Download Minutes of Pastoral Council Meeting held November 9, 2011

Minutes of Pastoral Council Meeting held May 14, 2013
The meeting was held in the Parish Hall Meeting Room. The meeting commenced at 7:03 PM.
Attendance: Father Gabin, Pastor; Deacon Bob Frankenberger; Sr. Mary Carmella; Kate
Fitzpatrick; Kelly Meliti; Bill Judge; Margaret M. McNicholas; Jim Devenney; Anthony Creato;
Ronnie Sidebottom; Rita Sindoni and Maria Woodruff.
Father said our opening prayer, and an agenda was handed out along with a copy of our previous
meeting minutes. We then started the meeting with Father mentioning the Appreciation Dinner
Night which was very successful, aside from the disappointing low attendance.
The Knights of Columbus sponsored Pancake Breakfast was a huge success! Kudos go to the
Knights and their great food and service.
Holy Cross Carnival, (June 11-15) under the leadership of Joe Klinger with his support group, is
moving along well. The web site is set up for any one who would like to volunteer. You can
check out what functions are available on the website, or contact Joe directly. The Carnival Pasta
Dinner is scheduled on the 12th at 5:30 PM for $7.00. Tickets will only be sold in advance until
the 7th, at the Business Office or contact Kathy Cleary. Tradition has it that each Ministry would
donate a Gift Basket. I volunteered to make one or two Gift Baskets for the Pastoral Council. I’m
going to make a ‘Family Night at the Movies’ (with movie tickets) Theme, and a ‘Family Night of
Reading’ (with a Barnes & Noble gift certificate) Theme. When I contacted Joe about the
deadline when to turn in the baskets, he informed me that the deadline for the baskets would be
June 7th....at this time; we do not know where they will be dropped off. We have a carnival
meeting on the 28th and they will know better then! It was suggested to donate $10 from each of
us council members. I know that some of you are already donating for other Ministries so that is
fine. I thank you in advance to let me know if you are going to donate for the Pastoral Council or
some place else, so that I may have an idea of how much I have to spend.
The CSS Building will now be called the Parish Center. The Archdiocesan counselors did not get
back to us yet to rent part of the first floor of the Parish Center. As an alternative for someone who
needs counseling, there is the Pastoral Counseling Center headquartered at Covenant Methodist
Church on Springfield Road in Springfield. To reach the Counseling Center, call the Covenant
Methodist church office. We will plan to mention this information in our Bulletin. Father also
was asked if he would consider adding a Suggestion Box for the Parish.
Kate’s School Update: Registration is ongoing. Our numbers are a little lower this year with the
hopes of hearing from 10 students who have not responded. Our May procession is scheduled on
Thursday, May 16th at 7:00 PM in Church. All are welcome to witness this beautiful devotion to
Mary, Queen of Peace. Our Band Concert and School Show will take place on Thursday, May
23rd in the Parish Hall. Our Matinee performance will be the School Show for Grandparents &
Senior Citizens. Our evening performance will include our instrumental music students and is
open to the general public. Our 5th Grade students have been invited to participate in a Bullying
Prevention Program sponsored by the Upper Darby Police Department and the Upper Darby
Community Weed & Seed Program. This event will take place at Bonner/Prendie on Tuesday,
May 21st and will include students from St. Cyril, St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. Dorothy, St.
Eugene, St. Lawrence and Holy Child Academy. Our Class of 2013 Graduation will take place
with a beautiful liturgy at the 11:30 Mass on Sunday, June 9th. All parishioners are invited to
share in this celebration. An awards ceremony will follow the celebration of liturgy.
There was a discussion among the Council members about the troubling numbers of Holy Cross’
School enrollment and it resulted in some suggestions like initiating a Holy Cross Alumni
Scholarship Program. Both Jim Devenney and Anthony Creato may look into their resources.
There was also a suggestion on initiating a School Advisory Board with Sub-committees of
Marketing, Fund Raising, etc., with the possibility of creating a Brochure to promote Holy Cross
School and Parish. There were suggestions of asking for volunteers like a Graphic Designer to
donate their talent. Kate Fitzpatrick volunteered to write up an Ad for the School Advisory Board,
perhaps it can include asking for needed talents from the parish.
Kelly’s PREP Update: Our Confirmation was conducted by Bishop Fitzgerald and there were 64
participants. The Communion Retreat was on May 5th and 59 attended. Closing ceremonies will
be on May 20th at 7:00 PM. Early registration will soon be over (May 30th) and then no more
discount for regular registration; an additional fee will be applied to late registrants.
We are happy to have Ronnie Sidebottom again as our guest speaker, and as our head of our new
Evangelist Ministry and its Evangelization Outreach Initiative. Ronnie has presented us the
“working copy” of the anonymous questionnaire for our help to review it. I will retype it and
create an electronic copy and disseminate it to the council members for review and possible
editing. Hopefully, we can finalize the contents of the questionnaire in time to ‘piggyback’ it to
our next major mailing (possibly the Block Collection) to Holy Cross’ 2,200 parishioner families.
If anyone is interested in joining the new Evangelization, please contact Ronnie by email:
[email protected] or phone 610-623-8412.
Just before our meeting closed, Father gave each of us a #1 Catholic Best Seller Book entitled
“Rebuilt”. It will be our assignment to read this summer before our reunion in September.
As usual, I will send everyone a gentle reminder prior to our September meeting. Have a Blessed,
Healthy and Safe Summer.
Our Pastoral Council Scheduled Meetings for 2013: September 17th; November 19th;
Our Pastoral Council Scheduled Meetings for 2014: January 14th; March 11th; May 13th;
Warm regards,
-Maria