Members Present: 

Fr. Paul, Star Vondrell, Lisa Brackmann, John Hadden, Fran Vanarsdall-Schwartz,  Dave Nichols, Mary Ellen Smith, Teresa Besl, Steve Bien, Cindy Engelhardt, Dave Lennert, Star Vondrell.

I. Fr. Paul opened the meeting with prayer.

II. Approval of Minutes was not conducted.

III. All formalities of regular Parish Pastoral Council were waived to conduct a Joint Meeting of Parish Council and Parish Commissions and Organizations.

Jane Browe was commended for her excellent Power Point presentation that was organized to encourage open communication amongst: Parish Council, Commissions and the Community at large.  She compiled all of the responses gathered prior to this meeting from various groups and commissions and set up the format for discussion at the open forum.

 

A.    How can PPC Help??

1) Support of committee for adult faith formation -  create a sub committee of Education commission (adult and family across the entire Parish) - discussion of overlap with Worship Commission and a need to coordinate

2) Network of Prayer - include petition at each Mass to include those who have requested prayer through the Network of prayer

3) Vibrations - there is a need for more involvement from other areas of the Parish, contributors for articles.  There was a suggestion to spotlight 6-8 groups in each edition.

4) Question was raised, how do you get a question or comment to the PPC.

5) Parish Vocation Committee - Milt Partridge spoke of a need to make the parish aware of a newly reorganized committee that was formed at the request of the Archbishop in every parish.

6) There was a discussion of coordination of communication throughout the Parish.  Tom Bove has software that can accommodate up to 80 groups.

 

B.    How can we build on success??

1) Volunteers:  The suggestion was made that Discernment Sunday include an opportunity to volunteer for activities in the school, parish, etc.  It would give non-school parents and opportunity to volunteer in the school.

2) Tom Bove can set up a link through the Parish web site to link volunteers with specific needs of groups.

3) Tim McManus discussed an organization, Institute of School and Parish Development, that is available for us to review and use.

4) Define the goals and expectations of all of the groups in the Parish - what is the purpose, what is the goal?

5) It was suggested that this large group format be conducted again after the completion of the Parish Survey, scheduled to begin in January, 2006.  This would be an opportunity to begin on the 5 year plan.

The gathering was considered to be a good start to the PPC goal for increased communication and cooperation throughout the Parish.