11-13-23 November Pastoral Council Minutes
ST. JAMES PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2023
Chairman Kevin Casel called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The following council members were present: Fr. Mike Roach, Deacon Chuck Koesterer, Dan Bacon, Eddie Baker, Kevin Casel, Yvette Lopez, Joan Peluso, and Sherri Porterfield. Patrick Schaub joined the meeting via phone. The opening prayer was given by Eddie Baker.
Old Business:
- Point of Contact Ministry: Dan Bacon told the Council members that the first training meeting was held with six of those who had signed up for this ministry in attendance. Those attending gave good feedback and were impressed with the evacuation plans, i.e., tornado, fire, etc., that have been developed. Dan did say that he would like to have leaders for each section of the church to help parishioners in evacuations if needed. Ideally, Point of Contact and Emergency Assistance volunteers will work together in coordinated efforts if/when a disaster were to occur. The next training is being planned and will probably be one hour in length via Zoom.
- Emergency Assistance Ministry: Kevin Casel reported that Betsy Lewey had told him that there are currently 38 members signed up for this ministry. Members will sign in when they come to Mass to let the ushers know that they are there to help if needed. He said that there was an incident on the weekend before this meeting where a parishioner had fainted. The usher found the EAM volunteer who then assisted in helping the parishioner. The parishioner was able to return to Mass after getting help.
- Parish Survey: The survey to be given to parishioners in January from the questions agreed upon by the Council in previous meetings was shown to the members, The Council reviewed the survey and made any changes needed to place it in its final form. The Council discussed ways for this survey to reach as many parishioners as possible. Besides the survey being sent via email, it was suggested that the survey be accessed through a QR code placed in the bulletin, on the parish website and on large posters in the Gathering Space. For those who are not comfortable using a computer, hard copies of the survey will be printed and given to those parishioners. It was also decided that on the weekend that the survey becomes available, an announcement will be made before Mass asking all parishioners to participate. It is planned for the survey to be presented to the congregation on the weekend of January 6/7, 2024 with a deadline for return to be the weekend of January 20/21. The Council agreed that all who attend St. James and are Confirmation age or older and are registered or unregistered congregants should participate in this survey. Survey results will be released to the parish and published on April 1, 2024.
At this point, a side discussion was held on the importance of paying particular attention to the age group of Confirmed high school students. Yvette Lopez said she would talk with Confirmation/High School leaders to explain this to these young people and let them know that we very much want their voice to be heard.
Patrick Schaub commented that he felt we were off to a good start with this survey in getting an overall picture of the congregation’s thoughts. Once surveys are completed, we can analyze the data and use this to develop a more detailed survey to be given to the parish at a later date. This survey will deal with any concerns voiced in the initial survey. This later survey will provide knowledge to the Council on how to address those concerns voiced. The Council agreed with Patrick.
Chairman Casel and the Council thanked Dan Bacon for organizing the survey.
New Business:
- Hillcrest Ministries: Yvette Lopez informed the Council that the man occupying the apartment sponsored by St. James is going to be graduating from the program in December. Discussed was the possibility of doing something to celebrate this graduation. Also discussed was opening this ministry to parishioners assisting in various ways. Yvette said she is waiting on answers for questions she has communicated to Hillcrest before we can move forward with this possibility.
- Report from Fr. Mike: Fr. Mike gave the Council an update on the former church building. The roof has been a huge problem and has been replaced. This is true for the school as well with a new roof being addressed. One need is to have brighter lighting in the area and Katie is currently working on this problem. As things start to progress, professionals will be brought in for consultation. Also, the parish will be informed as to what needs to be done and a Capital Campaign will be developed.
A question was asked concerning the usage of the new church for concerts in the sanctuary. Fr. Mike informed everyone that groups, such as the Liberty Community Chorus, are charged a fee to use the church with the money going to the Music Ministries Department. He let the Council know that he very much supports outside groups using our church for events and that in January the Liberty MLK Celebration will be held at St. James as well as the St. Pius graduation and Liberty North High School Baccalaureate will be held in the Spring.
Closing:
Fr. Mike closed the meeting with a prayer and led the Council in praying the “Our Father” together. The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
The Council’s next meeting is Monday, December 11th 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 Sat. Dec. 9th.
Respectfully submitted,
Sherri Porterfield, Pastoral Council Secretary