PAR Monthly Update

2007.09.10 September 2007 Leadership Night and PPC Minutes
Parish Pastoral Council:
The Council meeting began by recapping the major discussion themes of its summer evening retreat, many of which involved searching for ways to help St. A’s be a place that parishioners will feel is important to them throughout their lives. Having found a “strength-finder” exercise helpful to identifying talents of its members, the Council decided to open this exercise up to the members of the 5 PAR coordinating groups, as well. Father Tom updated the group on the search for a new Youth Minister. There was some discussion about the need to unite different groups within the Parish, and all expressed a desire for greater representation of the School on PAR leadership committees and events. Representatives from parish groups examining the possibility of a parish capital campaign gave an update of their research and discussions. Andrea Sorensen and Bob Doyle agreed to serve at Co-chairs for this coming year.

Administration:
The Administration Coordinating Group began developing a workplan to design and launch a Parish ListServ to enhance communication to parishioners. "ListServ" is the generic term for an email-based mailing list application. Over the next couple of months the St. Athanasius ListServ will be populated with parishioner contact information and the content and design of the ListServ will be outlined and defined.

Community:
There are two big upcoming events which will have receptions provided by our Hospitality Committee: October 7, 2007, 9:30am Mass: Deacon Dick Jay’s 25th Anniversary of his ministry as deacon of St. Athanasius, and November 4, 2007, 9:30am Mass: 70th Anniversary of the building of St. Athanasius Church. Our Hospitality Committee needs more volunteers. Until there are more members, hospitality after Masses will be for special occasions only. Groups may also make requests for hospitality (ie, Angel Ball) to Pat. A booth will be set up at Oktoberfest to welcome new parishioners. We plan to review the Organizational chart next month.

Faith Formation:
The Faith Formation group discussed finding new parishioners to join the group. The group also explored new ways of energizing the Parish through adult faith formation. One of the ideas mentioned was whole community catechesis or intergenerational gatherings four times a year.

Outreach:
The lack of participation in the Moms program was discussed and a number of suggestions were offered to try to bring about more active involvement by the Moms. We were reminded that we need to keep on top of the issue of making the parish campus more accessible. We were informed that there will be new Red Book in Church. We wanted to be sure that some large print copies are purchased and that they are strategically placed for easy access. We discussed a number of upcoming calendar events. The Ecology Committee will begin a monthly “Green Life” section in the Chimes. They are planning “Movie Nite” with ecology themes. They will hold a Light Bulb Drive in the near future. The Crop Walk is being held on Oct. 21 more details will appear in the Chimes. Peace and Justice will have a day to support the Prison Ministry with a speaker.

Worship:
We began our meeting by discussing how to increase input from the worship sub-committees, and decided to actively recruit new people in the coming month. We also talked about how to expand use of Power Point at our masses, now that a G4 laptop has been specifically donated to us for liturgical use. We would be thrilled if 8th graders would consider helping us with Power Pointing our songs at Mass as a way of fulfilling their service hours for Confirmation. The last thought of the meeting was that we might need to form a small sub-group that would be specifically devoted to working on different types of activities throughout the course of the year in order to fully acknowledge and celebrate this 70th year anniversary of our beautiful church.

2007.10.01 October 2007 Leadership Night and PPC Minutes
Administration:
The Administration Coordinating Group brainstormed topics and parameters of content for the parish-wide ListServ to enhance communication within the parish. "ListServ" is the generic term for an email-based mailing list application. Over the next couple of months the St. Athanasius ListServ will be populated with parishioner contact information and the content and design of the ListServ will be further outlined and defined.

Faith Development:
The Faith Formation committee would love some volunteers for only a few hours at a time, doing writing and interviewing. The majority of these tasks can be done at home in only an hour or two. Specifically we would love some school parents from the sacramental units to help keep the parish apprised of the sacraments. We would love writers to write stories of faith. And history buffs who would interview parishioners about St A’s past so we can keep a record of who we were as well as who we are.

2007.12.03 December 2007 Leadership Night and PPC Meeting
Worship:
The Music Ministry was budgeted $20,500 for next year. This was $6,500 short of what had been proposed. The overall amount had increased over last year but the amount allotted to operations ended up less because part of the budgeted money now included health benefits extended to the Music Director.

We are at risk of loosing the anchors, the two professional singers who are hired each week to provide a solid voice for tenors and basses in the four part harmony choir that performs exclusively at the 9:30 Mass and at special events such as Christmas and Easter.
It was suggested that we either have to cut back on the quality of sound or request the congregation make a special donation. Other fund raisers were suggested such as having the choir participate in the football parking, hold a bake sale, or make a special donation request to the Woman’s Club.

The committee also discussed the issue of Masses starting and ending later than scheduled.

It was also pointed out the sparseness of choir members at the 11:30 Mass (no anchors either). It was proposed that a request be made for volunteers at the Mass. Several parishioners indicated an interest in the 11:30 Choir in the Parish Ministry Opportunities Survey. They will be contacted soon. One of the problems to be worked out is when practice will be held.

Several parishioners have expressed interest in the Ministry Opportunities survey in helping out with the PowerPoint projection of the Hymn words on the wall. They will be contacted shortly. Presently Art Schmidt authors the presentation each week and is assisted by Nicholas Di Vito in running the presentation at 9:30 and 11:30. Fran Walker runs the show for 8 am Mass when she is available.

2008.01.08 Leadership Meeting
Faith Development:
The Faith Development committee used the new goal rubric to focus their attention and energy on the dissemination of faith stories. The committee hopes to inspire and record the stories of faith and history at St A's. We look forward to meeting with the volunteers to develop the project further. The committee also discussed the importance of communicating with the different parish ministries under it's umbrella. It was a good start to the New Year.

2008.02.04 February, 2008 Leadership Night and PPC Meeting
Parish Pastoral Council:
The PPC is working on the Ministry Fair in April. We discussed how to best communicate the PAR process and the value of attending these parish meetings. We spent a lot of time evaluating facilitating witness talks, an informal testimony to the rewards of parish ministry.

Community:
We are seeking volunteers to sit at a "Newcomers Table" to welcome new parishioners at the St. Patrick's Day party on March 8, 2008. We are currently preparing for the visit of Cardinal George on February 10, and hospitality following the 9:30am Mass. We still need additional volunteers to serve as greeters and to clean up after the reception.

Faith Development:
The Faith Development Coordinating Group welcomed a visitor to PAR, Lisa Weber, a new school parent. We discussed the particulars of getting our Faith Stories written and shared. We are planning further meetings with our volunteer writers.

Outreach:
The Outreach Coordinating Group will begin to publish in the Chimes, on a regular basis, a description of one of the Outreach ministries and invite those interested to contact the Ministry Leader. We continue to contact ministry leaders as a follow-up to the MInistry Sunday, informing them of potential volunteers.

Worship:
The Worship Coordinating Group identified its goal of improving the Mass experience, and will monitor the liturgical ministers. We will continue the excellent efforts of starting Masses on time, and encouraging liturgical ministers to cover for each other as needed at the Masses.

Administration:
The Administration Coordinating Group plans to implement a "Targeted Internet Communication Tool", to distribute emails targeted to specific parish groups with information relevant to those groups. We will use "Constant Contacts" to facilitate this communication, and will work to identify and write guidelines on how this tool will best be used.