Tuesday, June 22, 2004

The meeting began with a Scripture reading and the parish prayer.

Father O’Brien gave an update on the parish meeting of June 15th on the reconfiguration. He thought it was well attended and others on the Parish Council concurred. Most people seemed to be from Star of the Sea and their questions were around how they would join Sacred Heart parish, particularly being involved within the different ministries. Their church has been instructed to close by November of this year. A suggestion to hold any upcoming meetings in the chapel was brought forward.

We also were reminded that the new parish with Star of the Sea is our new parish with the emphasis on being one—rather than assimilating the new people—the body from both churches will now become a new body.

The Welcoming Manual arrived which is in manual form and CD form. The sample was passed around for the group to peruse. The manual is for us as the welcoming parish. We discussed where records will reside and anything after 1930 will come to Sacred Heart parish—prior to that date it will go to the archives.

Father O’Brien requested people to identify their interest in being on a transitional team. This group is in the process of being formed now. We will obtain a position description from Kathleen Hecht from the archdiocese.

We may reinstate the cluster meetings with Sister Pat Boyle.

We discussed the possibility of looking at our church and its members within an organizational development mode. An idea was given around the assessment of our structure, initiatives, talent and so forth with the intent of analysis and trying to deliver best practices.

Regarding the adult faith formation topic, we think people appreciate the book discussion group. Next week will be the film presentation and the first film will be “The Spitfire Grill.” We think people will enjoy this film and hope it will continue as a faith formation initiative. Many films were discussed, including “The Mission.” In short, there is no shortage of great films that focus on values, integrity and morals. We need to get input from people and generate a list from that input.

We had some discussion on a day of recollection for women. We may also come up with some kind of prayer group for men. More discussion needs to occur. Tentative dates have been set aside for the women’s day of recollection—October 2^nd and 16^th.

Regarding the newsletter we talked about soliciting people to work on it as well as the kind of material for it. One item mentioned was the appointment of Michael Marcinkus as the new Sacred Heart School principal, He is a resident of South Boston and comes to us with a background in both public and parochial education. Sister Ann Marie will be leaving the end of June.

Those in attendance were Deb Riordan, Father O’Brien, Rosemary Kubera, Rose Mary Feeney, Margaret Kinsella, George Clisham, Howard Lotis, Maureen Coway, Father Robertson, Norma Murpy, Angela Marre, John Saleius and David Shoemaker.

The next Parish Council meeting which was to be scheduled for the Fall will be held on July 27, 2004. We thought it would be beneficial to have an extra meeting this summer because of reconfiguration activities.