MEETING MINUTES

St. Isidore Parish Pastoral Council

September 12, 2002  

Members Attending: Rev. Richard Butler, Pastor, John Colonna-Romano, Ann DeChristofaro, Nancy Dome, Kathleen King, Sharon McCann, Will O’Brien, Shirley Ormsby, Rosario Rizzo, John Sangermano,

Members Absent: Deacon Charles Cornell, Domenique Sexton,

Instruction on the Ritual of Evening Prayer

Evening Prayer

Minutes:            Minutes of June 13^th  accepted.

Review of past procedures

Noted that in the past meetings have been held 7:30 to 9:00 on the second Thursdays.  An evening of reflection usually scheduled for the early part of the year (with the finance council).  An archdiocesan meeting is usually scheduled early in March.  Vice chair is elected to share the running of meetings and setting of agenda.  Minutes have been in the format of capsuled summaries, by the pastor.

Look to the future 2002-2003

Agreed to continue the Thursday meetings.  Schedule is full enough that we can afford to drop a meeting when conflicts arise.  Evening of reflection (last year in October) scheduled this year for Sunday December 1, 2002.  Rosario Rizzo selected to be the vice chair.  Agreed to continue the system of minutes without having verbatim minutes.

Update from the pastor

Brief comments noted the parish newsletter, now a quarterly; the parish visitation of Dec 2003 which will call for work next spring; the St Vincent de Paul’s developments; the annual finance report this coming weekend; the Promise For Tomorrow campaign to be presented later in the fall; the successful adult ed programs; the religious education classes, and the ongoing response to the sexual abuse crisis.

On the Promise for Tomorrow campaign it was clarified that the monies are separate from the regular archdiocesan funds.  On the adult ed program of last August, value of a sandwich board sign on the road encouraged.  On the sexual abuse crisis it was noted that while there is beginning to surface some focus, much has yet to be done.  Some spoke directly to the slowness of the pace.

Establishing a priority for this year

A brainstorming produced a variety of issues that might be pursued in the coming year.  At the October meeting we will relook at the listing (and other additions if any) and set priority.  The issues are topics or points of focus for us to vision direction for the parish, not programs for immediate implementation.  The list raised at this meeting:

            Ecumenical and/or interfaith relations

            Collaborative activity with other Catholic parishes

            Expansion of music ministry

            Religious education / formation

            Opportunities / needs of parents of toddlers and pre-school generation

            Call to service activity for teens and adolescents (confirmation/post-confirmation)

            Response to the sexual abuse crisis

            Youth ministry

Review of the meeting

            “good to see priority for kids”, “well-run meeting”, diversity of team members”, “good to be in ‘less interesting’ times as contrasted with the Chinese proverb”, “good to be back to normal after last years beginning in the shadow of 9/11” “meeting provided opportunity to clarify roles/vision”.

Next meetings

Oct. 10, Nov. 14, Dec. 12 2002; Jan. 9, Feb. 13, Mar. 13, Apr. 10, May 8, Jun. 12, 2003

Evening of reflection Sunday Dec. 1, 2002

Archdiocesan Assembly of councils (tentative) Saturday March 8, 2003