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Minutes of the St. Mary’s Pastoral Council meeting April 6, 2006
Members present: Father Michael, Lisa Standish, Dan Diana, Sharri Maurais, Edimar Cruz, Mario Montiel, Chris Wickham, Susan Pynn, John Shugrue, and Raul Alvarado Also in attendance: Engineer Martin Benassi and Architect Bob Mangino, and various members of the Buildings and Grounds and Finance committees, as well as several parishioners including Hank O’ Neil, Stan Pitcavage, Richard Zotti, Ginny Zotti, Jack Hanson, Jackie Diana, Jerry Harrigan, Jim McCusker, Bill Quinn, Lou Russo, Paula Russo, Charlene Rohloff, Bill Viggiano, Ed Bruciati, Nancy Bruciati, Joseph Alves, John Burnett, Joan Martin, and Mayru Alvarado The meeting opened at 7:00pm. Father Michael handed out copies of last week’s bulletin, pastoral council contact lists, as well as agendas for the current meeting. Then Father Michael welcomed everyone and continued with a Gospel reading and some prayers. The meeting topic was church renovations. The two major projects discussed were the roof repair and the expansion of the foyer. Hank O’Neil, Co-Chair for the Buildings and Grounds committee was the meeting moderator. Engineer Martin Benassi made a Power Point presentation about the state of the church roof. Mr. Benassi practices in Hamden, CT and specializes in repair and restoration for roof, brick, and masonry projects. Martin was hired to evaluate and investigate St. Mary’s existing roofing system, and to determine the reasons for the leakage problems. The investigation revealed that the A-frame position of the main church roof is still in good condition, with the exception of the skylights needing to be fixed. However, there are several serious problems with the valley and transition portions of the main church roof, and all of the roofs adjacent to the main church. The following observations were made by the engineer, regarding the installation of the original roof back in 1991: - The main roof has a very low pitch. - The fasteners or nails used on the roof were improperly positioned in many of the shingles. - No felt underlayment was found beneath the shingles. A double layer should be used for low slope roofs. - The shingles were improperly installed with an offset of 4-6”. An ideal offset is 1-2”. - The shingles need to be vented. - The shingles were coated with aluminized asphalted paint for an unknown reason. - The roof needs lightning rods and grounding wire. - The gutters require expansion joints to help with better drainage. - On the flat roof areas, the masonry has to be primed, the termination bars require a sealant and there is a need for corner detailing - Many of the skylights need to be replaced or resealed Based on his assessment, Martin Benassi concluded that the roofs over the sacristy, altar, furnace room, foyer, church hall, and annex definitely have to be replaced. The estimated cost for roof repair work is $120,000-$150,000. Several questions or comments were made about the roofing project. The best time of the year to make roof repairs is during the summer months. The roof project will go out for bid ASAP. St. Mary’s will hire a large reputable company to do the roof repair work. The second half of the meeting was dedicated to the renovation of the parish foyer. The cement structure upon which the glass entranceway sits is sinking. Additionally, the foyer itself is void of air conditioning or heating systems. The small and often crowded entrance area is also used heavily for weddings, funerals, and the ministry of greeting. A larger, more comfortable, and attractive foyer would be a lovely 50th birthday present to the entire parish of St. Mary’s. Stan Pitcavage and Bob Mangino spoke about the foyer renovation. Mr. Mangino, from Guilford, CT, is the architect for the reconstruction project. He briefly showed a model, site plans, floor plans, and drawings for the proposed foyer. Bob also worked up budgetary numbers, lighting, heating, and electrical plans, and a list of needed interior and exterior materials. The plans for the entrance area have already been approved by the Clinton Planning and Zoning Board. The project still needs approval from the Diocese of Norwich. The Diocese will not grant project approval, until half of the money is in the hands of our parish. The entire foyer renovation project will probably cost $200,000 to $250,000. Father Michael would love to have the foyer project completed by the spring of 2007. We need to get this project started now, if we want to meet the spring deadline. A vote was taken, and most people enthusiastically supported forward movement with the plans for the foyer renovation. The goal is to start the new foyer construction by September 2006. A few people viewed the foyer improvement as a luxury, not a necessity. Someone at the meeting mentioned that Cheeseborough Ponds donated the money for the original St. Mary’s foyer. Perhaps, we should approach the company for some future funding. In the coming months, St. Mary’s will begin a capital campaign drive to try to generate between $500,000 and $600,000 for the roofing and foyer projects. Some of this money can also be used towards upgrading our parish library and pew refurbishments in the future. Finally, the meeting was brought to a close with a Hail Mary prayer at 8:40pm. Our next parish council meeting will be May 4, 2006 at 7:00pm.
Pastoral Council Meeting, March 7, 2006 Pastoral Council Members: Barbara, Cheryl, Tom, Raul, Mario, Dan, Fr. Michael, John Abude, Bob Cunningham, John Burnett, Matt Corcoran, Sharri Mauris, Hank O’Neil Education Committee Members: Adrea Tuthill, Margo Burke, Anne Others: Nicky The meeting opened with Prayers and a Gospel reading. There was a short discussion on the meaning of the reading. Last months minutes were reviewed and accept by the council as submitted. Fr. Michael explained that the Lenten Brochure was mailed late and took longer than expected to arrive at everyone’s homes. Because of this, no calls were made to the parish members inviting them to join the activities. Calls will be made at a later date. Discussion on Family Catechesis Program, lead by Andrea There is a feeling that the current Religious Education program is a “Sacrament Factory”. Andrea attended a seminar on Generations of Faith (she provided handouts to everyone) and explained how it would work for us. There would be three regular Religious Education classes per month, and one program for the entire family. The “family” program is open to any member of the parish, and not limited to families with children in the Religious Ed program. Andrea recently attended a family night program in Ansonia where the topic of discussion was Baptism (she provided more handouts)
There are about 600 parishes in the US and Canada implementing the Generations of Faith porgram. It was actually developed here in CT. The instructors (Catechesits) will be trained this spring. An open house will be held to explain the program to the parish in the spring. The program will be in place for September 2006. We viewed a video about parishes that are using the program and how they feel about it. The family program was described with these segments:
After the video we had questions for Andrea Some parishes have eliminated the classroom portion, but our plan is to keep 3 classroom (children only) sessions and one family program every month. Classroom sessions will follow the same theme for the month. This years textbooks are port of the Generations of Faith material.. Sessions will probably be offered 4 times a week, so that people can choses a session that fits their schedule. Today there are about 50 instructors, an additional 50 people will be required to handle the additional activities for the family program. Generations of Faith is a flexible program and each parish can tailor it to their needs. Right now, the plan is to take the summer off (no sessions) to regroup and plan. This seems to address many of the issues/challenges that we have in our parish today. This won’t infringe on any diocesean requirements for kids making their sacraments because we will still have classroom instrucion. Everyone agreed that we will implement for September 2006. Discussion on parish library led by Fr. Michael. “My Father’s Plan” was a program offered several years ago. We have a few copies in the church library. We offer adult classes but lack the resources necessary. Books for adults are kept in the parish office building, Books for kids are kept in the parish hall. We need to have more books and other resources (videos, etc.) and keep them all in one location. If possible, Fr. Michael would like to have the downstairs annex (which used to be the parish office) made into the library, making one large room out of the two smaller ones. This could be costly. The books we currently have are not necessarily divided int appropriate ategories. Someone will need to determine what materials we should have (including Hispanic and Brazilian materials). Of course this requires money to purchase the materials too. What can we do about it? We need to have it open in the evenings. We heat and cool a lot of buildings, so having it the parish hall beams we don’t have to heat and cool the admin office after business hours. We need to have a librarian – will need to ask the parish for volunteers. St. Margaret’s Library (Madison) is run by a parishioner who happens to be a town librarian. The library should be open after all weekend masses. The library should be self service. The library should not feel crowded. Open hours are an opportunity for the teens to gain service hours. Are we going to have apulipt appeal and/or put it in the bullitn? Fr. Michael wants to work with the Buildings and Grounds committee to see if the space can be made into one room before going to the parish. May need to present several options to everyone. Next meeting will be April 6. The topic will be the condition of the roof over the church, the foyer modifications and possibly the library renovations. The whole parish will be invited to the meetings. It was asked why the pews weren’t on the agenda. Hank handed out minutes from the Buildings and Grounds committee meeting. The building and Grounds committee has determined that the pews aren’t a high priority. We need to take care of the roof and the foyer first. Several things were tried with the pews and it was determined that in order to do a proper job, it would cost about $65,000. Before Lent began, Fr. Michael wanted Pastoral Council members to call the parish community who are distant from parish life and invite them to participate in the parish mission. Should we pursue in conjunction with the parish mission which begins on March 27th, and ends on the 30th? Last meeting it was determined to be a good idea, but timing was missed because of the late arrival of the brochures. There are about 1200 registered parishoners, probably call about 500 families. Calls will be made on March 20 and March 21. Although the getting the youth group to help was suggested, we weren’t sure it would be a good idea. Volunteers for Monday the 20th are Dan, and Barb. Volunteers for Tuesday the 21st are Andrea, Bob, Dan, Cherly, Margo Everyone will gather at 6 for pizza and soda, and make calls from 6:30 – 8. There are about 4 or 5 phone lines, so please bring cell phones. This meeting will be reported on at mass on April 2nd and everyone in the parish will be invited to the April 6th meeting. 4 pm Mass: TBD 7:30 Mass: Barbara 9:00 Mass: Dan 11:30 Mass: Andrea Youth Mass: Andrea Spanish Mass: Raul and Mario Brazilian Mass: TBD |
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If you would like to voice a question or concern regarding the Parish Council proceedings, we would like to hear from you. Please email your thoughts to steward@stmarysclinton.com, or simply call the parish office. |
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