Minutes from the meeting held on April 26, 2005.

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

An update concerning the reconfiguration of churches within the Boston Archdiocese was discussed. The church in Squantum celebrated Easter vigil in the Squantum church hall. The people in Squantum did meet with the business leaders representing the Archdiocese which includes Janet Eisner and Peter Meade and will await a reply from their recommendation to the Archbishop. The Friends of Star of the Sea would like to keep the church open as a chapel. 

We asked the people at Star of the Sea to identify themselves if they needed a ride to Sacred Heart. We have only two people so far.

Other news that came from the meeting of the transitional team on April 5^th  was the successful evening held for Lenten Chowder and the Stations of the Cross.  It was an annual event done at Squantum and it was well attended and enjoyed by all.  We plan to do it again next year.  Another request that came from the Transitional Team meeting was to have another Parish Listening session in the fall.  That also will probably be an annual event.

Update on Adult Formation/Education. Howard Lotis is doing research on this issue and we do not have a report yet since he is on vacation. We are looking for suggestions regarding both books and films. Suggestions are being given to Howard. The book for discussion on May 29th will be Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It has received wide praise from different book review reps.

A review on New Beginnings was read by Father O’Brien. We were asked to think about it as part of our adult formation/education. If we decide to offer this program, which is done in three one-hour presentations, it may be done in the September timeframe. A suggestion was made to either do a test run, or ask a church using it to lend us their material. We discussed the identification of an audience. It is worth further research. One key issue is how to attract people to attend.

We had an interesting discussion on discipleship within the parish. In theory, it would be a good idea if people would participate more fully in the church by accepting a particular role, ie. lector, Eucharistic minister, religious education teacher and to rotate to these roles. This is an example also of what the New Beginnings program espouses—going from membership to ownership. We mentioned that it would be easier for some people to accept a ministry if they received a personal invitation.

Some explanation was given on the Little Rock Scripture Series. It is an 8 week program consisting of two hour sessions. Requires a facilitator. This we will consider after the New Beginnings program. Hopefully, out of New Beginnings there may be some parishioners that would be interested in facilitating the Scripture series.

Other items discussed were the Glastonbury Abbey Bookstore outreach program which will be held here the weekend of October 1 and 2.

The Por Cristo Walk will be strengthened for next Lent. We will educate and advertise early on next year to help revive the interest. It will be a theme during the entire lenten season and become once again an integral part of our ministry as a church.

The Easter Triduum was very much appreciated by the parishioners and many people talked to Father O’Brien about how pleased they were and appreciative. The Mass for Pope John Paul II held here at Sacred Heart was also very well received. Many letters and flowers from other Christian churches were sent to us as a sign of sympathy.

The summer schedule for our Parish Pastoral Council meetings was discussed and also the terms of the members. We have about four people whose terms are over, however, Father O’Brien stated that people can stay for one more term if they would like and he will talk to people individually. We also have several other openings which we would like held by people from Star of the Sea. It would be great to have one or two members from Sacred Heart School or a high school age youth.

A question was asked about youth ministry and although it is very desirable we simply do not have funds to initiate a program. We thought that Easter revenues may increase but it has been dropping. We do not know the reason for the decrease.

We need to look at our program for prevention of child abuse which needs to run once or twice a year. The commitment is to have new people attend and also as a refresher program/awareness.

Peter Jae will organize a multi-language Rosary night some Friday evening in May and it will be in the bulletin. The tentative date is May 13th at 6:30 PM.

Note: A correction from the March minutes of the PPC meeting—Confirmation was held on March 6th (not May 6th).

Those present at this meeting were: Rosemary Kubera, Rose Mary Feeney, Angela Marre, John Salenius, Peter Jae, Father O’Brien, Norma Murphy, Maureen Conway, Kevin Coughlin, Rich Letham, Rick Rossi, Deb Riordan, Margaret Kinsella and Marjory O’Day.

The next Parish Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 24, 2005.

The summer meetings will be on June 28, 2005 and July 26, 2005.