Minutes of Meeting
St. John Bosco Pastoral Council
September 25, 2007
Present: Teri Coury, Kathy Jasany, Pat Kelly, Father Dave Liberatore, John Powers, Loretta Saintz, Dan Zawadzki
Absent: Vicki Formanik, Jim Gutosky, Richard Hahn
The meeting began at 7:15 with the opening prayer led by Dan Zawadzki.
Minutes from the June 26, 2007 meeting were approved.
Update provided by Father Dave.
This year was a success in spite of Sunday’s rain. Net profits were $72,000.
The goal for next year is $100,000.
Ideas to change next year’s festival include decreasing the amount of entertainment by booking a total of 4 bands for the entire event. This will help in cutting expenses.
Other ideas included a tractor pull event to help increase revenue; however more information will be needed before pursuing this proposal.
Update provided by Father Dave.
The Hot Lunch Program is going well. The cost is $2.00 per meal
Two people from the Diocese run the program with assistance from school parent volunteers.
Hot Lunch will not be served on October 16th and on Fridays during Lent.
Spanish has been added to the school curriculum for grades 1 through 8.
The Gift Certificate Program is being opened to the entire parish.
Cindy Rosko is in charge of the program and put the following procedures in place.
Cindy will order approximately $500.00 each of Giant Eagle, Speedway, Kohl’s and Home Depot each in $25.00 increments. These are the four top sellers.
Certificates will be sold after Mass in the Bell Tower on Doughnut Sunday weekends. Cindy currently has 18 volunteers to assist.
Cindy also plans on taking orders from any parishioner who is interested in ordering other certificates. The orders can be picked up at either the school or the church rectory.
It was suggested to put the order form on the SJB website so that parishioners can print them off and fill them out to place an order. Teri Coury will call Cindy to follow up.
If the program is successful, it can be expanded from one Sunday a month to twice a month.
Father Dave asked the Parish Council to think about where the money generated from this program should be used. Should the money be used for the general tuition fund, tuition assistance, or a combination of both? This needs to be discussed at the next meeting so that a decision can be made.
Update provided by Father Dave
The 9/24 meeting was cancelled and re-scheduled for 10/1.
Sue Merolt is in charge of communications. Each parish will receive the same report to publish in their bulletin.
The decision of the merger needs to be made soon, but a specific time frame has not been determined.
The Cluster committee will be looking at the strengths and weaknesses of each parish which was submitted earlier on the Composite Summary report filed by each pastor.
The finances of each parish will also be considered.
The meetings are very structured and have been productive up to this point.
Update provided by Dan Zawadzki
The luncheon will be on September 30th at 1:00 p.m.
96 invitations were sent out.
Approximately 30 people are coming to the luncheon.
Each ministry will be represented at the luncheon which will be an informal “meet and greet” gathering.
No report
Update provided by Father Dave
PSR started on 9/24
Enrollment has decreased. Part of the reason is because more parents are requesting to home school.
First Communion and Confirmation will be celebrated during four Masses in 2008. There will be 14-15 children receiving the Sacraments at the 9:30 and 11:30 Masses on two Sundays. The Bishop will be attending one of those celebrations.
Update provided by Kathy Jasany
The first doughnut Sunday will be on 10/7 with the Charismatic Prayer Group and the Child Care Center. The next one will be on 11/4 with the Parish Council, MOMS and the Stewardship committee.
Kathy needs representatives from our council to attend. Teri and Loretta volunteered to attend after 9:30 Mass. Kathy will be asking again at the next meeting if anyone will be volunteering for the November 4th Doughnut Sunday. Come early before Mass to set up and clean up is after 11:30 Mass.
Kathy has sent out a schedule to each committee with instructions for the 2007-2008 year.
Father Dave asked Kathy to give each committee representative a phone call to remind them when they are sponsoring doughnut Sunday and to encourage them to have literature/information about their group available.
Bingo has declined significantly since the smoking ban has been in place. Revenue has been cut in half. A suggestion was presented to Father Dave to have a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament to help generate revenue.
A Parish retreat was suggested for this Easter season. After discussion, it was decided that because Easter is on March 23, 2008, there is not enough time to prepare for an effective retreat. Perhaps a retreat in 2009 should be considered.
It was suggested that we consider publishing another SJB Parish Photo Directory. The last one was in October, 1999 where less than one half of the parish participated. It was still a real success and many use it today to identify fellow parishioners.
Should we publish another directory? If so, when? Perhaps in 2008 when SJB will be celebrating 45 years? We need to discuss this further.
Dan had correspondence with Mrs. Updegrove about the academic competitions for our students. These programs are being addressed.
Lisa Guerra had to resign from the Council for family / scheduling reasons. Her efforts over the past year have been greatly appreciated.
We would like to add two new members to the parish council. Send your suggestions to Dan or Father Dave.
It was suggested that a representative from the other parish groups attend a parish council meeting so that we can have better communication and discuss parish needs along with each group’s challenges and goals. A schedule will be set up for the 2007-08 meetings at our next meeting.
The meeting ended at 8:45 p.m. with the closing prayer led by John Powers.
The next meeting is scheduled for October 23, at 7:00 p.m.