ST MARY'S / HOLY FAMILY PARISH COUNCIL
Meeting 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 8th, 2023
(at Holy Family)
In attendance: Fr. Frank Jay, Mary Pendergast, Denise Jakubiak, Valerie Cyr (CWL), Paul Cyr (Knights), Zenaida Saldenha, Don Clark. Regrets: Maggie LeClair Call to Order 6:30 p.m.: Mary Pendergast Opening Prayer: Fr Frank
AGENDA: Mary reported that an AGENDA had not been generated for this meeting as this is essentially the first meeting of this group, a re-forming of the Council after the difficult years of the COVID pandemic, and an AGENDA will be generated for next meetings.
1. Cooperation Agreement with United Church for use of Murray Christian Centre: Question was brought forward: What happened with the possible partnership with the United Church to use their space for gatherings and Catechism classrooms? a) The two former Parish Council members who had taken that task on have since left the Catholic church, unfortunately, so there has not been any further progress made in that direction – that we are aware of. b) Also, it seems that preliminary discussions found that cost was concerning, and may have been prohibitive. c) It was agreed by the group that this is something that also would have been awkward and may not happen except for the occasional times when there is a social following a funeral or other special event, as has been happening in the past. d) Another unfortunate reality is that we have literally no children for Catechism classes at this time. It was agreed the priority is to re-vitalize the parish and hopefully, through a variety of events/efforts, have some young parents/children begin attending.
Welcoming: We all agreed that presenting a 'Welcoming' presence and truly welcoming people to mass, whether new parishioners or long-time parishioners, is an important first impression and ongoing heartfelt 'intention' of our congregation. We believe having a warm and welcoming presence at the door before mass is important, and it does take a certain kind of person to convey that warmth and welcome, so we have agreed to begin that immediately and continue with this practice. We quickly organized for the next month:
March 12 – Zenaida Senhalda
March 19 – Don Clark
March 26 – Valerie and Paul Cyr
April 2nd - Denise Jakubiak
* Name tags/ Lanyards will be provided from Valerie and Paul and Zenaida, who both said they have some at their offices which can be used. Names are important!
To follow from the above points regarding children attending church and re-vitalizing the parish, several possibilities were discussed: First - a Children's Mass, now being planned for April 16th, to be followed by Snacks and Refreshments. Fr Frank has had great success in the past with Children's Masses and we hope to, if possible, have these happen once a month again as we did in the past. A Pancake Breakfast was also discussed, but this is difficult to organize at this point, as the Pavilion at Indian River is not really practical until the summer months. The Kensington Legion is a possibility and Zenaida and Glenn Saldanha have volunteered to take this event on! Thank you Zenaida and Glenn!
Commissioning of the Parish Council: It was agreed this is an important 'ceremonial' step in rebuilding. Fr Frank suggested this should be done on Pentecost Sunday, which is the accepted time to empower Christians to 'go forth' and build/teach/evangelize. It was discussed as well that other parish groups – Property and Finance, Knights, CWL also be recognized and commissioned at the same time. This would be a great visual manifestation of plans to re-vitalize! Pentecost Sunday is May 28th , so would happen at mass.
Event Calendar: Zenaida had copies of a draft Event Calendar with her for us to review, and we all agreed this was an excellent initiative! Zenaida is going to update and fill in as decisions are made and this will be available to post at the back of the church and to have on the website and be part of the weekly bulletins. At present we are looking at events/plans for March/April/ some in May – Greeters for mass, the Children's Mass and Snack time on April 16th, our next meeting Wednesday, April 19th, 6:30 at Holy Family Church. The commissioning of Parish groups on May 28th. Zenaida will update the calendar as we confirm events/happenings. We also have the monthly meetings of the Knights and CWL happenings, which should be on the Calendar as well.
Research: In order to determine how to bring people back into our parish, the council believes it is important for us to understand why people are not coming to church. To that end, we plan to reach out to those who are no longer coming to church to learn about their concerns. We ask you all to please send us back TWO QUESTIONS – (or even one!) that would be important to ask people as we research these issues. It is also important how we ask and reach out to former parishioners – I know from people I have talked with that they are reluctant to even explain. We must be accepting and non-judgemental in any discussions we have; it must also be completely anonymous so there is no possibility of anyone's name being attached to any comments. This is important information to find out but also important how it is done. Our April Meeting can further organize this, hopefully with questions being brought forward by members. ** Please respond with possible questions – and any other suggestions to make this exercise meaningful and respectful.
One issue that has been very obvious to everyone – and a big issue more difficult for us to address as parishioners; however, it is not impossible and even important for us to address. That os the issue of the abuse of Indigenous children in our country. So very tragic and shameful! I have attached an article I was reading today which I feel is pertinent to this discussion. The Jesuits of Canada have taken the right track, in my opinion, as they have indicated 'the only path forward is one of truth telling, healing, and reconciliation.'
Next Meeting Wednesday, April 19th, 6:30 p.m. At Holy Family Church
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