July 28, 2022

Pastoral Council Meeting

Members Present:   Fr. John, Karen Markoff (President), Linda Cadaret, Lola Gualtieri, Carl Thomas, Beth Schafer (Secretary), Bill Leiker (Vice-President), Kay Sgarlata, Margaret Ingraham, Ron DeLuca,Mark Bentz, Ken Kirkman.

Non-Voting Members Present: Nina Walters, Holy Cross School Principal; Trustees: Cookie Dunham, Claude Pilon, Tom Griffith.

Opening Prayer

  • Fr. John led the opening prayer

  • Meeting called to order at 5:31 PM

Old Business

Minutes of June 22, 2022

  • Kay moved to change references to Kay not Kate Sgarlata.

  • Seconded by Carl; all accepted.

Holy Cross Pastoral Council By-Laws

  • Karen began by noting that a Vision statement should be no more than 10-15 words, so it is very short & memorable. Vision is how you want to be seen; mission is how you get there.

  • Vision Statement: Much discussion; surfacing important words: disciples, authentic representatives and leaders. Action words were considered more appropriate for a mission statement.

  • Conclusion with general agreement on this vision statement: Holy Cross Pastoral Council members are parishioner representatives and leaders.

  • Mission Statement: Further discussion resulted in agreement on this mission statement:

  • Holy Cross Pastoral Council conveys God’s love and a sense of belonging to all parishioners, welcoming all and facilitating communication between Pastor and parishioners, enriching liturgical, sacramental & social life.

  • Fr. John noted the time: 40 minutes taken up with previous discussion.

  • Other changes to the by-laws: In the interest of brevity, Claude thought the most important change to the rest of the document was page 5, the addition of “community comments.” It was suggested that the time for those should be limited to 3 minutes. Another suggestion was that the community comments be moved to the end of the meeting. Conclusion: Claude and Karen will put the by-laws together and send it out for comment and vote at the next meeting.

  • Council Membership Terms: Claude referred to the document: Parish Council Membership-Three Year Rotation for the Fiscal Year 2023-2027. He noted that the chart shows that additional members would need to be elected by July 2026 in order to keep the 12 member total. Karen asked if the Council was ready to accept terms of Parish council membership as presented. Conclusion: The vote was tabled so members would have more time to review. A vote will be scheduled for the next meeting.

Parish Survey

  • Bill noted that the Communications Committee (Lola, Bill, Margaret, Beth, Ron) discussed via email the Leikert Scale. Discussion included: focus groups with a desire to keep it simple; a question: “What do you think we are doing well vs. what can be improved?” Karen noted that the Leikert Scale gives numbers; therefore, quantitative measurement. Fr. John suggested we consider a small survey each year targeting specific areas such as homilies and youth ministry. It was suggested that we ask one or two open-ended questions: what do you think we should work on? It would give us one or two things to focus on as a pastoral council. Margaret felt that the open-ended question was non-negotiable. Kay really liked the survey with the Liekert Scale that was presented as an example. Follow up is important when people offer feedback. Fr. John suggested we ask for a name if a suggestion or a complaint is made, so he can call them and follow up. Another idea for follow up is to put a summary of the responses in the bulletin. Discussion about how to distribute & collect the survey: We want to reach people through a variety of methods: email, in the pews, etc. Conclusion: at the next meeting, the Communication Committee will present the survey, a timeline and a method for distribution.

Council Publicity

  • Council Picture/Names if Frame in Entrance: Make sure to give your picture to Dan in the next few weeks.- he will put the picture together for us.

  • Council names included in bulletin: It was suggested that we put the Council names as a regular feature in the bulletin: Fr John will ask Josh to do it.

  • Increasing Communication: Ron noted the great photo of the youth ministry trip to Steubenville on the cover of the bulletin. He would like to see that shared with the Catholic Sun. Karen suggested that the Communication Committee take on this task.

New Business

Church Updates

  • Steps outside parish office entrance are completed. Railing for them will be up in a few weeks. Bushes hiding electrical service were removed and replaced. Totus Tuus is going on this week with daily Mass, as well as opportunities for Adoration & confession.

Holy Cross Fall Festival: Sept 25th

  • It was noted that Faith Formation postcards with an activity schedule were given out at youth camps and youth ministry. It was suggested that we ask Steve & Julie (& Nina) to share information like this with the rest of the parish. Council members are expected to be at the Fall Festival and helping Julie with food as well as circulating among the parishioners. Save the date: Julie will send out a letter with picnic assignments to us.

Committee Reports

School Committee (Karen, Linda, Ken, Cookie)

  • Nina said that the school is advertising in various media venues. Dan is putting an invitation to register for Holy Cross School in the bulletin.

  • Music room has been renovated and has become a Pre-K 3 classroom. A Pre-K 3 teacher was hired today. Three children signed up. We are hoping to have at least 12 children enrolled. Music has been moved to a new area and is still included in the curriculum.

  • A 65th Anniversary Church and school collaboration will be a big celebration planned for 2023.

  • State funding: Karen noted a possible source of funding approved by the Governor for PreK3 programs. Possible option if available for private schools.

  • Carl noted that racial diversity is important and asked how the school is doing in that area. He noted that it is important to focus on advertising to neighborhoods with racial diversity. A diverse student body adds to the well being of all HC students.

  • Karen is working on a letter from the Council, welcoming new parents. She will complete a sample letter for distribution. Nina is doing a welcome packet and offered to include the letter. It could be distributed on “Backpack Day”, August 30th.

Hospitality Committee (Cookie, Kay, Carl, Claude)

  • Greeters: Things are going well at 10:30 AM Sunday Mass. More people are offering to help. Still need help at the 5 PM Sunday Mass. We would like to have Josh add an invitation to parishioners to volunteer and help with hospitality. Bulletins are taken more often when they are handed out. Students are needed to hand out pamphlets and books at special liturgies, ex: Advent & Lent.

  • Food bank: There is an increase in families that are in need of food. Volunteers are requested for the November 5th Boy Scout Food Drive-9am to 2pm. Also, volunteers are welcome at the Thanksgiving Food Basket Give-away on November 19th. The Food Bank is located in the old Jamesville fire station.

  • October 16th Meet and Greet: We hope to resume coffee after Mass on a regular basis. It was suggested that we include ministry volunteer sign ups.

Finance Committee (Claude)

  • The fiscal year is July 1-June 30. Last year‘s parish support for the school resulted in a loss of $147,600. This year‘s parish support was $67,700, a significant improvement compared to the prior year. Contributing to this improvement was the addition of thirteen students, many non-affiliated with the parish. Also contributing was an $11,000 donation to the Educate-a-Kid program. Offsetting some of the improvement was the one-time cost for a commercial intrusion system, and higher utility costs. Approximately 77% of school costs is for salary and fringe benefits.

  • The preliminary financial results for the parish were also presented. General Operations results for the fiscal year were a net loss of $80,000 compared to a net loss of $53,000 for the prior year. Weekly collections were down 2% or $13,000; however, overage from the Hope Appeal of $27,000 and Youth Ministry income improvement of $16,000, (due to startup of programs previously suspended due to COVID) resulted in a net increase in revenues of $35,000. Expenditures were higher $62,000 due in part to youth programs commencing after COVID and one-time expenditures for sealing - $135,000 due to lower parish support for the school, explained above, and lower capital expenditures, COVID related.

  • In total, the parish realized a net income of $3,000 vs. a net loss of $178,000 in the prior fiscal year. The first time in many years a positive cash flow was achieved.

Other Updates

  • Fr. John said Deacon James & Fr. Foley are at Villanova this week for a business seminar.

  • Passing baskets at Mass will resume when we get more volunteers (4 volunteers needed per Mass) . We may need a sign up weekend for that...Ministry Fair might be a way to find volunteers-perhaps combined with the Meet & Greet or the Fall Festival.

  • Karen asked Nina to recruit fourth graders for Altar Servers.

  • Bill asked about Knights of Columbus; he was told that HC is affiliated with St. Mary’s Prayer Center in Minoa. Mark told him about HC members working for this program. Ken and Mark are members.

Closing prayer

  • Fr . John led the closing prayer.

  • Margaret motioned to adjourn. Mark seconded.

  • Vote unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 7:02.

Next Meeting: Sept 29 at 5:30pm

Holy Cross