St. Maria Goretti Parish
Pastoral Council Minutes
November 4, 2015
Members present: Father Brownholtz, Deacon Peter Niche, Deb Grant, Janna Kerr, Dave Mazeroski, Kim Staudt, Cheryl Ryan, Linda Hudak, Meg Szewczak
Members excused: Charles Amuso, Ron Boak
Deacon Niche opened the meeting with a prayer at 7:30 p.m.
In the absence of Fr. Brownholtz and Charles Amuso, Kim Staudt served as chair of the meeting.
1. Committee Reports:
a. Nominating Committee. Deacon commented that we need to decide what members will be going out in 2016 and how many will need to be replaced. The committee will follow up with Fr. Brownholtz.
b. Long Term Planning Committee: Pastoral Plan. Janna reported on the current draft of the Pastoral Plan that was circulated to the Council members in advance of the meeting. There was a discussion regarding the Parish Priorities and Foundational Ongoing goals and initiatives. Deb Grant and Janna Kerr said they will work on a revision and recirculate prior to the next meeting. The revised draft will be discussed at the December meeting as well as a concrete plan to obtain input from the Parish Community before the Pastoral Plan is finalized in early 2016.
c. Development and Fundraising Committee: Kim Staudt had nothing to report.
d. Personnel Committee. Linda Hudak reported that a new business manager has been hired and Father will give more details when he gives his report.
e. Religious Education update: Meg Szewczak reported that PREP is going well so far. The enrollment numbers are close to what they were last year. There is a survey on the website to see what our families are looking for. The results so far were distributed at meeting.
2. Parish Update – Father Brownholtz:
a. Welcome back to Maria Richardson. Maria’s title is Director of Family Faith Formation, with focus on Youth Ministry.
b. Thank you to everyone for your input for the Pastoral Plan, especially Janna and Deb.
c. Douglas Smith was hired as the new business manager and will start on November 9, 2015. He will be part of both the Finance and Pastoral Councils.
d. The Knights of Columbus will be utilizing classroom 6 one or two nights per week as they will be selling their current facility in Lansdale.
e. Mater Dei is considering using the SMG Education Center as a satellite campus for their pre-school program in the future.
f. Lighting of the outdoor stations will begin on Monday. We are still looking for benefactors of the project. The approximate cost is $6,000. They will be using LED lighting.
3. Items for discussion:
a. The Vietnamese Community will be holding an election for a new chairperson.
The next meeting of Pastoral Council is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 7PM. We will be holding our annual Christmas gathering after a brief meeting. Please let Cheryl know if you are able to bring anything.
Father Brownholtz closed the meeting with a prayer.
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