I. Members Present:

Patty Hadden		Shirley Brunsman		Amy Vonderhaar
Bill Benvie		Joe Zins
Donna Patterson		Ann McMackin

II. Ex Offico Members Present

Fr. Jack		Chris Siciliano		Jodie Bender
Jan McManus

III. Members Absent

Michael Vilaboy

Anita Bidleman

Kevin Vance

IV. Opening Prayer

Fr. Jack shared the Gospel reading Mark 10:35-45

V. Previous Minutes

A. Approval of minutes

1. Patty moved and Donna seconded a motion to accept September's minutes with minor modifications.

VI. Reports

A. General notes

1. Those submitting written reports were asked to do so before the next Education meeting and to keep them timely.

2. Suggestion was made that the reports be included on the parish web site when possible.

3. Patty suggested that the minutes also reflect that the reports will be available upon request when they cannot be included on the website.

B. Pastor's Report: Fr. Jack

Father Jack thanked Shirley for the suggestion to have a welcome weekend for new parishioners, which will be held on November 11 and 12, with 65 new families invited. After mass families will be invited to the St. Clare room for donuts and fellowship with other St. Vivian families. The hope is to invite new families every six months for this fellowship.

1. Anointing of the Sick will take place at all masses on the weekend of October 28 and 29.

2. Parishioners who have lost family members during this past year are invited to a service called "Evensong" on Thursday November 2 for prayer and lighting of candles in their loved ones memory.

3. Father Jack was very impressed with the all school mass today. Each grade takes a turn singing after one of the school masses.

4. Parish Mission is November 6 through 9, 2000. Fr. Joe Rayes, O.F.M. will reflect on the question "Who are you, God? Who am I?" See the church bulletin for more details. Fr. Rayes also will speak at all the masses on the weekend of November 4 - 5.

C. Finance: Michael Vilaboy

Fr. Jack said Temporal Affairs is busy and continuing to meet.

D. Religious Education: Chris Siciliano

1. St. Vivian is hosting another Sharing program. "The Encouraging Parent and Raising Children in Faith" by Dr. Robert Kennedy at the St. Vivian Fr. Jack Filippine Center on November 12 and 13 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. The cost is $10 per person per night.

2. Chris asked us to pray for "The Lord's Friendly Bunch" as many members have experienced losses in the past year. Ken Czilinger spoke with members at the first meeting to help them deal with their losses. Guests are warmly welcome at The Friendly Bunch meetings. The meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month October through May. Members range in age from 16 to 62. An average of 10 of the 20 members usually attend. "Lord's Friendly Bunch" participating parishes are St. Vivian, St. James White Oak and Little Flower. If anyone knows of a family that might benefit from this organization, please contact Chris.

3. Discussion: Roles of Chris Siciliano and Jodie Bender at St. Vivian

a) Chris Siciliano, Secretary Lynn Preston

As the Pastoral Associate, Chris is working closely with our parish Worship Commission and parish liturgy preparation. She also works in the area of Adult Faith Formation, which includes the Sharing Cluster, the Just Faith program and the Lord's Friendly Bunch. Her DRE responsibilities tied directly to the school include liturgy preparation, and making sure the school teachers are certified to teach religion. She also serves as a resource person to the school teachers, and is involved in deanery and archdiocesan programs and committees.

b) Jodie Bender Secretary Jackie Barron

Jodie works with school age children through preparation for the sacraments, the Parish School of Religion (PSR), Vacation Bible School, and the Junior and Senior Youth group

c) Greg Hogg is in charge of the R.C.I.A.

d) The jobs that Chris, Jodie and Greg have may not be the same division of labor as at other parishes. When in doubt call either Chris or Jodie for direction.

E. Director of Youth Ministry and Religious Education: Jodie Bender

1. Jodie shared with the committee the schedules for P.S.R. and junior and senior high youth groups. Graphs of P.S.R, Vacation Bible School and youth group participation statistics for the past several years were distributed.

Joe and the commission were very thankful for Jodie's hard work compiling the information. Jodie will forward the reports to Tom Bove for the web.

2. St. Vivian hosted the World Youth Day October 1, 250 people came.

3. Junior high youth group

This year the 6th graders are joining the 7th, and 8th grades for most of the activities on an experimental basis. The first get together was a dance on October 13, 2000. 104 people attended.

4. Vacation Bible School

Less than 3% who attend are not members of St. Vivian Parish. A 3 yr. old class was added in the summer of 2000.

5. Senior High School.

a) St. Vivian and Little Flower Parishes meet together. Approximately 10% of the young adults come, which is a good percentage for high school.

b) The program includes sports, structured programs and a work camp in June.

F. School:

1. Parent-Teacher Conferences

Kevin and the staff decided to hold conferences for 10 minutes this year. Education Commission members previously suggested that they should be held for 15 minutes so that better home-school relationships could be developed, and sentiment was expressed by several members that 10 minutes was not sufficient.

2. Open House September 28th

a) Some families were confused about what to do, as the newsletter was confusing about how Open House was to be run. Some teachers reviewed students' schedules with multiple groups. There also was concern that the lines in the junior high to see teachers were long, which meant that those with younger children had little time left to see the young children's teachers.

b) Patty wondered if we could have two different schedules for open house, possibly different nights or schedules for the junior high parents.

c) The committee discussed the possibility of an open house to meet the teachers and staff before the opening of school, like previous years. Families like to meet the teachers before school starts, and teachers share similar interests as they want to meet the parents before school starts so they're familiar with the children and their families. Alternative days to hold the open house were discussed, along with their pros and cons. The night before school starts is not ideal, and the preceding Sunday conflicts with the parish picnic.

(1) This effectiveness of this year is hard to judge because of the death of Linda Dodd. We cannot judge this year like other years.

(2) We have a lot of new families and teachers in the school this year, and as a result many don't know the school and the teachers don't know the families?

(3) Jan will ask teachers for their view of open house.

(4) The Commission will discuss open house further in the Spring, but it was made clear that their role is advisory. Kevin will be asked to share the extent and the schedules for use of various facilities at our next meeting (i.e., computer lab, science lab, library) as the parish has invested considerable money into them.

(5) Kevin will also be asked to share the reports from the Accreditation Committees.

 

VII. Guests Present

None present

VIII. Unfinished Business

A. Small group discussions

1. Parish Adult Faith - Bill, Chris, Joe and Shirley

a) A flyer was in the bulletin to let parishioners know what is available for adults of the parish and community.

b) There are many opportunities for adult education. We will follow the attendance.

c) Those who are 65 years and over are the biggest group in the parish.

d) The church census has not been updated since 1994. Kathy Rothschild may be looking into updating the census.

2. Communication - Amy and Ann

a) Amy has no children in the school yet. She learns about St. Vivian from her neighbors and the Play Group. She has friends who have children in the school. She also reads the notes about school in the church bulletin.

b) Ann hopes a weekly school newsletter will be started again. The many papers sent home at one time bi-weekly are overwhelming, and the news is not always timely.

c) The short list of activities and dates are helpful in the bulletin but not all families in the school are parishioners.

d) Many of Ann's friends at different parishes in the city have weekly news sent home. Many schools send information papers home in an envelope, the parents sign the envelope and send it back to school for the next week.

3. Policies - Patty, Donna, Jan and Jodie

a) Policies of the school handbook need to be looked at in more detail. They have question about parts of the handbook.

b) Jan said the teachers are also working on their handbook. It will have to be reviewed by Education Commission.

c) Jodie is working on a P.S.R. handbook and philosophy, and hopes to finish it in about six months

B. Jodie discussed the young adult group of the parish

1. After four years with the Senior high youth group they should have a basis to stay involved with the community (e.g., helping with Confirmation and leadership in small groups). Last year the high school youth read the Passion of the Lord at the Good Friday service. Jodie knows of 11high school seniors from last year who help.

2. Jodie mentioned the diocese hired a part-time person for their office for youth ministry.

3. Ann asked about more young adults to help with Sunday mass as Lectors and Eucharistic ministers. Jodie has asked the young adults. They are concerned the parish will be upset if they miss a turn. The young adults feel they are treated differently from the adults of the parish.

C. Social With Ed. Committee, staff, teachers P.S.R., R.C.I.A. and families

1. A social is being planed by Amy and Patty to meet informally to build communications and fellowship.

2. Friday afternoon from 4pm. to 6pm. or a Saturday afternoon after the 4:30 pm mass with a reception to follow.

3. Families are invited and babysitting will probably be available.

4. Dates suggested are November 3, 4 or November 17, 18. November 3, 4 may be too soon

5. Jodie was concerned that the P.S.R. teachers may not come on the weekends of the P.S.R Classes.

6. Jan was asked to talk to the teachers and Jodie was asked to talk to the P.S.R. teachers.

7. Patty mentioned if we did not have the social in November we should wait until January.

D. "Our Hearts are Burning"

Donna Patterson is collecting $7 for the Adult Faith, "Our Hearts Are Burning" at St. Vincent Ferrer on January 18 and 25. The commission will attend this adult study in lieu of the January meeting. Contact Donna if you are planning to come and have not paid yet

IX. New Business

A prayer was said by all for the family and friends of Tim McManus due to the death of his sister.

X. Adjournment

A. Motioned: Shirley

B. Seconded: Patty at 9:20pm.

XI. Next Meeting:

Next Meeting is Tuesday November 14 at 7pm. in the St. Clare room