Parish Pastoral Council

Parish Pastoral Council Meeting Minutes September 24, 2012 I. The meeting was opened with prayer led by Fr. Steve at 7:00 pm. Present were Val King, Randy Meyer, Noel Olson, Carol Hubing, Bernard Kaiser, Bob Meyer, David Loos, Janet Boh, Fr. Steve, Wendy Lindner and Tom Lindner. II. The primary order of business was the evaluation of the progress of the parish implementation of 2010 SWOC Study. Each member representing a committee presented the recommendations of the SWOC study a summary of what has been done to implement them. 1) Catholic Education: Parish Website is doing very well. A parish monthly newsletter has never been done. Coni Meyer has a few youth attending Youth Group occasionally. The Children’s program during the 8:30 am Mass run by Kaila Fitzl has just started up again after the summer break. Nothing has been done with the adult education program. Discussion followed. Is there a need for a newsletter? In this rural area, only half of our parish population attend church or reads the bulletin. It would help us get information out to those people. It would also help those parishioners without a computer get more information on what is happening with the parish. Also discussed was cost, sponsorship, emailing, bulk postage. Final thought is the Newsletter should be done! 2) Sacred Worship: There is a welcoming atmosphere at St. Anthony Parish. We have greeters at the doors. People are helped with doors and wheelchairs especially at 4 pm. We would like to get high school seniors involved with ushering and getting the ushers into more of an “usher” roll. Gift bearers are usually people related to the Mass intention, but could be the greeters if needed. Musicians and music is being worked on with a member of St. Anne’s coming to help. Liturgical committee is doing well. 3) Family Life: Coffee and donuts was done for awhile along with the birthdays of the month. These had usually the same people coming down for this. Getting to know you events by the Family Outreach included free fishing, Bruce Mound snow day, Chili Dump/Hay ride, family campout and campfires behind the rectory. The creation of a Welcoming Committee is getting started now. They want to create a pamphlet about St. Anthony’s including the website address and offer of a visit. The Men’s Club is up and going strong. Visiting families that have left St. Anthony’s has not been done. This would be a good benefit of the newsletter getting out to those who have left. There has also been some talk on doing a bike ride or prayer walk. 4) Social Concerns: there has never been a clear definition of developing family outreach, so hard to move forward. Compiling a list of contacts and community experts has already been done with “call 211”. Also needing to be worked on is transportation for elderly to church. 5) Pastoral Council: SWOC committee has been nonexistent since Fr. Jerome was here. It was set up with representatives from each generation and larger parish families. The original mission of SWOC committee was to oversee the growth and development of the parish and to ensure the goals set by the first study were implemented. This raised questions about how the role of the SWOC committee differs from that of the Pastoral Council itself and whether it should continue to exist as a standing committee in the parish or have its purpose assumed by the Pastoral Council. Consensus: Each Committee was asked to prepare a Mission Statement for their Committee and to define their next three goals. They are asked to consider the unfinished work from the 2010 SWOC study in the establishment of their goals. In the coming months each Committee will be invited to present their Mission Statement and goals to the Council for affirmation. The Pastoral Council will also take time to develop a Mission Statement for itself and a set of by-laws to better direct its efforts. A subcommittee of Val King, Fr. Steve and Bob Meyer was set up to prepare a draft for the Council’s consideration. Parish Council elections will be delayed until the above is done. The next meeting for the Parish Pastoral Council was set for Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 7:15 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by recording secretary Margie Szymanski