Pastoral Council Meeting

May 18, 2010

Present: Fr Jay Mckee, Jennifer Merkel, Michael Preston, Dan Carducci, Joanne Bi= erly, Prosper Boudart, Rick Cox, Kathy Flood, Bud McFadden, Bill Paré, Matt Andrulewicz, Cathy Carter, Scott Williams, Deacon Luke Yackley, and Jack Scarbath

Excused: Judy Hyde, Laurie Comp, Ursula Adams, Zeita Sypolt, Ju= lie Burden and Bruce Lebrun

Absent: Jim Brady

The meeting was called to ord= er at 7:10 pm.

The opening prayer was offered by Father Jay McKee

Approval of Minutes-= Minutes were corrected to show Jack Scarbath present, motion to approve the minutes= by Joanne Bierly, second by Rick Cox. Motion approved unanimously.

Welcome to = Cathy Carter- = Dan Carducci welcomed Cathy Carter, of St Theresa’s, and asked her to introduce herself. The other members of the council introduced themselves.

Bill Pare’ was asking how many elected members there are. His question was about= the appointed members and the elected members. The elected members should have a majority vote.

Thank you to departing members- Bi= ll Pare and Laurie Comp are the departing members.

Old Busines= s:

Finance Rep= ort:

Finance report was discussed. Dan says that the deficit is being chipped away. We a= re only $14,000 in the hole as opposed to the $80,000 projected.

Tuition is being squared away. People are getting caught up. Scott said that there = are a few volunteer hours yet to be added.

Dan pointed out the fiscal year ends on June 30.

Father said that the Lenten collection is added , as well as increased offertory.<= o:p>

A quarterly reminder will be going out. Recaps what people committed to.

The budget is not as skewed as it appears. There are many amendments to be made= .

We are running about $14,000 in the hole the projection is less than $20,000 f= or the coming year?

Our Annual Catholic Appeal goal was $26,000 and we are over halfway ($13,254) there in collecting the $28,000 already pledged.

School Repo= rt- Cathy Weaver is talking= to Brian Lessard, a builder in DE regarding growth studies that were done and concer= ns that BRAC will not have a large effect on our county. The study being referenced is several years old. There will be a meeting to get all the inf= o on the table. Date to be determined.

The point was made that there should be a meeting to answer the question as to whether BRAC is going to impact the county size. Need for real figures.

Council will be made aware of the meeting date and is invited to be present.

Bainbridge Dev Corporation, DR GELL, said that the county would double in size. <= /o:p>

Another person to contact is Carl Roberts.

Dr. Gell is president of Cecil Community College and a commissioner in Charlest= own. He has a good feel for what is going on in the county. Clark Turner, a local developer would also have good input as well.

Middle States- Would like to have some Parish input. A questionnaire and opinion request will= be coming at a future meeting. This data will be used to better the school.

Events- 5K Race; Art Show- art teacher will be opening the door= s to display the art of our students; Graduation for 8^th grade on Jun= e 7, at 7pm; Closing Mass, for the school year will be on Tuesday, June 8^th; Strawberry Festival and Spaghetti Dinner on June 12^th from 2-8pm; Classic Car/ Truck Show and Breakfast on June 19^th.

Terra Nova Scores have come in. Scott explained the way the sco= res are read.

Math scores were lower in 8th grade. These kids lost a year. We = are over the national average in all other areas. Further information will be provided as to trends. Math scores are holding steady in other grades. Dan asked about the national average (50%).= All second grade scores are into the 70 %, much improved over last year. Scott offered to answer questions.

Father pointed out that the e= ighth grade average has come up due to the hire of Mr. King.

Dan said that this factors in= all the schools that use this test (McGraw-Hill).Individual scores will come ou= t in a week or two.

Someone will contact the Whig= about the Art Show and Band Concert.

Scott noted: Thanks to the Susquehanna Players, who p= erformed “Macbeth” for the parish and school. It was very well received. The sponsorship was much appreciated. <= /p>

Commit= tee Synopsis Reports:

· Liturgy Report- = Father said the committee met for the last time this year. Nov. 1, 2011 new Roman Missal will be implemented. There will be Catechetical training. There are changes back to Latin from English.

Review of Lent and Easter- All was well received. Break for summer.

· Social Concerns- Church in North East, Thursday luncheons are still going on these luncheons help support St. Vincent de Paul.The ladies from St. Vincent de Paul are pr= oviding lunches at Mariner Park in Elkton - 50 to 60 served each time. <= /span>

Respect Life – Money was raised for Birthright of Delaware, by selling roses on Mother’s Day. A baby quilt raff= le raised 150.00-180.00 for a banner for the Good Shepherd Respect Life group.=

· Parish and Family Life- Strawberry Festival is being planned.

Alumni Association- 611 were sent a letter, we are trying to be self supporting. Senior club is being established Barbara Snead is working on this. <= /p>

· Building & Maintenance- Prosper reported that we need to think about working on the house in Rising Sun. Luke said that we need a new front roof.

Tenant is moving out and we will begin to advertise to find a new tenant.

A freezer was donated to the school, the Deacon reported. Bill Smith donated this.

Prosper would like a volunteer for sheetrock work for Christmas in April.

A question was raised about painting the parish office. Prosper wants to ask = the deacon before he commits to a plan. Luke said that two seminarians will be = able to help with that sort of work. Windows need work as well.

· Christian Formation- Kathy said that 39 children received First Communion. 22 young people were = confirmed. A picnic was held May 5^th for Religious Education children and t= heir families.

June 6^th will be the Baccalaureate Mass at Good Shepherd Church at 11= am Mass. There is a need for two Catechists for next year.

Ann Barker has looked at Religious Ed and did a spreadsheet on what other churc= hes are using. This report will show the cost differences.

Father pointed out that we could do a R. E. summer program in the evenings and the= re would be no Religious Ed during the school year. Some people have asked for another option. This will be looked into. This seems to be very popular wit= hin other parishes.

There is also the option of offering Religious Ed on other nights.

Discussion about different options ensued. Sacraments could be made at other times.

Sacram= ental ReportSick C= alls: January-6 Communion Visits and 1 Anointing Visit

February- 6 Communion Visits and 2 Death Visits

March – 10 Communion Visits and 5 Anointing Visits=

April - 2 Communion Visits and 2 Anointing Visits

May (as of 5/18) – 1 Home Visit (Confess= ion and Communion) and 1 Death Visit

Baptis= ms- May: 4 = Year to Date: 18

First Communion- May: 39 Year to Date:= 44

Confir= mations: Youth-21 Year to Date: 27<= /o:p>

Adult-1

Marria= ge- May- 0 Year to Date= : 2

Funera= ls- May- 4 Year to Da= te: 16

Youth = Update- Michael said there= is a plan for a Parish project. Luke said that Squires and Youth may collaborate= on Adoration. Kathy said that they have identified two youth as youth leaders = for next year. They should have the names by next meeting.

Father talked about having had dinner with Father Bill at St Patrick’s in Havre de= Grace. They would like to see a high school joint program. The Youth leader at St = Pat’s is going to meet with Kathy to try to set up a plan. There is nothing curre= ntly going on.

St. Patrick= ’s Update- Building is coming along. Grounds need extensive work done.

Bill says they need money. Things are going well. We are on target to host the Annual Parish Mass for the second Saturday in September 11 at 10am.

New Busines= s:

Dan asked Rick to go through the Mass Attendance sheets.

He explained what the sheets show.

Mass attendance has been pretty consistent throughout the year.

Good Shepherd’s Sunday 11 am is the most frequently attended Mass. Father wants a 3-4 year study to continue on Mass attendance.

Thanks to Rick for his analysis.

At the end of December and in February there was a break- these were snow days when the Bishop excused everyone’s obligation due to the treacherous weather conditions.

Dan passed around the income/expense bulletin insert.

Discussion of what is on the bulletin report each week. It can be quite confusing -Can= it be made simpler?

Get the numbers that matter into the bulletin. Show how we are doing compared to past years.

Car Show is coming up June 19th. There is still a need for volunteers.

Review of P= astor/Principal/Parish Meeting-= It was well attended. Positive things came out of the meeting. Feedback has be= en very positive. The tables should be faced inward so that people can see wha= t’s on them.

Other new business- We have gone through a calendaring process recently and Pasto= ral Council Installation is set for September = 12^th at Good Shepherd Church’s 11am Mass.

A retreat day needs to set up.

Adoration will begin at 6:30 before the next PC meeting, June 15^th.

Database on new families has been set up and a welcome letter has been sent from the parish.

A comment regarding the Pastoral Council picking up the slack for Father was made. Some thought needs to be given to this comment.

June 15th is the meeting in w= hich the Executive Branch of Pastoral Council is formed. Three executive members will be elected: Executive Officer, Executive Member and Secretary.

A new church in the area, Gra= ce Bible, will be having an open house. We should attend or send flowers.

Welcome again to Cathy Carter= .

Thanks to Bill Pare’ again. <= /p>

Motion for adjournment:

1^{st: Prosper
Boudart}

2^{nd:Bill
Paré}

Closing Prayer led by Deacon = Luke.

Respectfully submitted by Jen= nifer Merkel and Judy Hyde.