opening Prayer – Father Tony read words from St. Catherine of Sienna where she speaks about God being the ‘Eternal Gardener’. Each of us is a vineyard, joined to our neighbors. When we do evil and good, we affect our neighbor. We are all connected to the “ultimate Vine”, Jesus Christ, and we are grafted to that “Vine” through the Church.
II. Reviewed Minutes of the December Meeting – Lidia noted one correction in Section VII on last page, “ACTS” was miss-spelled as “SCTS”. Motion to adopt the minutes as presented with the one correction noted was made and seconded, respectively, by Patrick Mattingly and Toby Gualandri. Motion passed.
III. Welcome New Members- Father Tony had each council member, both new and continuing, introduce themselves.
IV. Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman- Mike Senneway was re-elected as Chairman and Patrick Mattingly was elected as Vice-Chairman, both by acclamation,
V. Ministry Assignments- Open ministries were assigned to the four new members and two continuing members who elected to accept new assignments.
VI. Ministry Reports-
A. Herbert Strunk
1. Catholic Daughters: No report.
2. Eucharistic Adoration: No report.
3. Knights of Columbus: No report.
B. Greg Machalec
1. Parish Choirs: No report
2. Lectors: No report.
3. Eucharistic Ministers: No report.
4. Thrift Store: No report.
C. Mario Silva
1. Youth Ministry: No report.
2. Couples Prayer: No report.
3. Ushers and Greeters (Hospitality Ministry): No report.
4. Little Flowers: No report.
D. Patrick Mattingly
1. Men’s ACTS:
- Men’s ACTS ‘Coffee W/Christ’ December 10.
o 17 attendedes.
o Matt Dirienzo presented a talk on the true meaning of Christmas using the Charlie Brown video.
o Deacon Gorman presented a talk on Advent.
o Core Team members were asked to sign up for a particular month to talk or find a speaker for the meeting.
o Next Coffee w/Christ is Saturday, January 28.
- Men’s ACTS Core Team Meeting, December 20.
o Shaun Gibson spoke on “What Does It Mean to be a Catholic Man”.
o Mike Norris discussed final plans for the Matthew Kelley “Resisting Happiness” Christmas book giveaway for December 24 & 25 at all Masses. Volunteer sign-up sheet to distribute the books circulated.
o Our Lady of Fatima 100 Year Anniversary all-day event scheduled for May 17, 2017 in St. Mary’s Hall was discussed in detail. Featured speakers: Deacon John Schwartz; Deacon Bob Gorman; Deacon Rusty Brandt; with Craig Zgabay as event MC. Attendance goal is 400.
o Fullness of Truth event Friday evening December 1 and All Day Saturday December 2, 2017 is taking more shape.
o Next meeting Tuesday, January 24, 6:30p – 8:00p
2. Rachel’s Journey (formerly Project Rachel):
- Next retreat is scheduled for Saturday, January 14.
- Next Team meeting is Wednesday, January 18 @ 6:45p.
- An article with photo’s of the “Monument to Life” dedication ceremony was submitted to Today’s Catholic for the late December issue but was messed up by the paper. They plan on rerunning it in January.
3. Gardening Angels:
- All Gardening Ministry volunteers with an assigned area have been advised to keep track of their areas and attend as necessary until early spring when there will be new information on how to proceed.
- Tom and his boys worked around the church Thursday, December 22 as a final spruce up before Christmas.
4. Disaster Relief : No report.
5. Pro-Life: Pro Life Mass was Wednesday, December 28, which was the Feast Day of the Holy Innocents, at 6pm at OLPH.
E. Lidia Rodriguez
1. Gabriel Project:
- December started with wonderful Christmas Volunteer Reception hosted by the Parish staff at St. Joseph’s Hall on December 1. Volunteers enjoyed fantastic food and fun with fellow parishioners. Thank you to Father Tony and Deacon Rusty and the parish staff for such an awesome Christmas party!
- Al and Catherine Fricke represented our Gabriel Project and attended the first ever Gala for The Gabriel Project of San Antonio on Friday, December 9.
- December was quiet, except for our two Christmas Parties that were held on December 19. We had our annual Gabriel Christmas party for Volunteers in the morning and then our Christmas party for Gabriel families in the afternoon. The Holy Spirit House was too small for all the families to come at once for a Christmas party. We will look into reserving a hall at church for next Christmas.
- The Hotline was very quiet during the month of December. There were only 34 calls to the hotline for the entire month of December!
- Plans are being made for “Mark Your Door for Mary” Campaign 2017! Ron Daskevich is heading up that effort and doing all the behind the scenes work before the big weekend on Jan. 21, 22, 2017.
- The Gabriel Project is helping Matt Schima with reserving passenger seats for the bus ride to the Texas Rally for Life in Austin on Saturday, January 28, 2017. Matt is a Board Member for San Antonio Coalition for Life.
2. St. Anne’s Christian Mothers and Alter Society: Nice send off for long time member Rose Schultz in December. Our Honor guard numbered 30 or more.
3. Welcome Committee-Ministry Awareness Weekend: No report.
4. Women’s ACTS: No report.
F. Bob Stewart
1. Lending Library: No report
2. Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School Charitable Trust: No report.
3. Scouts:
Troop 163: No report
Cub Scouts: No report.
4. Catholic Alliance: No report
G. Toby Gualandri
1. Divine Mercy Cenacle: No report.
2. Divine Mercy Chaplet: No report
3. Helping Hands:
HOLIDAY OUTREACH SUMMARY - DECEMBER 2016-
FAMLIES – 75
Children - 212
Children without sponsors/Extra gifts – $1,558.20
HEB food for baskets – $685.00
HEB gift cards for baskets – $2,825.00
Veteran’s Meal - $100
4. Family Promise:
- Fourth family will be added to the program soon and possibly another family will be graduating from the program in the near future.
- Kate Proff and Erin York will be recruiting more volunteers in preparation of Sts. Peter & Paul parish host weeks in 2017. They have a flyer that they will distribute.
- Upcoming Events:
February 12-19 - Next host week
February 12 - Volunteer Appreciation dinner at Hill Country Resort. This is at the
start of our host week.
May 7-14 - Host week
H. Juanita Lopez
1. Archives: No report.
2. Saints Peter and Paul School: No report.
3. Sick and Homebound: No report.
4. God’s Healing Love: No report.
I. Curt Hand
1. Bible Study: Three of the Bible Study groups that will be starting new topics in January. Two will be studying Galatians, don’t have a topic for the third. The other two studies are continuing their yearlong study of the Bible timeline.
2. RCIA: Total is holding at 51 adults and about 12 youth for Holy Saturday.
3. CCD: Elementary enrollment is now up to 767. We’ll be finishing first confession preparation this month with a retreat on Sat. Jan 14, interviews spread out over the next three days and First Confessions celebrated on Jan 17 and 19. Approximately 225 will be celebrating their first confessions. Communion preparation begins at the end of the month.
4. Catholics for Freedom of Religion:
- Conducted annual "Keep Christ in Christmas" magnet, decal and yard sign sales at OLPH, Holy Family and Sts. Peter & Paul. It was another successful fundraiser, allowing us to provide educational materials and nationally known speakers for the benefit of parish and the greater New Braunfels community.
- Helped promote and sponsor the 4th annual Keep Christ in Christmas musical, held at the Brauntex Theatre on Sunday December 18. The Sts Peter & Paul adult choir did an excellent job and the entire program was wonderful, a truly fitting celebration of the birth of our Savior.
- At 7 PM, Saturday, January 14, in St. Mary's Hall, CFFR is hosting a presentation by a national expert on religious freedom. Speaker will be Mr. Michael Berry, Esq. (see bio attached) the Senior Counsel and Director of Military Affairs for First Liberty Institute, America's premier pro-bono religious liberty law firm. Mr. Berry is one of the top religious liberty attorneys in the country and an expert on religious freedom in the military. The attached flyer will be an insert in the January 8 church bulletin.
J. Peter Hudson
1. PTC: No report.
2. Marriage Encounter: No report.
3. Bereavement: No report.
4. CYO: Renovation of the entry-way leading up to the gym is about 2/3 complete.
Basketball: Season is in full swing with a majority of the teams doing very well.
Volleyball: No report.
Baseball: No report.
K. Jill Peterek
1. Healing Ministry: No report.
2. Rosary Guild: No report.
3. Prison Visits: No report.
4. SOS Food Bank: No report.
VII. Father Tony Comments
- Father commented on the very well done Christmas program at the school. It was non-secular and very reverent. Father encouraged council members to make a point to congratulate the teachers and administrators on the program.
- Catholic Schools week is upcoming.
- Father brought up the Christmas Eve masses. There is much congestion with two masses simultaneously at the church and the hall. Parking is a big issue as well as noise.
Father floated the idea of having the hall mass move to the Knights of Columbus hall. The advantages would be plenty of parking, better sound system, less congestion, and more room.
Council members commented that the current situation is too crowded. Some were concerned that people may not go to the hall which would only exasperate attendance at the church.
An alternate idea was offered to have masses at the church (only) at 3, 5, and 7. Some commented that there is no guarantee attendance would distribute evenly and we still may have the crowding and noise problem.
Father asked the council to talk over the problem with parishioners and think about solutions for future consideration.
- Father encouraged new members to bring forth “all you hear”, both good and bad. He wants to know what parishioners think!
- Father thanked the departing council members for their dedicated service over the last three years.
VIII. Other Business:
- Deacon Rusty noted that the Neumann center choir from Iowa would present a concert on Thursday, 1/12 at 7PM at the church. He highly recommended the group.
- Patrick Mattingly may do an article on Mr. Berry and the Pro-life ministry for Today’s Catholic. He also encouraged new members to bring forth articles about ministry activities that he can submit on behalf of the parish.
- The council posed for a picture for submission to Today’s Catholic.
- Deacon Rusty noted that new carpet had been installed in the Family Room, Adoration Chapel, and some hallways on the parish campus.
- Mike Senneway thanked Lidia and Jill for their help and support while serving together on the council.
IX. Next meeting will be February, 9th (due to conflict with Youth ACTS retreat).
X. Father Tony adjourned the meeting after the closing prayer at 7:20 PM.