June 27, 2021
Holy Cross Pastoral Council Meeting
Members Present: Fr. John Kurgan, Brook Gleasman, , Lola Gualtieri, Claude Pilon, Karen Markoff, Linda Cadaret, Ken Kirkman, Cookie Dunham, Carl Thomas, Tom Griffith
Members Absent: Carl Thomas, Kira Reed, Bob McCrone, Mark Bentz
Guest: Steve Nepil
Opening Prayer
Brook Gleasman led the opening prayer.
Meeting was called to order by Brook at 9:05.
Old Business:
Minutes of May 23, 2021 Meeting
HC Pastoral Council Minutes and Diocesan Pastoral Council Minutes written and distributed by Karen.
Lola moved to accept May 23 Minutes, and Ken seconded.
Passed unanimously.
Old Business:
Father John
HCPC Commemorative Plaque- Orders backlogged due to Covid. Having difficulty finding names of past presidents. Cookie volunteered to look at old files.
Father Foley starts next weekend. Had picnic with staff last week to introduce him to HC staff.
HC will be taking over St. Anthony’s in Valley. Father Foley will be doing Spanish mass. Beginning next weekend, you may not see one of us around. Fr. John begins his new job as Vicar-General July 1.
Refugee Feedback from Parish- Father said Beth Schafer’s last day is June 30. Individuals will run the volunteer work vs. replacing her position. Ken said preference is Catholic family and Spanish speaking. Father said may have this facilitated through work with St. Anthony’s. Brook talked with parishioner yesterday regarding refugee and taking on new refugee family. Karen asked about last meeting’s survey to parishioners, say in August. Tom doesn’t like vote re’ refugee, etc.-suggested in-person forum. How the program is communicated makes all difference, so committee suggested forum in fall and spring to have discussion- would be more engaging and more relevant. Brook suggested we tell people we are on the Council- suggested we need everyone if interested to attend meetings and provide input. If you have thoughts, we would like to hear it. Cookie suggested we add members of Council to the bulletin, so people know who to contact. We also have the comment inbox to communicate on the website with a single email address. Lola will be checking that as chair of Communication Committee.
New Business:
Youth Ministry Summer Programs- Steve Nepil
Youth Group- had surprisingly fruitful year. Did Faith Formation remotely with Julie. They creatively tried new things they had wanted to do- was opportunity to try new things. Sacramental Prep became group setting- empowered parent as catechist with Steve’s video. It provided a time for parent pause and to have discussions with their kids; walk and talk with kids. Steve did Alpha series and had every parent in program- First Communion or Confirmation- parents did it with Steve and Julie. Real fruit was parents love having dialogue with kids, especially in high school. Making parents do Alpha was also positive- need to keep doing this. Have moments of conversion and put on fire with kids, need to keep doing with parents. 2300 boxes were sent out to families, average 415 with new content with 160 families every 4-6 weeks. Boxes coming into homes- it was really cool- Julie’s Faith Formation was with younger kids. Covid left it so everyone had to figure it out. Box system put HC on radar because did something different- gave kids and families something that they needed. Want people to say I love my church; people felt they were awesome. Need to cultivate the attitude we want to come to church; won families this year who were grateful. In youth ministry, saw a window. Hybrid in most public schools; all off on Wednesday and want socialization, so Steve reached out- morning mass, temperature checks. Steve did Bible Study, then up to Chapel and Holy Hour every week-taught kids how to pray; had recess-played and then study hall and or played games. On social level, many bonded and deeply invested hours every week -10-25 kids average every week. Kids have been close all year and have middle school kids who are dying to be around each other. In June, not so much prayer, but opportunities to show up together. Snowtop for ice cream every Tuesday, and we will play behind it. Have 2-3 adults to help. About 33 kids-have core kids who show up. At events-Lux Mundi discipleship group kids -older kids. Has 1-2 conversions and are coming in. 33 HS kids and parents will be going to Steubenville in two weeks. Totus Tuus is in two weeks. On our radar- core group of HS and MS kids coming up- about 20 -for youth group to jump to next level, need to replicate Lux Mundi group -need to get some adults to do mentor group for younger kids. We have intern who will work with middle school kids- replicate mentor group Steve has in HS (about 30 kids). Had good year connecting with families- fed the most faithful. Steve meets with intern every week; he is out of box- need to make this fun. Steve is creating discipleship that is designed to last forever, after Steve. Discussion of introducing opportunity with students to hook up with senior parishioners – to pray together. Mentorship goes both ways- need mentor. Get generations together. Should we start earlier with kids- i.e. Confirmation- Father mentioned debate about this at the time- over when to have Confirmation. Steve said they do not make the decision of when Confirmation occurs. Steve’s philosophy is start small with deep religious meaning- keep 30 strong vs. 50 weak followers that cannot be sustained. Probably 6-8th grade would be best time for Confirmation.
Church & Diocese Updates- Father John
July 5-9 Church is closed to fix driveway- no masses after Monday morning.
Staff will be working from home. No activities this week.
Diocesan Update-with priests doing more and more- Ken asked if at diocesan level if there had been discussion of increasing compensation for priests. He cited his son as an example who struggles to pay everything with current salary. Father said no discussion at this time, but there is an incremental increase with second or third church, school, etc.
Committee Reports/Updates: no updates
Closing prayer
Led by Brook at 10:11.
Motion to adjourn by Karen.
Lola seconded.
All in favor.
Meeting adjourned.
Next Meeting: Aug 8th , 9 a.m.