(Previous Meeting Minutes are here...)

Present: Fred Scholz, Jane Allen (ex officio), Donna and John Bezubka, Brian Hodor, Carol Sarro, Kay Alexander, Catherine Rubin, Ryan Twardowski, Jeff and Adrien Smith, Liz O'Keefe (ex officio), Father Dennis, and Maureen Corcoran.
Absent and excused: Joe Turcotte, Lee Capalbo and Karin Forbes,

Opening Prayer:
Father Dennis opened the meeting with a liturgical prayer at 7:10 pm. Father Dennis notified the group that Mary Conway has resigned from the Council. After some discussion it was determined that members of the Council would take turns writing the minutes.

Topic: Minutes:
Motion was made to accept the minutes of September 26, 2005 and seconded with no questions or changes.

Topic: Stewardship
Discussion: Carol Sarro intitiated this discussion, and distributed Attachment 2. The Council then discussed stewardship, noting individual struggles and challenges. A common theme was the issue of finding time to carry out various responsibilities. It was also agreed that more parishioners need to become involved. The Council noted that ministers invariably derive a level of satisfaction which surpasses the effort they put into ministry.
Conclusion, Recommendation, Action: Parishioners need to be individually invited to participate in ministries. This also applies to new members of the parish. A brochure should be developed listing all the ministries and contact person for each one. Staff will address this need.

Old Business:
Topic: Parish Council Goals
Discussion: The Council agreed with suggestions that short-term and long-term goals need to be identified. Short-term goals are to be realized in six months or a year and long-term goals in 3-5 years.
Conclusion, Recommendation, Action: The Council determined that this task would best be accomplished by the ministries or groups responsible for the goals. Ministry coordinators and others will be asked to identify the resources needed.

Youth: Goals 1,2,4.
Discussion: The Council noted that the Youth ministry is continually active, and doing commendable work.
Sports programs are very successfully handled by the Town, thus obviating the need for the Parish to duplicate them. The Parish also Sponsors Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
The suggestion for a Sunday afternoon Youth Liturgy was modified to involve more youth in the regular Sunday liturgies as greeters, lectors, servers etc. Much will depend on the parents, and those who currently coordinate those ministries.
Conclusion, Recommendation, Action: Youth who are now involved in liturgy should plan to spend some time talking to CCD classes about such ministries. This topic will be referred to Dawn Biron for further development.

Communication: Goals 1,2,3.
Discussion: Goal 1. The Council noted that the media center has improved under the leadership of Deborah McCoy. Bottom line performance has not been assessed.
Conclusion, Recommendation, Action: The oversight committee is asked to provide a report to the Parish Council at their January meeting.

Discussion: Goal 2. The Council is involved in setting priorities for meeting previously established goals.
Conclusion , Recommendations, Actions: Brian Hodor will produce a flyer, starting in January, which will inform the parish of Council activities and will appear in the Sunday bulletin.

Discussion: Goal 3. The Council noted that David is still the web master, and it is up to the individual ministry coordinators to notify him of changes, deletions and additions. He also needs to receive the minutes and agenda of each Council meeting.
Conclusion, Recommendations, Action: The individual writing the minutes will communicate with David Kerwood. Ministry coordinators need to be reminded of this responsibility via the Parish Bulletin flyer.

Religious: Goals 5,6,8.
Discussion: Goal 5 The Council agreed that there has been significant improvement in the music program. Continued lack of singing on the part of the congregation was also noted. The Council stated that the Music Director should be asked what she needs to accomplish their participation.
Conclusion, Recommendation Action: The Music Director will be asked by the Council to enumerate the needs of the Music Program, and develop suggestions for involving the congregation. The Music Director will also be asked to rehearse new songs with the congregation prior to the beginning of the liturgy, on a regular basis.

Discussion: Goal 6. The Council noted that this is an important need and should be addressed.
Conclusion, Recommendation, Action: This need was referred to the Adult Faith Formation Ministry for further development.

Discussion: Goal 8. An announcement regarding the transportation of the homebound to Sunday liturgy and other parish events should be made at the Sunday liturgy. Jane Allen currently coordinates the rides upon request, but the number of requests probably does not correlate with the number of homebound parishioners who would like to attend the Sunday liturgy. Parish staff will develop a card to be sent in an effort to make this service more widely known. The coordinator of the Eucharistic ministry and will be asked to discuss this with his ministers to see how many rides are needed.

There was no further discussion of goals due to time constraints. Discussion will resume at the January meeting.

Pastor's Remarks and Open Discussion
Father Dennis announced that Jim Cafferky is looking for someone to co-chair the Respect for Life Ministry, and members of the Council were asked to consider helping him.
There was a recent fire inspection which the Church building passed with no citations. The Rectory was not inspected (a residence) and the Parish Center also was not inspected as it comes under state inspection due to the presence of the Montessori school. It was noted however that EXIT signs are lacking in the Parish Center.This lack will be addressed by staff. The report on Halloran Hall is awaited, and it is anticipated that the Hall will be closed. Boy Scouts, CCD classes, and other groups who meet there will be accomodated elsewhere. The Council President ended the meeting with a prayer, and the Council adjourned at 8:45.

Respectfully submitted,
Maureen Corcoran
Nov 29/05