The Pastoral Council is meeting regularly again, generally on the first Thursday of the month. Important information will be included in the bulletin (usually as in insert) and on the website. Detailed meeting minutes are available on request.
Organization The Pastoral Council has a membership of twelve parishioners. Additionally, the two parish trustees (Al Tinger, Ray McGoldrick), the faith formation coordinator (Chrissy Blanck) and the pastor (Fr. Michael) serve as ex-officio members. Here are the current members:
Martha Harris (mmarhar10@hotmail.com) Alice Perkins, Chair (perkinsam62@gmail.com)
Austin Partridge (austinleepartridge@gmail.com) Mary Farmer (mj.farmer@yahoon.com)
Diane Butz, Secretary (dmbutz@twc.com) Susan Snelson (susangengenbach@yahoo.com)
Diane Grigoli (dcgrigoli@yahoo.com) Marty Rosenthal (rcknrgby@aol.com)
Roger Davidson (davidsonrh@aol.com) Sharon Kroker (skrokervt@gmail.com)
Owen Kennedy (thekennedyfamily8@gmail.com) Martha Wilhelm (mwilhelm414@gmail.com)
Please communicate with them or the ex-officio members regarding any concerns, questions or suggestions.
The pastor presides over and guides final decisions and their implementation. Formal guidelines for how the council functions are available upon request.
July 2, 2026 Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Father Michael Cambi, Alice Perkins (Chair), Diane Butz, Roger Davidson, Martha Harris (Secretary), Owen Kennedy, Sharon Kroker, Austin Partridge, Marty Rosenthal, Susan Snelson, Michael LaChance (Trustee) Mark Harmon (Trustee)
Absent: Mary Farmer, Diane Grigoli, Martha Wilhelm, Chrissy Blank (Faith Formation Director)
- Alice Opened the Meeting at 7:01 pm
- Opening Prayer Was Led by Fr. Michael. The second reading for July 5th (Romans8:9, 11-13) was used. Personal reflections were shared about the more significant challenges of setting aside life in the flesh in favor embracing of life in the spirit and what specific gifts from the Holy Spirit would you need to meet the challenge.
- Approval of June Minutes Motion to approve Diane Butz, seconded Marty Rosenthal; all approved.
- Ministry Annual Reports: Garden Ministry (Mary Margaret Kuhn)
Mary was pleased with the way people pitch in at our parish watering flowers at Mary’s statue and helping with aphid infestation. She is behind with the weeding, but Terry Donley has been helping. The project for the end of the summer is to prevent weeds around the base of the flagpole by putting down landscape fabric and resetting the cobblestones.
- Walk with One Discussion (Marty) Marty and Roger put together a flyer as requested. The start date is Tuesday August 4 at 7 pm for a first meeting for the parish in the church. Fr. Michael will announce at Masses, and the flyers will be available in the church. No members of the council had anything to share with the group this month. Marty gave our new trustees, Mark and Michael, an overview of the program.
- Cooperstown Center Visitation Ministry (Fr. Michael) Father Michael asked if Sharon is approved for volunteering. She is still working on getting approved due to fingerprinting issues. The Cooperstown Center family council meeting schedule for Wednesday July 1st was cancelled. Father wanted to find out the status of the people signed up. There are 5 people that he knows of who are being trained. Father visited residents last week and is assigned 4 people. He saw also saw a couple of people not on his list. Margie went and had a nice visit with a gentleman. There is log to record time spent, residents visited and the nature of the visit.
- Ministries Fair Planning Update (Diane G, Martha W, Sharon) Sharon has reached out to leaders of the ministries. She has responses from a lot of them. A Seven Sisters Apostolate table will be added. Susan asked about music ministry if they were on the list. Sharon will give a copy of the letter to give to Lucille at 4:30 mass. Sharon brought up ushers and their coverage for holy days. Father will talk to Vinny about making sure the ushers know who is covering.
- Paint the Church Update (Alice) Roberta Keeler came to the church. Alice showed her the renderings we had and Roberta looked around. Alice showed us 8 images from Roberta. The group will be meeting tomorrow to discuss next steps.
- August Discernment Planning (Fr. Michael) Nomination forms are out due back by July 19th. We are looking for 1, possibly 2, new members. Discernment meeting will be held at 7 pm August 19th in the church. All council members are encouraged to attend.
- Round Robin: All passed except the following.
- Michael LaChance is involved with the senior council for the county and September 9th is their senior picnic at Glimmerglass State Park. If you know any seniors who may be interested, let them know.
- Marty wanted to thank us all for being part of his journey.
- Martha H asked about the flag in the cemetery because it was looking ragged, however, it was replaced recently.
- Austin commented this was his last meeting. He brought up the schism that we had this week and asked us to pray for those who are astray. He thanked everyone for the time spent with him.
- Diane B gave an update on the developing Lay Carmelite community. There will be a “Come and See” meeting on August 22 at noon in the parish hall. Also, someone brought up to her about the website not being updated. Our bulletin is not on there. Father reached out to Eric, he is not sure how to get it back.
- Alice reported for Diane G that the Otsego County Fair is August 4 to 9th and volunteers are needed for the right to life booth. There are some free entry passes for the volunteers. Please refer those interested to Diane G or Carmen D’Amico.
- Michael – Bingo has started and the next sessions scheduled are July 9th and 23rd. First Friday holy hour will be tomorrow at 7pm and First Saturday devotions will be at 9:00 am followed by Mass at 10 am.
- Closing Prayer (Fr. Michael)
- Identify September Prayer Leader Martha W committed to it at a previous meeting. Martha H will do it if Martha W cannot. Otherwise, Martha H will do October.
Meeting adjourned at 7:57 PM
Future PC meetings: Sep 3, Oct 1, Nov 5