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Pastoral Council

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:

Maureen Murray, Chair (coopmurray@msn.com)       Alice Perkins, Secretary (perkinsam62@gmail.com)

Sharon Oberriter (sharon.oberriter@gmail.com)          Jeff Woeppel (jeffrey.woeppel@gmail.com)

Michael Lachance (mplachance@aol.com)                    Walt Heinrich (westwall@peoplepc.com)

Diane Grigoli (dcgrigoli@yahoo.com)                           Cathy and Joe Parisi (joecatpar@gmail.com)

Alma Curtis (accurtis100@gmail.com)                          Vince Solomon (solomonvs@gmail.com)

Owen Kennedy (thekennedyfamily8@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.

September 8, 2022 Meeting Minutes

  1. Attendees:  Michael, Maureen Murray, Al Tinger, Raymond McGoldrick, Sharon Oberriter, Alice Perkins, Jeff Woeppel, Owen Kennedy, Vince Solomon, Walt Heinrich, Chrissy Blanck, Diane Grigoli, Joe and Cathy Parisi, Alma Curtis 
  1. New members were warmly welcomed by all 
  1. Alice Perkins volunteered to be the new secretary for the council. 
  1. The meeting minutes from July were approved. 
  1. Strategic planning goals were reviewed.
    1. A leader or co-leaders were identified to serve as spokespersons for each area.
      1. Liturgical – Fr. Michael
      2. Adult Faith Formation – Cathy Parisi
      3. Youth – Chrissy Blanck
      4. St Thomas – Maureen Murray
      5. Ministries – Mike Lachance, Al Tinger
      6. Social Justice – Jeff Woeppel
    2. Leads will update the parish council once per quarter including key milestones hit or missed, any additions or deletions from the plan, and ballpark potential cost if any.
    3. Before our October 6th meeting, new parish council members are to review strategic plans and be prepared to identify which of the teams they would like to join. 
  1. Synod Sessions Follow Up
    1. Our St Mary’s Synod Report was submitted to the Albany Diocese by deadline.
    2. The Diocese has sent its Diocesan Synod Report to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops by deadline of June 30.  It was published in the July 21 Evangelist.
    3. From the St Mary’s Synod data, the local church joys, suggestions, and disappointments were reviewed and next steps of how to act on this list were discussed. 
    4. Fr Michael will review suggestions and disappointments and code as green (actionable, high priority), yellow (actionable and medium or low priority), and red (no go).
    5. After Fr. Michael’s review, strategic goals teams are to review the green and yellow items and incorporate them as appropriate into their plans.
    6. There was discussion with regard to providing feedback to the parish at large. A plan for communication to the parish is to be determined once the action plans are solidified. 
  1. The new member discernment process was evaluated. Overall, the process was very well received.  Appreciation was expressed to Fr Michael for instituting the process as no process was used in the past.  Only opportunity for improvement was with regard to the sound system. 
  1. Faith Formation (Chrissy)
    1. 9/18 program start and class time is 10:30am-11:45am
    2. We have lost 2 families but gained 3.
    3. Over 40 youth are signed up versus over 60 last year. Registrations are still coming in and some may likely occur in the first week or 2 of classes.
    4. A Parents’ Café will be held while the youth classes take place. Parents will view “The Search” from “Formed”, a resource from the Augustine Institute for which the parish has a subscription.
    5. Faith and Fun nights were well received and very good evenings for the participants. Best attendance was 11, worst was 1, and attendance was mostly boys.
    6. Prom organization is ongoing and we are still taking and looking for signups. 
  1. Refugee Support Update (Jeff)
    1. Application has been made to bring refugees here.
    2. Michael was thanked for the communication at Masses to engage the parish, and there has been excellent parish response.
    3. house, apartment made available
    4. goods from the village garage sale donated
    5. other donations of home goods, furniture, and monetary
    6. Parish garage is now nearly empty of donations as they have been transported to the United Methodist Church in Oneonta. Thanks to all those who helped 
  1. Follow Up Items from Past Minutes – None 
  1. Round Robin
    1. Owen – 1st meeting, listening, happy to be here
    2. Fr. Michael
      1. Bible Study sessions are full,
      2. Evening with St Vincent DePaul 9/15
      3. Holy Hour will be expanded to 24 hours in October; sign up sheet will be out soon
      4. Living Rosary is also planned for October
    3. Diane – 1st meeting, happy to be here
        1. Would like to add a Pro-Life Ministry to the strategic plan
        2. Pregnancy Centers are in great need of support right now
    4. Walt – 1st meeting, thank you and happy to be here
    5. Ray – Welcome to new members
    6. Al – Possible boat rides available for the 9/18 parish picnic if there is a place to dock his boat
    7. Joe – Stressed importance of showing progress on synod input in order to get others involved
    8. Cathy – Appealed to all members to engage parishioners in submitting videos for the Virtual Rosary.
    9. Chrissy – pass
    10. Alice – 1st meeting, happy to be here
    11. Alma – 1st meeting, happy to be here
    12. Maureen – Inquired about Mass at the picnic. Logistics, set up, weather, etc., make this too much of an undertaking for that day per Fr. Michael
    13. Vince – 1st meeting, happy to be here
    14. Sharon – Happy to see new faces on the council
    15. Jeff– Thank you to all 
  1. Next meeting October 6:  prayer leaders are Joe and Cathy Parisi.