Pastoral Council Minutes

February 2, 2009

Attendees:  Rose Braun. Matt Bolton, Fr. Mark Burger, Chris Gebhart, Jerry Koehne, Kevin Kohls, Brian Krause, Debbie Meinhardt, Claudia Miller, Cindy Muron, Barb Utrata, Fr. Don West, Debbie Kreiner (guest). Kathy Mack (guest), and Mary Ann Lampe (scribe).

Preliminaries:  The Council Meeting opened with the Pastoral Council prayer at

7:00 pm.  The reflection was written by Joan Seibenick and led by Rose Braun.

Agenda Items:

1)     Approval of minutes from January Meeting – all

The minutes were approved as written.

2)     Pastoral Associate – Debbie Kreiner

a)     Overview of Current Topics

Debbie chose to give her presentation on Confirmation preparation.  Every candidate for Confirmation must have a baptismal certificate on file here at the parish.  After confirmation, we send letters to the parish where the recipient was baptized giving them the Confirmation information to their records up to date.  This year, 95 will be confirmed from St. John’s, which is a large number for us.  We break the students up into small faith groups of 11 - 12 and assign a mentor to each group.  We teach seven subjects assigning the catechists to teach one subject each and rotate the groups of students to every teacher.  The catechists like this method, they only need to teach one subject, and all the subjects are covered.  We do a church hunt (similar to a scavenger hunt) where each student is given a list of clues of things to locate within the church.  This gives them the opportunity to see everything in the church and helps to give them a sense of belonging to the church community.  We begin the year with a three-hour retreat, mostly doing activities in which the students get to know each other and become comfortable with their group and Jerry Barney gives a presentation on the Bible.  Every student must do some form of service.  We do not require a set number of hours, just that they do experience some form of service, such as helping in the nursery, volunteering in a retirement home, Eucharistic minister, etc.  We want them to realize that doing something is part of being a church member.  They meet with their sponsors.  We ask them if they do want to be confirmed, if not, they can wait a year, we have a pizza party, then we have rehearsal. 

b)     Issues/Needs/Challenges

We are always in need of volunteers, but this year our need is not as acute.

c)     Feedback

Rose – how many candidates do not want to be confirmed?  Debbie - every few years there will be one.  Usually, there is one every year that must wait due to illness.  Matt – wouldn’t a longer retreat be worthwhile.  Debbie – most are freshmen in high school and three hours is right at that age.  There are other retreats throughout the year they can attend.  The small faith groups help and our retreat helps get them to know each other and feel comfortable studying for confirmation.  The Archdiocese is talking about doing a bus trip to the National Catholic Youth Conference this year, but we have not received any info as yet.  Debbie M. – what is the age range for the youth group?  Mostly high school, we have a lot of activities for junior high students; we have a retreat coming up in the spring for junior high with their parents on sexuality.  We are trying to grow the junior high activities, trying to move us towards a youth ministry for this age group. 

Jerry K. – are banns of marriage still published?  Fr. Mark – No, the banns were formerly published to determine if either of the partners had been married previously or .  Now, the couple preparing them for marriage conducts an investigation.  Fr. Don – many, many years ago when marriages were arranged, the banns were read to make sure both parties were aware of their upcoming marriage.  Debbie M. – every couple we sponsored, we learned something about our own marriage, it was a very rewarding experience.  Debbie K. – last year, we had a young adult retreat, planned and conducted by them; I attended and it was very, very good.  They are planning another one for this summer.  The young adult group is not growing as much as I would like; the archdiocese is working with Colleen at St. Max to try to bring “Theology on Tap” to West Chester.

We are getting ready for the Kairos retreat.  There are not many churches giving one for public school students, so ours is open to other parish members.  We are doing a mission trip to Campton over president’s day weekend and could use adult volunteers.

Rose – Is there still an IT committee, we need someone to help get our volunteer sign up database ready for the festival.  Debbie – no, but Dan does a lot.  Maybe we can throw it our to the parish for someone who can do programming.  Matt – talk to Ron Rice.  Debbie M. – the booth captains want more than they had last year.  Thanks, Debbie.

3)     Parish Congress/Unity Ideas – all

Chris – it is my understanding that the purpose of Pastoral Council is to address the needs of the parish and bring the parish together.  With that in mind, we’d like to discuss as a group.

a)     Golf Tournament

We would propose a scramble type of event that is usually very popular, a lot of fun and a chance to meet and talk with other players/parishioners.  Rose – How long does it take to get space on a golf course for a large outing, and who will pay for it?  Individuals pay their own way, St. John’s would provide the awards(donations) and possibly something afterwards.  Brian – how many could participate?  Aren’t we going for an event to pull everybody together?  Fr. Mark – Parish Congresses bring people together for prayer, problem solving, e.g. helping people find jobs, etc.  We need a new way to do church;  early church was 12 or 15 households meeting in their homes, then we built buildings (churches) and that worked for the past eight hundred plus years.  What can we do to bring people together in a different way, because the old way is not working.  The Parish structure as it is now does not attract young people.  These things look like fundraisers, which is not the purpose of a Parish Congress.  Integrating people together is the purpose.

b)     Resume Seminar

Chris – another idea we have to assist the many people in our area without jobs or who haven’t had to interview in some time would be to assist them with how to write a resume, how to prepare for an interview, dress, etc.  We would get a group together of people who know what to address with job seekers.  Rose – we need to know how many people we are talking about and what the needs are.  Fr. Don – some people are not that open to sharing their situation, we need small groups for comfort.  Debbie – We used to have a support group for those out of work, meetings were published in the bulletin, they helped each with networking, etc.  Kathy – we could put something in Eagles Wings monthly with tips, etc.  Frs. Mark and Don will work on a support group and Chris will put a paragraph together for Eagles Wings.

Fr. Mark – we want to be a parish that builds the community, a new way of doing church that addresses people where they are now; we need to find a new way of thinking.  Rose – the full meaning of Parish Congress is still unclear to us as a group, let’s devote some time to prayerfully consider the meaning and how we might develop this concept here at St. John’s.

c)     Monte Carlo Night – idea to be passed on to Finance Committee

d)     Parish Picnic

e)     Easter egg hunt

4)     Tanzania Promise Project – all

Rose – unfortunately Joan is not here tonight for this portion of the discussion, some parishioners have expressed concern that they haven’t received reminders or updates on the Tanzania Promise Project.  Some signed up for multiple year donations and they think its time to send another contribution but they aren’t sure.  Kathy – Jerry Barney/Joan Seibenick will need to address this.  Brian – the Finance committee sends out the type of letters that are being discussed.  They may be able to provide some assistance to the project

5)     Other items for discussion

Bread delivery will be this Saturday all council members are asked to take a couple of loaves for delivery if they can.  Contact Rose if you can help and for information

Debbie M. – we desperately need an electrician for our festival.  Matt Bolton offered to assist and to provide auto CAD support that may be required for the site map, etc.  Debbie will follow up with Matt after the meeting.

6)     Fr. Mark’s Comments

A Lenten Retreat will be here and at St. Max.  I will be giving a retreat at St. Cecilia.  The new Archbishop is going to meet with the pastors.

Rose – what is project Renew?  It basically covers catechism, groups of people get together in people’s homes.  It is active in the Dayton area.

7)     Adjournment and Closing Prayer of Thanksgiving – Kevin Kohls

            Kevin led the closing prayer and we adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Next Meeting:  Monday, March 2, 2009

 - Reflection by Barb Utrata

 - Prayer of Thanksgiving by Debbie Meinhardt