Diocesan Pastoral Council

DIOCESAN PASTORAL COUNCIL September 10, 2016

Opening Prayer was led by Dcn Bob Talomie and Sr Laura Bufano, CSJ

Tina Dyer, Executive Secretary, called the session to order and recognized Chancery staff present. David Roman, DPC Membership Chairperson, presided over the meeting.

David welcomed new attendees and also the parish trustees in attendance who would leave the room for a training session during the morning. Also, it was noted that experienced trustees would be invited to the November 5th session for a refresher session with Msgr. Elmer and John Barsanti.

Making Missionary Disciples – (New Pilot Program) Danielle Cummings, Chancellor, along with Cathy Cornue, Bob Walters and Mary Hallman gave a comprehensive overview of a new unified process for parish renewal. Representatives were given a reproducible informative handout that can be shared with their parish council members.

The Offices of Evangelization, Youth/Young Adult Ministry and the Office of Faith Formation are working together, but each office has a specific focus.  Office of Evangelization will focus on parent evangelization  The Faith Formation Office will work with grades K through 6 and offer ongoing catechesis of adults  The Office of Youth/Young Adult Ministry will have a comprehensive Youth Ministry program for grades 7 – 12 with the celebration of Confirmation taking place in grade 8 after working with a chosen Confirmation curriculum

Implementation of this process will occur over a three-year period. As of this date six parishes have accepted Bishop’s invitation to participate in the pilot program. They are: St. Stephen in Phoenix, St. Mary in Baldwinsville, Sacred Heart in Cicero, St. Theresa in New Berlin, Our Lady of Sorrows in Vestal and St. Vincent/Blessed Sacrament in Vestal. Another parish in Syracuse has expressed interest in learning more about the process.

Restoration Project - Bishop Cunningham and Msgr. Yeazel presented information concerning the restoration project currently going on at the Cathedral. Bishop made note of the fact this is not a remodeling or a renovation project, it is truly a restoration endeavor.  the roof is about 125 years old  the under floor heating system is failing causing the floor to buckle  there are several places where water is leaking in and causing damage  accessibility issues are being addressed  a gathering space is being created in the old daily Mass Chapel  the present restroom facilities are inadequate  during 2017 work will be done on the inside of the Cathedral during that time there will be no weddings scheduled the tabernacle will be moved to the main sanctuary the inside has not been painted in 30 years the lighting system is over 60 years old Over the past several weeks Bishop and Msgr. Yeazel have been meeting with individuals asking for private donations. In addition, there have been regional meetings with priests and other people who had contributed over a certain amount to the HOPE Appeal. The weekend of November 12 and 13 has been designated as “In-Pew Commitment Weekend” when a freewill collection will be taken up in all parishes.

An informational video was shown and parish representatives were asked to strongly encourage pastors to show this to their parishioners before the November collection takes place. The video and other materials will be sent to all the parishes. Representatives were asked to make sure these materials are made available to parishioners and that posters be prominently displayed.

The Holy Year of Mercy – Father John Manno, pastor at Holy Family in Syracuse spoke on “Respect for the Dead and Dying.” Father began by talking about Mother Theresa’s work in Calcutta going out into the streets to care for the dead and dying. She brought many of these people back, not to restore them to health, but to give them a happy death. Burying the dead is something we do so well in our culture we probably do not even think about it that much. We have resurrection choirs, adult and student servers, funeral luncheons, bereavement committees, etc. So, we really carry out this Corporal Work of Mercy very well. Every time a Mass is said we are praying for someone who has died.

Father spoke about work he did with the Emmaus Ministry when he was at St. James. Catholic Charities tells us we have 350 - 400 adults and children who are homeless in the city of Syracuse. In 2009 Catholic Charities reached out to the Emmaus Ministry because a resident at a men’s shelter had died and he had no family. This man had been living for about 30 years under the Beech Street bridge right off 690 in Syracuse. The Emmaus Ministry was asked if they would step in and serve as the family. They went down to the bridge where 4 or 5 others were living and did a prayer service. Following the service his friends were asked to share stories about the man.

After that the Emmaus Ministry asked if they could work with Catholic Charities whenever there was a similar death. Now there are three or four of these funerals every year. At St. James a funeral Mass for a homeless person replaces the daily Mass and the parishioners become the ‘family’.

Mark Barlow is the newly appointed director of the Catholic Cemetery Office. He spent a few minutes introducing himself and letting the people know his office is available anytime someone is in need of assistance. With Mark was Danielle Rafte, promotion director for the office, who distributed copies of a newly designed reproducible brochure dealing with Catholic burials. The representatives were asked to take them back to display/distribute and to reproduce as necessary.

Remarks and Q and A - Bishop Cunningham began by reflecting about his World Youth Day trip with 46 young people from across the diocese. In addition to the group traveling with Bishop there was a group from Holy Trinity in Utica and one from Holy Cross in DeWitt. Bishop remarked that he was tremendously inspired by the faith of the young people from our diocese and the world who gathered for World Youth Day. It was very encouraging to see almost 2 million young people from 187 countries so deeply interested in their faith. Who else but the Holy Father could pull that many young people together? Wherever there was a gathering there was the opportunity to go to confession. The morning sessions were catechetical/educational sessions. There were twelve different locations where English speaking pilgrims gathered for these sessions. This was followed by Mass. Then the afternoon was free to attend a lot of other sessions that were going on around Krakow.

Security was tight and sometimes the lines moved slowly because every time they went into a building backpacks had to be searched.

Bishop then introduced Nick Calaprico, a junior from LeMoyne, who was part of the Syracuse group. Nick said there was so much to talk about but if he did that he would be there all day. He mentioned he was constantly in awe seeing all the different flags from all over the world and people around him speaking so many different languages. The entire week was filled with catechesis from the places they visited as well as the lecture groups they attended.

To attend the closing ceremonies they had to walk sixteen miles in the direct sun with their luggage on their backs. When they arrived at the place for the ceremonies Nick could see what ‘universal Church’ really meant. There were people from all over the world with different personalities and styles but all there for one purpose.

However, the best part was to come the next morning. When they woke up the next day after sleeping on the ground in a section marked off for their group, they saw that guards were all around. The diocesan group was about 5 feet from the edge of the road and in about an hour Pope Francis came down the road in his Pope mobile. Nick said it was a goose bump experience being that close to the Pope. After the closing ceremony and the Pope had left, the clouds opened up and it began to rain, but nothing could break their spirits as they walked the sixteen miles back to their hotel.

It was an experience Nick will never forget.

Bishop Cunningham responded to as many questions as time allowed. Among them were: Will part of the HOPE Appeal go towards the Cathedral restoration? Yes. But it always does. Each year the Cathedral receives $200,000 from HOPE Appeal for its upkeep.

Will the ‘free will’ offering be like the HOPE Appeal where parishes have to make a goal or they are assessed for it? No. No parish is being assessed. We are looking for people to donate to the project, but it will be a free will offering in November.

If weddings are canceled at the Cathedral next year will the ordination be canceled too? The ordination will not be held at the Cathedral, but rather in the ordinand’s home parish or the parish where he spent his pastoral year.

Have the Immaculata nominee letters been sent out? No, but they will be sent out within the next week or two. The parish representatives were asked to encourage their pastors to nominate a person or married couple to receive this award for outstanding volunteerism in their parishes. The ceremony will be held at the Cathedral in December on the Sunday closest to the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

How are you addressing the shortage of priests? How am I addressing it? How are YOU addressing it? That is the question! The diocese is doing everything we can to encourage vocations. But parents have to encourage vocations too. And parents have to create homes where vocations can be nurtured, recognized and supported. We will continue to do everything we can to encourage vocations but it is not something the Bishop or the diocese can do without your help. All of us must work together to make it happen. What is there to study for women to join the diaconate program? Were there not women deacons in the early Church? There were women in the early Church who were called deaconesses. But the question remains as to whether they were really ordained or did they just function as deacons at the time. But this will be up to the Holy Father and his study commission to decide.

Why do you believe earlier Confirmation of our youth will be better? I don’t think 8 th graders are ready to make the commitment that Confirmation implies and that later reception of the sacrament produces better results. What is the right age for Confirmation has always been a question. There are about six dioceses in our country that do Confirmation before First Communion. Some dioceses do it later and some do it in the middle. The Syracuse diocese is saying that individual parishes need to make that decision. We are taking a group of pilot parishes to see how it works. We are not saying that all Confirmations will take place in 8th grade. There is no perfect solution, but we have to try things and see what works and what does not.

Do we still announce ‘Banns of Marriage’ in our parishes? It seems only a few parishes carry this information in their bulletins. The bands can be announced but according to the new Code of Canon Law it is not necessary to do so.

Parents need physical resources for “Be My Disciples” 1) books to take home or 2) classes at the parish. We cannot assume that all parents have a computer or access to the Internet. That is very true. But we will try to work that out at the parish level.

It is becoming increasingly more difficult for priests to arrange for coverage on weekends, during illness or vacation despite the PCA ideal. What is being done to address this concern? This is a concern for the diocese too. We are trying to address this through PCAs. We have only so many priests. If we know that a place is in need of a priest at the last minute we try to arrange for someone to cover for the pastor. We only have two priests, Msgr. Kopp and Msgr. Lang, who do not have a weekend assignment and who are available to provide coverage when needed. And it should be noted that these two priests are busy every weekend. This is the reality. We do not have priests. So far this year nine diocesan priests have died and two were ordained in June. Parishes need to be realistic about what the diocese can provide. Neighboring priests have to work things like this out. We cannot do it without them.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilyn Madison DPC Secretary

NEXT MEETING NOVEMBER 5