Pastoral Council Minutes

2-10-2025

Sherri Porterfield

ST. JAMES PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Chairperson Joan Peluso called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Council Members present were Fr. Mike Roach, Deacon Chuck Koesterer, Eddie Baker, Phil Baumert, Kevin Casel, Chris Fullinwider, Betsy Lewey, Yvette Lopez, Joan Peluso, and Corrine Sebranek. The opening prayer was said by Corrine Sebranek.

Guest Report: The council welcomed Amanda Lewey to discuss her duties as Confirmation Coordinator, and some specific details regarding St. James’ Confirmation program, and the upcoming Steubenville conference this summer.

Amanda’s primary duties are to coordinate the preparation of our students for confirmation, and to plan the confirmation ceremony.  Amanda has been the coordinator for 4 years and has been involved for 14 years.  Seeing the spiritual growth of the students is the most rewarding part of her job.  The diocese has mandated confirmation be moved to students in the 6th grade.  Different parishes are working toward this change in different ways.  St. James is confirming 8th and 9th graders this year and will then do 7th and 8th next year, 6th and 7th the following year, and settling into 6th grade only going forward.  There are currently 120 students in the Confirmation formation program this year, and there will be two services on 2/26 and 3/21.  This year’s group did a service day in November working on 10 different projects.  They recently had a retreat and are continuing their preparation leading up to Confirmation. Amanda is assisted in her duties by a group of excellent volunteers (many that don’t have students in the program) and is helped administratively by Kirsten Maggi with tracking birth certificates and other paperwork.    

Finally, Amanda reported that there are 23 commitments from students to attend the Steubenville Conference this summer in Springfield, MO.  Several of the attendees will be attending this conference for the 3rd time. The group had a spaghetti dinner fundraiser and will have another with a pancake feed on Fat Tuesday.  They are working to make this event as cost effective as possible, and they are hoping to raise enough money to rent a bus again this year, which makes the trip much easier. The council thanked Amanda for all her good work with the youth of our parish.

New Business:

New Adult Faith Class for Lent: Joan Peluso shared with the Council information from Sherri Porterfield regarding the Adult Faith Study course for Lent, HOW TO LENT. The 4-week course will be held on Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 – 7:30 in the Parish Hall beginning March 12/13 and concluding April 2/3. Registration online begins on Sunday, February 23 and will end on Wed., March 5th. In-person registration will be held after all Masses the weekend of February 22/23. Participants will be able to choose between attending on Wednesday or Thursday evenings depending on their schedule.

Old Business:

New Council Member Openings: A current list of candidates to fill open Council member spots was provided by Joan to council members.  They have been notified that they will be hearing from Jay in a few weeks.  The invitation announcement was repeated before each Mass on the weekend of February 15/16.

Discussion of Future Goals: Members reviewed our Statement of Purpose and Article II of the Bylaws as a guide to set future goals. Several ideas listed below were shared and briefly discussed.

  • Blessing of Pets – This would be an easy event to setup and a Saturday morning would be best.
  • There was substantial discussion about working more with the parish ministries. Several items were discussed regarding the parish ministries and their leaders:
    • Potential gathering/dinner for the ministry heads.
    • Reach out to individual ministry heads to see if there was something the PC can assist them with.
    • Possibly have a ministry of the month slot in the bulletin, on the web site, and possibly a quick introduction by a member of the group before Masses once a month.
  • Potential for parish retreats throughout the year.
  • Guest Speakers – It was brought up that there are various speakers that appear at neighboring parishes. The Diocese sends a weekly email talking about events going on in the entire Diocese.
  • Anything that the Council can assist with regarding OCIA.
  • Potential for healing masses, or prayer services.
  • Potential Advent and Lent family activities

Closing: Fr. Mike closed the meeting with a prayer and the members prayed the “Our Father” together. Chair Joan Peluso adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

The Council’s next meeting is Monday, March 10th 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 Chairperson Joan Peluso. If you would like to attend the meeting, please contact Joan Peluso no later than Thurs. March. 6th.

Respectfully submitted,

Phil Baumert (Substitute Secretary)