St. Roberts Parish Pastoral Council

Nov. 9, 2005

Attending: Fr. Bob Chorey, Tim (from Serra Club), Mary Dick, Megan Elbert, Mary Johnson, Janine Kearney, Ruben Cervantes, John Linscott, Sherry Hall, Jackie Cribbs, Rudy Forster, Glenda Kornegay, Geri Gibbons, Bob Wallace.

Presentation by Tim (Serra Club): Serra Club is a lay group whose aim is to further the faith. There is a serious problem with priest recruitment in northern Nevada. In 1996, there were 45 priests serving 50,000 Catholics in this area. Today, we have double the number of parishioners but only 34 priests; 17 priests are “on loan” from other areas. It’s our responsibility to make people more aware of this problem.

Administrative

Glenmary Sisters, who visited us in August, sent a letter of appreciation for the approx. $6,000 in donations.

A letter from the Bishop reveals that the Diocese donated $274,000 in hurricane relief and our parish donated $5,300.

A flower fund was suggested by Nevada Lambert for holidays or dedicated in memory of someone. Mario donates flowers to our parish and we should ask him if it's a strain on his business.

Paschal Mission offers brochures during Lent at a cost of $65 per 100.

Our parish applied for a $10,000 grant through the Oregon Catholic Press to pay a part-time music minister. OCP notified the parish that grant money will be going towards hurricane relief. We can apply again in spring 2006. However, the parish has budgeted for the music minister position already, so it will be filled as soon as possible.

Final Christmas Schedule:
Christmas Eve: 6 p.m. (church); 6:10 p.m. (hall); 8 p.m. (Spanish-church);
8:10 p.m. (English-hall); 10 p.m. (church). Christmas Day: 8 a.m. & 10 a.m.

New Saturday Mass idea tabled until the December meeting.

Church growth: The number of registered families and Mass attendance have increased, but the amount of weekly contributions has gone down. Right now, we are meeting our budget, but our current income will not be able to cover the increased cost of maintaining a new hall/church. Council agreed that Fr. Bob should ask for more contributions, more consistently at all Masses, even if people can only afford to give a small amount. Encourage kids and teens to give and ask parishioners to designate St. Roberts as a 1 percent benefactor on their Scolari’s club cards.

Music Ministers: Fran & Jay Shockley are interested in sharing duties as Music Ministers. They are doing the 8 a.m. Mass now. A formal contract with job requirements will be printed for them to sign and they will be put through a 3- to 6-month trial period.

Pax Christi update: Fr. Bob said Catholic social doctrine promotes peace and non-violence. This group promotes political policies that encourage social justice and views war as a last resort. The issue of supporting, or not supporting, our troops overseas is not on the group’s agenda. Several people took offense at the idea of starting a local chapter of this group, while others were either silently supportive or unsure of the idea. It’s clear this is a divisive issue and won’t bring the church together at this time. The issue was tabled.

Parish Partner Program matches local parishes up with parishes that are down South and in need of financial support. This is a joint venture with a couple of other parishes. Council was interested in this concept.

Ushers/Sacristans need to be reorganized to cover all Masses. A job description for ushers was written and Fr. Bob has talked to a few people about becoming chief sacristan.

A new Council Secretary was going to be needed starting in June 2006. That is no longer necessary.

A new Baptismal Policy needs to be developed in the next few months (no Baptisms after Lent). Elba can no longer teach the Spanish Baptism class.

Front pews should be altered to accommodate wheelchair-bound parishioners.

Finance:
Our parish is doing well; income has exceeded projections and expenses were less than expected. There is approx. $20,000 in the building fund (plus the revenue of any future land sales.) We have about 4 months until the closing of the Farm District Road property, then another 4-6 months before we can start developing any new land that the church will purchase.

Faith Formation:
Adult Faith Formation has had small turnouts. There are 25 children in second year First Communion class and 12 in Sacramental Prep. For Confirmation, 30 invitations were sent and 5 teens came to the first meeting. Next week, the Confirmation I and II classes will meet. The Diocese requires that each parish provides a safe touch program for religious education classes; one in fall and one in spring. These classes educate kids about protecting themselves and securing their personal space. Parents are allowed to opt-out of this program.

Vocations & Respect Life: No report

Stewardship:
The ministry fair was not as successful as we had hoped. Brochures will be given to new parishioners. More ushers are needed. Stewardship committee members want to gauge interest in creating a parish float for the Fernley Christmas parade on Dec. 3. They need to know by Nov. 18. The parish should have a table with info. on St. Roberts and extra bulletins.

A prayer chain was discussed.

Altar cloths: Mary called Cindy Luther about the altar cloths.

Dec. 12 is Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Hispanic Ministry: No report

Teen Ministry will follow the school calendar during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Teens and adult leaders will be helping to sort the Thanksgiving baskets at Faith Bible Church on Nov. 19.

Knights of Columbus’ new council is up and running. They are looking to start fundraisers, continue pancake breakfasts and increase parish participation. They will also help with the Thanksgiving baskets.

Social Committee will merge with the Fundraising Committee because the same people were involved in both. St. Roberts events include: St. Roberts Feast Day, Volunteer Appreciation event, New Year’s, Mardi Gras, small celebration after Easter Vigil, Ruben Cervantes’ ordination on June 10 and Confirmation reception (June). For fundraising, the parish has ended the annual yard sale. Instead, we will have 2 large events to raise a larger amount of money. Some ideas:

Wine tasting: This takes a lot of work. Volunteers would ask businesses for donations and tickets would be sold. Fall/winter 2006 would be a good time for this, as long as it doesn’t conflict with Sept. Foundation Dinner or Oct. Founders Dance. Council agreed this was a great idea.

Crab feed: This would be costly but not as complicated. Tickets would be more expensive than the wine tasting. This would make a good summer event and could be set up in the hall and backyard.

Tamale Sale: Parish-wide cooperation is needed for this. Tamales could be made and frozen in advance and orders could be taken ahead of time.

Super bowl 50/50 board fundraiser was suggested by John Linscott. Squares are sold for money, then participants have a chance to win more money. Fr. Bob will check on the Diocese’s gambling policy.

Bulletin: Bob Wallace suggested selling advertisements in the bulletin. This would take time and extra people to sell and create the ads. Graphics capabilities and printing quality at the office were questioned.

Old Business

Giving Tree: Janna Ruck asked about organizing a giving tree for needy families for Christmas. This would need to be organized in the next 2-3 weeks.

October council minutes were approved.

No Christmas play this year.

A sample hall rental contract was given to the Council to consider.

NEXT MEETING: Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.