St. Peter’s Parish Council

March 2, 2010 Meeting Minutes 

CALL TO ORDER:  Meeting started at 7:00 p.m. in Sappington Hall.  The meeting was open to all parishioners and was advertised as such during the weeks prior to March 2^nd.

MEMBERS PRESENT:   Fr. Jason Worley, Chuck O’Connor, Mike Riley, Mike Horrigan, Lew Sherman, Anita Gill, Bob Lilly, Sandy Gordon, Deacon John Martin, Jerry Jennings, and Laura Nisonger.

MEMBERS ABSENT:   Phil Burr and June Schabdach.

Chuck O’Connor opened the meeting with prayer.

The members of the Parish Council introduced themselves and described the job that they hold on the Council. Chuck explained that the Parish Council is an advisory board to the pastor.   Committee work is done by the individual committees with monthly reports given at the Parish Council meetings.

MINUTES:  Mike Riley moved to approve the minutes from the February meeting, Lew Sherman seconded, and the council voted unanimously to approve the minutes.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  

Fr. Jason Worley announced that Harry Ford’s contract as Youth Minister at St. Peter’s will terminate at the end of June.  We are in the process of hiring a new Youth Minister.  His/her start date will be July 1^st.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Communications:

• The Communications Committee was unable to meet this past month because of the snow storms.
• The next meeting will be on March 25^th at 7:00 p.m.

Development:

• Mike Riley gave the following report:

 

• The extremely snowy weather over the past few months has had a very negative effect on the church collections.
• The gift card program will be implementing a new option of “Shop with Scrip”.  This program will allow parishioners to load gift cards on-line.  Mary O’Connor is currently testing the program for glitches and hopefully will kick off the initiative on Easter weekend. 
• Fr. Jason is recommending that parishioners consider continuing their current pledge commitments to the Capital Campaign.
• New parishioners will be contacted directly by Fr. Jason to ask if they would be willing to contribute to the campaign.

Education: 

• The February Education Committee meeting was cancelled because of bad weather.
• Sacramental prep has begun with parent information and education meetings for sacraments. There are 66 children enrolled for Reconciliation and 68 for First Eucharist.

• SPY's sub sale and the Fair Trade sale have been rescheduled for the weekend of March 6th and 7th.

• SPY held a Food Fast/Lock-in Friday & Saturday (2/26-27) and ended with a visit to the Holocaust Museum.

• The adult formation classes concluded a 20 week study of Church History and will begin a 10 week scripture study of The Epistle of James.

• The RCIA elect (5) and candidates (7) participated in the Rites of Sending and Election on March 21.

• Pre-Cana sessions for February had 4 couples preparing for marriage.

• The committee will meet again on March 18th.

 

Evangelization:

• Sandy Gordon reported that the Lighthouse Catholic Media ministry has been extremely successful thus far.  Over 800 CDs have been sold since the inception of the program at the end of January.  The response from the parish has been overwhelming to this ministry and the Evangelization Committee is looking forward to watching this program grow and flourish at St. Peter’s.
• A Lenten “bundle” of seven CDs is now available for the price of $20.00.  The initial order of the Lenten CDs sold out immediately; another order has been placed and will be available at next weekend’s masses. 
• The parish Lenten retreat was held on Sunday and Monday evenings, February 21 and 22.  Fr. Terry Cramer was our guest speaker and the title of the retreat was “The Beatitudes: A Ladder to Heaven”.   Fr. Cramer was gracious enough to allow us to make copies of his presentation, and the copies are currently available in the narthex.  Many parishioners, as well as guests from other parishes, have commented on how spiritually enriching the retreat was, particularly during this holy season.

 

Finance: 

• The Finance Committee met last week and is currently in the process of developing the budget for next year.

• St. Peter’s is being audited by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Our last audit was held at least six years ago.

• We are about 10% below budget for this fiscal year.

• We have currently collected approximately $14,000 out of the $20,000 needed to cover the cost of the new boiler for Sullivan Hall.

Liturgy: 

• The new octave of hand bells will be used at the Good Friday service and at the First Communion masses.

• A bake sale will be held on March 6 & 7 to help finance the purchase of the hand bells.

• The Healing Mass, which was scheduled for March 27, has been postponed until a future date.

• John Martin asked if there are candles for the altar servers to carry during Stations of the Cross.  June Schabdach will ask the Liturgy Committee to make a budget request for the upcoming fiscal year, so that the candles can be purchased.

• The Tenebrae candelabra is needed for the upcoming service.  Sebastian Grabenstein asked that the candelabra be tagged as a relic of the old church.

Maintenance:

• Lew Sherman is planning ahead for possible needs of the parish that will have to be placed in the budget for next year.
• Lew will be fixing the cracks in the walls of the Parish Office Building. Alan has suggested that drywall be placed over the cracks because plaster would simply crack again.
• Gardening time is approaching and we will need to have volunteers to help with the sprucing.  There has been some damage to the landscaping because of the snow.

• Ruth Riley will be chairing the Landscaping Committee.  The Landscaping/Maintenance Committee will be gearing up for a spring clean-up around our campus.

Planning:

• The Planning Committee met in February and developed a Projects Priority Analysis. See attached report.
• The sacrarium and plumbing fixtures will be installed by John Moxley Plumbing.  Several of the bathroom fixtures have been installed.
• The Planning Committee is looking to add new members.  There are five people that are on a list to be asked to join the committee.
• There are three rooms that have been roughed-in so far (the RCIA dismissal room; the flower prep/money counting room, and the nursery).  We are hoping to have someone who will obtain the commercial permits in order to begin construction.  The permanent use and occupancy permit will be issued as soon as the plumbing fixtures have been installed.

 

Social Concerns:

• Ginny Abel explained to the parishioners present about the responsibilities of the Social Concerns Committee.
• An AED was purchased and has arrived
• One person is already trained
• A family has expressed interest in being trained
• Phil Burr will coordinate the training of ushers
• Probable training is March 20
• Other opportunities might be another Saturday or March 14

• Domestic Abuse program is scheduled
• Heartly House will present three sessions – Adults, SPY and Jr.SPY
• Notice has been in  Bulletin
• MaryBeth would appreciate a reminder from the pulpit to promote the sessions

• Beverly Dean mentioned to MaryBeth an interest in starting a Card Ministry
• MaryBeth will follow up with her

• Bob Lilley is working with MaryBeth on a Care Givers Support Session
• MaryBeth will meet with him after she returns from vacation

• Dorothy Pollock has an interest in coordinating a Run/Walk for Haiti
• MaryBeth has not discussed it with Dorothy but MaryBeth would be happy to help with a walking group or club for fitness. She has a lot of information on the topic.

• Blood pressure screenings will be March 14
• Knights of Columbus like to have them coordinated with their activities
• Ginny recommended that the parish nurse submit a budget request for next year.

OLD BUSINESS

Coffee and Donuts Sunday:

• The Ladies’ Club and the Knights of Columbus will be featured at the Coffee and Donut Sunday this coming weekend.  The SPY teens will be selling subs and the hand bell choir will be having a bake sale this weekend in Sappington Hall.

Time and Talents Survey/Checking the Pulse of the Parish: 

• Fr. Jason is in communication with a friend who does this for a business.  More details to follow in the coming weeks.

NEW BUSINESS:

Parish Council Elections:

• The Nominating Committee (Phil Burr/Mike Riley/Mike Horrigan) will be seeking nominations to be members of the Parish Council.
• Ginny Abel, Phil Burr, and Mike Horrigan’s terms will be ending in June.
• The 3^rd weekend in May is typically when Parish Council elections are held.  Appointments are held in September.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: 

Chuck O’Connor expressed his pride in what we have accomplished so far this year in the parish and on the council.

PASTOR’S REPORT:   

Jerry Jennings, permanent deacon intern, has been helping Fr. Jason with numerous duties throughout the church.

Fr. Jason is so proud of the accomplishments of the parish in these past few months.  The Evangelization Committee has carried out some exciting programs, with the parish retreat and Lighthouse Catholic Media, and he is looking forward to offering more opportunities for spiritual growth and fellowship. 

PARISHIONER COMMENTS & QUESTIONS:

• It was brought to the attention of the Council that there is a growing need for a Young Adult Ministry at St. Peter’s. There is a need for a program for the 18-23 year olds, so that they have a group to call their own. This would fall under both Evangelization and Youth Ministry.  The approach needs to be broad enough to address the various needs of this age group of parishioners. 
• The idea of implementing a parish-wide recycling program was suggested.  St. Peter’s does not have a commercial application at this point.  However, one of the staff members (Janice Murray) should contact Frederick County to inquire how we could get a recycling program started at St. Peter’s.
• It was suggested that an inventory of the kitchen and storage areas be taken.  In addition, a thorough “spring cleaning” should be done of all storage areas so that cataloging of important items can be done and non-essential things can be discarded.   This is a topic that needs to be addressed by the staff.  Fr. Jason and Laura Nisonger will meet to discuss this issue.
• Several parishioners expressed their gratitude for the time and effort given by the members of the Parish Council, the staff at St. Peter’s, and by our pastor, Fr. Jason. 
• The question was raised regarding the church mortgage.  Mike Riley explained that we still need to raise three million dollars.  St. Peter’s borrowed the necessary funds from the Archdiocese, and the interest payments are coming out of the capital campaign not out of the budget. Also, St. Peter’s was very fortunate to be able to obtain a fifteen year mortgage on the loan. 
• The suggestion was given that we use the monthly Knight of Columbus breakfasts as an opportunity to bring new parishioners together to meet with Fr. Jason.
• Deacon in Training Jerry Jennings offered his gratitude for the warm welcome he has received from the St. Peter’s family.

Fr. Jason ended the parish council meeting with a closing prayer. 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 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.