St. Peter’s Pastoral Council

March 1, 2011 Meeting Minutes

CALL TO ORDER: Meeting started at 7:02 p.m. in Sullivan Hall.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Fr. Jason Worley, Chuck O’Connor, Sandy Ballantine, Steve
Browning, Anita Gill, Sandy Gordon, Terri Jackson, Jerry Jennings, Bob Lilly, Deacon John
Martin, Mary Nelabovige, June Schabdach, Lew Sherman, and Patrick Tramma.

MEMBER ABSENT: Ginny Abel

Chuck O’Connor opened the meeting with prayer.

MINUTES: Steve Browning moved to approve the minutes from the February meeting. Sandy
Ballantine seconded, and the council voted unanimously to approve the minutes.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Communications: No report

Development: No report

Education: See attachment

Evangelization:


Terri Jackson has contacted Magnificat to ask for free copies of the March or April
edition for distribution to our parishioners.
Bob Maloney is researching the cost for printing and publication of postcards inviting the
parish community and new residents to our Easter Masses.
The Welcome Committee has begun contacting newly registered parishioners. We begin
with a phone call to make a personal connection, offer to meet them at Mass, and follow
up with a hand-written note.
The Welcome Luncheon for new parishioners will be held on Sunday, April 3rd, after the
11:00 Mass. The Parish Council is invited and encouraged to attend as a way to welcome
these new families to St. Peter's.


Finance: No report

Liturgy: See Attachment

Maintenance:

Lew Sherman reported that the stairs to the back of the Thrift Shop are in need of repair.
Lew talked to Pat Spielman, as requested at the last Council meeting, about chipping of
the concrete on the church steps. Pat said he did not believe it was a serious problem. Pat has subsequently sanded the chipped areas, because the areas of concern are now smooth.
Last week, Lew repaired the steps leading to the food pantry. He had to replace the right side stringer and one of the treads.

Planning: No report

Social Concerns:

From the Parish Nurse – Marybeth Terrell has been doing blood pressure screenings on
a monthly basis - the second weekend of the month. She has volunteer nurses helping so
that the screenings are offered after 5:30 Saturday and all three morning Masses. Over
the past several months, they have screened only a handful of people, but have found
people who have hypertension and did not know it. This month, they did 20 blood
pressure screenings and 5 of those people needed follow-up because their blood pressure was too high. One person actually went to immediate care because his blood pressure reading was extremely high and the others have followed-up with their doctors. Mary will call each one to see how they handled the problem.
Future ideas: we need to add a healthy alternative to donut Sunday - some fruit possibly.
The adults and the kids could then choose between donuts or a healthier choice.
Marybeth hopes to plan a renewal day for all of us who are overextended - possibly a
Saturday, 9 am to 2 pm, with lecture on self-care and stress relief and a healthy lunch and low key exercise or meditation time.
Funds Disbursement: The Social Concerns Committee will meet Monday, 3/7/2011, to
disburse the funds for this 6 month period. The approximate amount for disbursement is
between $10,000-12,000.

OLD BUSINESS

Capital Campaign

Representatives from the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be meeting with Fr. Jason within
the next few weeks to discuss the current financial situation of the parish.

Nominations for Parish Council

• Ginny Abel, Bob Lilly, and Chuck O’Connor will be meeting to write up the bulletin
blurbs regarding the upcoming Parish Council elections
• Fr. Jason gave his permission for Parish Council members to speak at the Masses
regarding the Council’s responsibilities and roles.

Budget Requests

Budget requests for FY 2011-2012 are due to the Finance Committee by mid-March.

NEW BUSINESS

Priest Personnel Policy Planning

In June, 2010, the Priest Personnel Board of the Archdiocese of Baltimore created a Committee on Priest Personnel Policy Planning. The Committee was charged with making priest personnel projections for the next fifteen years (2010-2025), and recommending to the Board a set of policies to enable the Archdiocese to deal with its needs for parish ministry in the light of the declining number of priests.

“We must face, therefore, that over the next fifteen years the number of active archdiocesan priests is likely to decrease by about 4 per year (5 retirements + 2 departures – 3 ordinations).This will reduce the total number of active priests from the current 153 to fewer than 100, probably as few as 93, a decrease of about or a little more than one-third. This means, in short, that we should plan as best we can to minister to the people of the Archdiocese of Baltimore by 2025 with about 60 (over one-third) fewer priests than we have now. There are currently 153 men on full-time active service as priests of this Archdiocese.”

“All parishes will engage in the process of cluster planning that will focus on the pastoral
care each will provide over the next fifteen years.”

“Each cluster will:
o Coordinate Mass schedules and reduce the number of Masses as the number of
priests in the cluster is reduced;
o Explore ways whereby parishes assist one another especially with the sacraments
of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick as well as providing pastoral care to
health care institutions located within its territory;
o Study the possibility of sharing staff in all ministry areas, namely, priests,
deacons, religious educators, youth ministers, liturgy directors, musicians,
business managers, etc.
○ Submit its cluster plan to its Vicar Bishop.”

“Require that each cluster parish plan include a provision for reducing the number of
weekend Masses in that cluster by 25%, unless allowed otherwise by the Vicar Bishop in specific cases for very grave causes”

o In light of the parish survey, it would be logical to eliminate the 5:45 p.m. Mass
at St. Peter’s. The 11:30 a.m. Mass would become the youth Mass. Only 200
parishioners attend the 5:45 p.m. Mass currently. The majority of the teens attend
the 11:00 Mass with their families.
o The elementary religious education families could go to the 9:00 or 11:30 a.m.
Mass to work around the religious education program.
o These are minor changes compared to what could be happening in the next few

years.

o The Cluster program must be done by 2012.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: No report

PASTOR’S REPORT:

Fr. Jason explained that there are currently three rooms in the basement of the church that can be utilized. The largest portion of the basement is under the nave (approx. 9-10 classrooms) and is not allowed to be developed at this time.

The mezzanine of the church can be used once we finish a second set of stairs.

Jerry Jennings ended the pastoral council meeting with a closing prayer.

The meeting was adjourned at 8: 32 p.m.

Minutes respectively submitted by Sandy Gordon.

Parish Mission Statement (rev. 3/05)
We the people of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Community are called by our Lord Jesus Christ to grow in faith, celebrate hope, and experience His loving presence in our midst. Drawing our life from the Eucharist and guided by the Holy Spirit, we seek to follow God’s Word by supporting one another, continuing our faith formation, promoting social justice, reaching out in service, and inviting others to share in our journey.