Pastoral Council Minutes

10-09-2023 Pastoral Council Minutes

Sherri Porterfield

ST. JAMES PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2023

 

Vice-Chairman Phil Baumert called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The following council members were present: Fr. Mike Roach, Dan Bacon, Phil Baumert, Corrine Katzer, Betsy Lewey, Joan Peluso, Sherri Porterfield, and Patrick Schaub. The opening prayer was given by Dan Bacon.

Old Business: 

  • Point of Contact Ministry: Dan Bacon reported that we currently have 14 parishioners who have volunteered for this ministry. He stated that training will be scheduled very soon.
  • Emergency Assistance Ministry: Betsy Lewey informed the Council members that there was no new news concerning this ministry.
  • Hillcrest Ministries: This item of business was tabled until the November meeting as Council member Yvette Lopez was absent. She did send word via email that she is waiting for a response from Hillcrest Ministries regarding their new policies and would inform the Council once she has more information.

New Business:

The remainder of the meeting was dedicated to the development of questions for a survey to be given to the congregation. The purpose of this survey is to give the Council direction on having a “bird’s eye picture” of the needs of the congregation in the areas of Spirituality and Community. With this purpose in mind the Council brainstormed and discussed questions which focused on the formation of basing their questions in relation to our church’s mission statement. The importance of keeping the survey simple with questions to a minimum was also discussed.  It was decided that in the areas of Spirituality and Community, questions will be stated in the form of a statement with the respondent agreeing or disagreeing with the statement. It was also discussed that a short explanation statement be given at the beginning of each section of the survey and a comments area be provided for the respondent at the end of the section.

Vice-Chairman Baumert asked the Council to review the questions created at this meeting and to create description statements or an explanation for each area of concern. The goal of the November meeting will be for the Council to finalize the questions to be included in the survey and further discuss and write the descriptions to be included at the beginning of each statement.

Closing:

Fr. Mike reported to the Council that the Pickleball Ministry seemed to be a positive contribution to creating community in our parish with quite a number of parishioners participating in this activity. He also said that the Grief Support Group was starting again and should be of help to those congregation members who have lost loved ones. Fr. Mike then closed the meeting with a prayer and the members prayed “The Lord’s Prayer” together.

 

The Council’s next meeting is Monday, November 13th at 7:00 p.m. in the AV Conference Room. If you have any ideas or concerns for the Council, please contact Fr. Mike or Chairman Kevin Casel. If you would like to attend the meeting, please contact Kevin Casel no later than Thurs. Nov. 9th.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Sherri Porterfield, Pastoral Council Secretary