St. Joseph Parish Council
Attendance: Msgr. Bottino, Anthony Capella, Sal Capelli, Frank Carrelli, Ron Chance, Madge Codone, David DiMeglio, Tom Durney, Mary Kryvoruka, Hugh LaMonaca, Maryann Laslie, Jack Marinella, Joseph Olive, Anthony Padovani, Esq., Elvera Porter, Pat Rodio, Minerva Rodriguez, Agustin Saldana, Sr. Dorothy Toussaint, Alex Tigro
Guests:
Richard Blasberg, Nick Vittucci, Bill Crescenzo, Burwell Porter
Excused Absent: Namia Bemudez, Pat Campanella, Marti Badagliacco
The meeting began at 7:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Elvera Porter led the meeting in prayer.
A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes that were inserted in the church bulletin.
Ways and Means Committee: Anthony Capella, chairperson, Anthony Padovani, Namia Bermudez, Pat Rodio
No Report
Ecumenical Committee: Joe Olive, chairperson, Namia Bermudez
Education Committee: Anthony Padovani, chairperson, Richard Blasberg
The committee plans to combine Catholic School, CCD, Parent Youth Education Association (PYEA), and Spanish speaking community to see how improvements can be made in reaching the young parishioners. Plans are being discussed to set policies, plan bi-lingual Masses, and encourage more people to get involved.
Liturgical Committee: Marti Badagliacco, chairperson, Ron Chance
Meeting was held to prepare for Lent. It included decoration ideas, music suggestions, and a possible 3-day mission given by Fr. Edward Namiotka. At the next meeting in March, Holy Week will be discussed.
Maintenance Committee: Sal Capelli, chairperson,
Anthony Capella, Ron Chance, Dave DiMeglio
Sal Capelli complimented Bobby Capoferri, Dave DiMeglio, Frank Carrelli, Alex Tigro, Nick, Lou Santiago and his son, for their part in getting the white house leveled and for clearing snow at church, school, and convent. The needed dirt to fill in the hole and the salt to melt snow were donated.
The Red Brick Veneer House at the cemetery, 218 North First Road, will be used as a cemetery office, distribution of food center for the needy, and possibly St. Vincent DePaul Society. Sal Capelli and Dave DiMeglio evaluated the house and noted Major Concerns: Remove one chimney, fix main chimney (caulk to stop leak), rear small roof has pulled away from main house, railing needed on front and rear porches, repair two ceilings from water damage, boiler and hot water heater are original, air conditioner is from 1984. Minor Concerns: paint wall interior, remove all paper, new rugs and vinyl flooring, appliances are old, sidewalk and handicapped entrance to front door needed. Miscellaneous Concerns: sewer or septic, insulate roof, replace 4 basement windows, bleed radiators, removal of old appliances. Volunteers needed; namely, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, painters, etc. to keep expenses at a minimum.
It was suggested that a billboard of needs be put up in back of Church. Monsignor will seek two sources of funding; namely, House of Charity and a private group looking to donate money for a worthy cause.
Another issue discussed was the fire hazard chicken coops. Intentions are to replace them with a building of 24 x 32 or 24 x 40.
Social Activities Committee: Elvera Porter, chairperson, Mary
Kryvoruka, Marti Badagliacco, Madge Codone, Pat Campanella
The committee will plan a social function for each quarter of the year. In addition to New Year’s Eve party a “Spring Fling” is being planned for April 16, 2005, 8:00 to Midnight, cost is $20.00. An Autumn Festival is scheduled for October 22, 2005.
Youth Ministry Committee: Rich Blasberg, chairperson, Maryann Laslie
Approximately 20 young people attended the Friday night activities regularly. It is working well. As an incentive Msgr. allowed the 7th graders to skip CCD if they attended the Friday night Youth Group – 6 young people showed up and returned the following week. Problems included cleanliness of basement (possibly community service hours could be used), handicapped entrance, heater left on, documents for fingerprinting (Diocese is devising a system).
Religious Celebrations Committee: Frank Carrelli, chairperson, Maryann Laslie, Alex Tigro, Rick Blasberg
New Items for Sale:
Aprons (50), Red Stand hats, and gloves will be used by volunteers. This means 30 sponsorships at $100 each will be needed to cover these expenses. Stand placements were discussed (i.e. candle stand and beer garden). Measurements will be taken and plans will be proposed.
Since Agresta is selling dealership, Anthony Padovani will look into the possibility of Shore Toyota offering the same deal that Agresta gave us in the past; namely, printing of tickets worth approximately $5,000. Kerbeck will also be approached.
Religious Article Stand needs someone to operate it. The stand will sell the Mt. Carmel shirts, printed by Joanna Cohn. Abbot Church Supply will work with committee to provide best prices. Mrs. Padovani may be able to run the stand.
Anthony Padovani will look into problems that may arise from table rentals on Church Parking Lot to avoid legal issues.
The Website St. Joseph Church (www.st-josephparish.org) and Mt. Carmel Festival (www.mtcarmelfeast.com) are our two websites. Help is needed with content, pictures, and English/Spanish. Msgr. will provide a mailbox for articles to be posted to the Website in the rectory for Frank. E-mail can be used to cut postage costs. Use of the site will be encouraged and included in the announcements from the altar. Festival mailing list is being updated. A mailing company will be used this year and then from time to time after this. The database will be gotten from the company if possible. A Pep Rally with small sandwiches and drinks will be planned to hand out shirts, aprons, and keep track of volunteers.
Evangelical Committee: Hugh LaMonaca, chairperson, Pat Campanella
Two Lenten Faith Sharing groups will meet. One in the afternoon at Frank Weiss’ house and the evening one in the rectory basement.
Sunday Coffee and Donuts groups can use more volunteers. Up
to 11 dozen donuts are purchased each week.
By Laws Committee: Hugh LaMonaca, Alex Tigro, Ron
Chance
· The committee met with Msgr. Bottino to assess how well our constitution conformed to current diocesan guidelines.
· Our constitution was drafted in 1999 using the then current guidelines issued in 1994; the guidelines were revised in 2001.
· The new guidelines are much less specific regarding organizational models, allowing parishes considerable latitude in tailoring an organizational structure to their specific needs.
· The new guidelines place strong emphasis on the role of the pastoral council in assisting the pastor in formulating and updating the Pastoral Plan. Although a Pastoral Plan was created for our parish, the council, as a whole, has not played a role in the process.
· According to the guidelines, we need to shift our emphasis away from detailed implementation (which should be done primarily by other organizations in the parish) to long range planning and monitoring.
· The guidelines recommend a council size of from ten to fifteen members; we are currently much larger.
· The number of ex officio and appointed members should not outnumber the elected membership; our council currently does not comply.
· It was agreed that we will not make any changes to the current terms of office, but Msgr. Bottino will not fill appointed positions when the current terms expire, until the number of appointed positions is consistent with the guidelines.
· The committee will draft an amendment to the constitution that will bring the number of appointed positions to within diocesan guidelines.
· It was agreed that the existing committee structure is adequate for our needs. The Religious Celebrations Committee scope should be expanded to include other parish celebrations, notably, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Joseph.
· Consideration should be given to the establishment of a Social Activities Committee (as distinct from the Social Action Committee), that would be concerned with planning and coordinating parish social activities that are not intended to be fund raising in nature. There was some concern that we may be creating too many committees, and the subject should be presented to the general council for its opinion.
· It was noted that the constitution calls for the election of officers at the January meeting. Msgr. Bottino requested that elections be held at the February meeting and that the Constitution Committee be responsible for conducting the elections.
· The committee will meet in the next few months to consider an amendment to fix the council membership.
Old
Business:
Air Conditioning bids are still being sought. Units need to be disconnected.
Congratulations were extended to Ron Chance for providing the boxes for food, counters by the two side doors, and counter tops for the secretarial office in the rectory.
New Business
Election of Officers:
Before elections took place, Monsignor recommended that all officers remain the same so that everything will continue to run smoothly. Elections took place; the council unanimously followed Monsignor’s advice.
President, Jack Marinella
Vice President, Sal Capelli
Secretary, Sr. Dorothy Toussaint
Anthony Padovani will look into the possibility of procuring funds for renovation of buildings committed to serving the community (State Agencies, CREDA, etc.); for example, the Bingo Hall serves senior citizens, Flu Shots, Youth Group
Monsignor informed the council that additional topics need to be considered, i.e. new Budget proposed by the Diocese, Bingo Power Ball, cost of cemetery maintenance (i.e. $1,200 water bill), other sources of income to cover things that have been abandoned too long, air conditioning in the church, namely
Diocesan Inspectors will be looking at the Bingo Hall to determine the total cost of what needs to be done and submit a total cost (i.e. roof, bathrooms, kitchen). The decision will be made to gut or level it. Monsignor sees the cemetery, mausoleum, and crypts in church basement as a source of revenue to cover much of the costs.
The Red House across from the elementary school will be leveled and during the Feast, the lot will be used for Toilets that will be cleaned often.
Pastors do not want the expansion of the high school to be linked to parish churches. Diocesan Office of Development is concerned with Phase 2 of St. Joseph High School Renovation. Monsignor mentioned that the Diocese is still seeing the high school as a parish. All other original parish schools except St. Joe grew out of this concept. Parish subsidy stays but 1/3 of students come from St. Mary’s in Williamstown. Since they have their own school, parishes could be increased to the arishes that feed the high school.
At 9:00 p.m. a motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Ron Chance and seconded by Anthony Capella. Elvera Porter led the closing prayer.
The next meeting will be held on March 1, 2005, at 7 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Jack Marinella suggested that we attend the 6:30 p.m. Mass as a group.
Respectfully submitted,
Sr. Dorothy Toussaint