Minutes from the meeting held on November 16, 2004

The meeting began with a Scripture reading and the Parish Prayer.

Update on reconfiguration   Mary, Star of the Sea:

The weekend of welcoming was considered successful and very much appreciated by the Star of the Sea parishioners. Some of the people said that it was helpful and they considered it very positive. There is a welcoming sign that received both positive and negative comments. If it becomes a permanent sign we would need approval from the building department within the city of Quincy. 

We discussed the possible transportation issue for the people from Squantum and have not received any names of people that cannot attend Mass because of lack of transportation. 

The November 13 statement from Archbishop Sean on reconfiguration was distributed and discussed at this meeting. Generally, some council members said they were very surprised at the financial disclosures and a few said that it was heart wrenching to read about the difficulty the Archbishop expressed and the pain and agony he described for himself and others. Many agreed that communication like this is essential for everyone’s understanding and we hope it will continue to be as open as possible.

Father O’Brien distributed to the council members a proposal from "Friends of Star of the Sea" to the Archdiocese requesting that their church remain as a mission. It has been sent to the Archbishop. The church is technically now part of Sacred Heart and therefore the proposal was sent to Father O’Brien. The proposal was presented to 160 people within their church and the vote was unanimous.

We discussed the activity on adult formation/education and mentioned the film “Shadowlands” (C. S. Lewis) will be available Nov. 17th. For our book discussion group we are reading “Tuesdays with Morrie”. 

A farewell mass and reception for Father Jim Robertson occurred and it was a very large gathering of parishioners. His new assignment will be in Austin, Texas. His new address is listed in the weekly bulletin. We discussed the possibility of Father Robertson’s successor and there is no one identified as of yet. We do know that the church warrants another associate. Father O’Brien has been named the Vicar Forane for the Quincy Vicariate of the Archdiocese. He will coordinate communication among the parishes of Quincy, Braintree, Milton and Randolph. This role will be in place until June at which time there may be changes as a result of the reorganization. This work is in addition to his role as pastor.

Our Christmas program, “Our Brother’s Keeper,” will be run differently this year. Because of personal issues, the Mannings will not be solely responsible for the event. We have included a flyer in our bulletin with all the details. All gifts must be returned no later than Dec. 12th at the 10:30 Mass.

We will not have our regular Parish Council meeting in December.

Those present this evening were John Princiotti, Angela Marre, Rosemary Kubera, Father John O’Brien, Debbie Riordan, Norma Murphy, Rose Mary Feeney, Margaret Kinsella, Peter Jae, John Salenius, Maureen Conway and Kevin Coughlin.