Update from the pastor to parish pastoral council 19 June 2003

Fr. Ed Gaudette
Fr. Gaudette, pastor here at St. Isidore 1976-1988, died on Monday after a lengthy illness. He was buried this morning at a funeral in Malden, during which the homilist spoke of how much Fr. Gaudette enjoyed his days here in Stow. May he rest in peace.

Finances
As noted in the media this week, the archdiocese has noted the significant number (about 100) of parishes that are seriously delinquent in payment of bills. Thanks to the direction of the finance council and the support of the people these past weeks, we are caught up in our paying of bills. We will end the fiscal year with no accounts payable and with our bridge loan below the $25,000 figure.

Office of Child Advocacy
The parish Child Abuse Prevention Team has completed the initial round of three hour training sessions; before the end of the month they will be scheduling a late summer round of sessions.
Talking About Touching – a program directed to children – was conducted in schools of the archdiocese and is next scheduled for parish religious education programs. Earlier this week Nancy Dome attended a two day workshop on T A T. The program looks good but the logistics are formidable and we have yet to structure an implementation time-line here.

Youth
An open meeting is scheduled for next Monday to move forward on the Youth Commission activities.

Apple Fest
We are planning an apple fest Sunday October 12 from 11:30 to 5:30. An open meeting for all who would like to be a part of it will be held on Wednesday of next week.

Welcoming Committee
Stewardship and the Finance Council are both charting some thoughts on moving forward with a welcoming committee.

Religious Education
The call is out for all to register for next year. It was delayed while we waited for word on the public school plans. Unfortunately we will not have the children come by bus to religious education.

St. Vincent de Paul
This initial year of the formation of the St. Vincent de Paul Society has been very good; the response of the people in need and the parishioners contributing has been good.