Minutes from the meeting held on July 26, 2005

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

Reconfiguration Update
We discussed the Mass on July 17th at Star of the Sea Chapel. Father O’Brien said the Mass which was attended by approximately 300 people   There was a very good turnout as well as media. There have been inquiries about baptisms and a wedding at  the chapel but the response has been that these can take place at Sacred Heart Church. There is a group of people that want full worship and services at the chapel.   We have direction from the archdiocese to have a Sunday Mass only. Also, the priests from St. Ann may be able to help us in providing this Mass.

We discussed needing candidates for Parish Council in the Fall and we plan to use the process of discernment and prayer. The choices should include people from the Squantum area. We are also seeking a representative from the Asian community.

Transportation Ministry is the same as reported last month. We have six people looking for assistance and we do not have volunteer drivers yet.

The parish listening session is scheduled for October 5th at 6:30 in Sacred Heart Church. A group of  people will be involved in the planning and should meet sometime in August. We want to do the best outreach possible.

Adult Formation
The film offerings have been a success. It was agreed by all that we would continue it. The book discussion is also well attended and the next book will be Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder to be held on September 25th. More discussion on Adult Formation—Father O’Brien will contact Sister Pat Boyle at St. Ann to perhaps collaborate on the New Beginning and the Little Rock Scripture Series. He also contacted Celia Sirois who agreed to conduct a series of discussions on Mark’s gospel to be held on Tuesday mornings  at 9:45 to 11:45 in the Fall.

Sacred Heart School
We have a new school principal of Sacred Heart  School.  She is Mrs. Katherine Hunter. We are very pleased that she has decided to accept this position and will look forward to working with her. Mrs. Hunter will be introduced to the parishioners by speaking at the 10:30 Sunday Mass and inviting people to a coffee reception at the conclusion of Mass. On August 21st at the August Moon Festival, we will have a representative from the school. On August 10th there will be a coffee for the principal and faculty At the end of October there will be a process occurring for reaccreditation of the school.

The status of the CAP Program was discussed. Angela Marre and Rose Mary Feeney will coordinate the training program. 

Howard Lotis discussed the archdiocesan mandate to eventually be on the same database for purposes of continuity of information. Eventually people will receive communication by electronic mail.

On September 29th we will celebrate Forty Hours Devotion through October 1. There are signs placed in the church to give further explanation to the service. This is being celebrated at the request of Archbishop Sean within the Year of the Eucharist.

The council members discussed an evaluation of our PPC meetings. We asked people present at this meeting to give us a verbal assessment of our contributions at the meetings and an evaluation of our activity in general. Some ideas were agreed upon regarding the way in which we work as a team.  Committees, sub-committees could be formed in order to focus on goals and initiatives sharing the workload. We believe more may be accomplished by working in small groups on a particular task. It was also suggested that we market and/or advertise ourselves as council members in order to inform the parishioners informally of what is happening—as well as, soliciting their ideas. We also thought  that individual council members might take on more strategic thinking and planning of the future. We emphasized the importance of  all of us feeling comfortable in sharing ideas. We recalled the wonderful dinner held last year and said that we should have the event again after the new council members are elected. A social event is a great way of sharing ideas and establishing relationships. 

Those in attendance this evening were Rosemary Kubera, Rose Mary Feeney, Norma Murphy, John Princiotti, Howard Lotis, Angela Marre, Margaret Kinsella, Kevin Coughlin, Father O’Brien and Deb Riordan.

The next Pastoral Council meeting will be September 27th.