CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
PPC Meeting
May 6, 2008
PRESENT: Barbara Swiecki, Pastoral Administrator, Louise Carson, staff representative, Paul Domagola, Stewardship, Sue Eliasz, representative for Service, Catherine Frangenberg, Trustee, Gene Kobos, Trustee, Mike Loftus (Chair), Tim Runyan, representative for Hospitality, Barb Simmons, representative for Social Ministry, and Wendy Pachla, PPC secretary
EXCUSED: Brian Gallagher and Joan Lowell
ABSENT: Sam Moskowitz
Opening prayer: Mike Loftus
Approval of April PPC Minutes:
Mike will send out ministry information via e-mail. Correction on page 3 under Visitation
Ministry - four people from Good Shepherd are taking the training, not Guardian Angels.
Motion to approve the minutes as corrected made by Sue Eliasz, seconded by Tim Runyan.
Tim said it is now possible to post PPC minutes on the web site for current and past years. Once that is done, Linda Brunner will put a note in the bulletin telling parishioners that the minutes are on the web site. Tim also said the Web Site Committee is hoping to set up a computer at the Ministry Fair so parishioners can see it.
Barb's Corner - Barb Swiecki
CMA Update
After the Finance Committee meeting, a decision was made to make phone calls to people who had not responded. Pledges are coming in slowly; some have increased their pledges. Hope to get a little more; any shortfall will have to be made up from our savings.
PPNM
Meeting next week; sub-committee has met and is looking at possible reduction in number of Masses and how that would work. Next task is to develop a survey so that the parishes can have input. For the past few years, Good Shepherd's 11:30 Mass has been moved to 11:00 AM for the summer months. Jean Leicht feels that this Mass could be scheduled for 11:00 year round. She is going to meet with the choirs to discuss this change.
Feedback from the announcement about upcoming changes:
- Positive about Father Augustine staying as sacramental minister;
- Faith in the workings of the church is not high;
- Anger about change again;
- Priest Personnel Board was pro-active once they knew Father Lee was not coming to Good Shepherd;
- Nancy is very excited about her assignment at Good Shepherd. She has been at Resurrection for seven years;
- People were glad Father Lee decided not to come before he came and then
decided to leave; another said why don't we cluster now. (Barb said we are getting closer, but it will take the full two years (2010) for clustering to be successful.)
St. Joseph's has joined the prayer shawl ministry. Rush-Henrietta prayer shawl ministry now has a St. Joseph's chapter and RIT is also attempting to start a prayer shawl group.
The biggest reason to cluster at this time is to help everyone with staffing. We will keep talking "cluster" until it is accepted by everyone.
Two members of the Priest Personnel Board, Charlotte Bruney and Father Ed Palumbos, have offered to come and speak with PPC about the change in leadership if we feel it would be helpful. After discussion, it was felt that we do not need help dealing with the upcoming transition at this point. Father Augustine will stay for at least a year. The Diocese of Rochester has 128 parishes and we are not ordaining men to the priesthood. Supporting so many parishes is becoming more and more difficult. Barb will tell Charlotte and Father Ed that we appreciate their offer, but do not feel we need their assistance now.
Nancy was at Good Shepherd today and met with the staff and is very excited to be coming here. She took a tour of the buildings. Louise has known Nancy for a while and thinks she will be a good fit at Good Shepherd.
Sue Eliasz offered her house for the June PPC meeting. Barb will invite Nancy to attend the June 10th meeting. She will send Nancy's e-mail address to everyone. We will start the meeting at 6:00 PM to allow time for socializing and a brief business meeting. Sue will provide directions to her house (104 Cobblestone Drive, off Pinnacle, between Lehigh Station and Calkins). Mike and Brian will get the meat; Sue will send out an e-mail and ask everyone to bring a dish to pass.
Habitat for Humanity Update
The concert was very successful and sales of the house pins have also been doing well. We have the amount needed to break ground and are going to start the house in August. Sale of the roses for Mother's Day did well and raffle tickets for the quilt will be sold the weekend of the chicken barbeque. PayChex will be one of the corporate sponsors. Our group is the Southwest Coalition.
Welcoming Nancy
Possibility of having a reception after the 4:30 PM and 11:00 AM Masses in the Annex planned by the various leadership bodies. Nancy's first weekend at Good Shepherd will be June 28 & 29th . Five members of PPC volunteered to coordinate the reception(s). Barb will contact Nancy to be sure she will be at Good Shepherd that weekend.
Ministry Faire - May 17 & 18 Paul Domagola & Louise Carson
Still doing Commitment Sunday; need to emphasize whoever you have in leadership role does not matter; Good Shepherd is still our parish; the parish belongs to the people of Good Shepherd. Thanks to everyone's efforts at the office and staff of volunteers, commitment cards will be handed out this weekend. In the spirit of "stewardship", anyone who may be attending Mass here this weekend is asked to pick up their packets and your neighbors if you know they won't be at church this weekend. If available, be sure someone is at the table to assist parishioners if they are having any difficulty locating their Stewardship packet. Gene Kobos, Barb Simmons, and Ron Jodoin will be available on Saturday.
Tables need to be set up and the boxes placed on them so that parishioners can get the commitment information. Paul just wants to be sure that someone is available in case parishioners have any questions. The more commitment cards that are picked up, saves us from mailing them out. Suggestion was made to have signs posted at the doors to remind people to pick up the Stewardship packets.
Paul thought it would be good example of communication to have members of PPC go around to the different ministry tables to thank everyone for participating in the faire and to open communication between groups. Mike will ask Brian to be available since Mike will be out of town. Barb also pointed out that we want to make sure we are not relying on the same people, reach out for new people to become active and involved.
A majority of our ministries will be represented at the Ministry Faire. Jean Brown put together a question and answer sheet about the recent financial issues. Barb is considering asking parishioners who made Partners in Faith pledges which will be ending soon (bulletin article) to consider continuing that commitment via an increased donation to the parish.
Deficit
Our bottom line is that we are doing okay, but next year Father Augustine will receive a salary and Nancy will be full-time, so finances will be more challenging. We are looking at different groups for use of the school building. Both the State and Diocese have to approve any use of the school building as was discussed last month. We have to cover utilities; our school assessment will drop by 10 percent next year.
Combining Parish Councils
PPC members and Barb think it is a good idea to have more joint meetings next year and need to get things on the calendars for next year. Everyone needs to be flexible so we can accommodate all.
Mike's Corner
PPC Group Photo: Joan Lowell was concerned that parishioners do not know who is on PPC. Mike will bring a camera to take a group photo at the June 10th PPC meeting. What about PPC terms? By-laws have not changed; still three year terms. Mike, Brian and Sue are in their second year and people who represent a particular parish group are members of PPC. When their three year term ends, they return to the parish group and another representative is selected. There
is no voting - things are done by consensus. Trustees are also entitled to join in consensus.
Since we are working on clustering, we do not want to make any changes. When the clustering occurs, there will be a combined PPC. Next year will be another transition, 2009-2010 will be the year the cluster will be operating. We are looking at three years of transition. It was pointed out that everyone is going through clustering and planning; Good Shepard is not alone in this.
Motion to adjourn made by Mike Loftus; seconded by Sue Eliasz. Meeting adjourned at
8:25 PM.
Next PPC Meeting: Tuesday, June 10, at Sue Eliasz's house; 6:00 PM