Parish Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes

October 8, 2009

Members present: Fr. Dave, Deacon Charlie Cornell, Nancy Buck, Charlie Corley, Jason Crotty, Marcia Melone, Brian Perrault.

Members absent: Deacon Bob Brady, Jennifer Cunningham, Sandy Morales

Also present: Rosario Rizzo (finance committee), Al DeBenedetto (social committee)

1.       Opened with evening prayer

2.       Election of a secretary

a.       Nancy Buck volunteered and was summarily elected

3.       Approval of minutes

a.       Minutes are normally available on the website but there were no minutes taken at the September meeting due to lack of attendance

4.       Social Committee discussion

a.       Al was invited to present the social committees plans for the year

                                                               i.      Current plans are for the Parish Picnic, Adult Italian Night and St. Patrick’s Day Dinner and Dance

                                                             ii.      Also under consideration are visits to the Our Lady of LaSalette Christmas Festival and Misgivings: An Evening of Divine Comedy

b.      In the discussions that followed other suggestions were made including reviving the Family Game Night (updated to include Wii games) and a Middle School/High School Dance

c.       The Council encouraged Al to pursue the comedy night but not the Shrine visit.  No immediate action was made on the other suggestions,

d.      Al and Robin Ulichney are the only members and they could really use more help especially with child-centric activities.

e.      We also discussed advertising these events.  Al will put up a sign under the new church sign and we will consider advertising in the Stow Independent so that we may attract more parishioners than those that regularly attend Mass.

5.       Finance discussion

a.       Letters were sent to 700 families and included in the bulletin detailing the precarious financial status of the parish.

b.      So far it seems to have had no effect!

c.       Finance council had not met so there was no additional information.

6.       Other items

a.       The St. Vincent de Paul Society donated $750 to the Stow Food Pantry to make up for not having the garden this year. While appreciated, it did not make up for the lack of fresh produce all summer.  Council feels we need to actively pursue reviving the garden next year.