Sts. Peter & Paul
Pastoral Council Meeting
November 5th, 2015
6:00 p.m. in Family Room
Those in attendance:
Father Tony
Deacon Rusty
Jill Peterek
Curt Hand
David Henk
Mike Senneway
Those not in attendance:
Steve Minus
Cyndi Foster
Mary Kay Wilson
Lidia Rodriguez
Mario Silva
Juanita Lopez
Joyce Blasizzo
Greg Machalec
I.
Opening Prayer – Deacon Rusty offered a reflection on “Being Close”.
II.
Reviewed Minutes of the October Meeting – Motion to adopt the
minutes as presented was made and seconded, respectively, by David
Henk and Mario Silva. Motion was adopted.
III.
Deacon Rusty updated the Council on Thanksgiving Day activities.
Masses at 8 and 10. The “Table of Plenty” will be present for each mass.
IV.
Deacon Rusty updated the Council on December 8th (Immaculate
Conception) activities. Masses at 8AM and 7PM. No vigil mass..
V.
Deacon Rusty updated Council on upcoming “Holy Door – Year of
Mercy” liturgical event. SPP will “close the door” after the 5:30PM
mass on 11/22. The door will be opened after the 11:15 mass on 12/13 in
concert with our Holy Father opening the door at the Basilica of Saint
John Lateran in Rome. See attached handout for more information.
VI.
Deacon Rusty reviewed projects on the parish campusA. Letters are in place on the wall of the meditation plaza wall.
B. The statue for the reflection plaza will be ready after New Year’s.
C. Parish security systems are being upgraded. For example, a new
locking system is being installed with key cards which can be
programmed. This system will make it easier to control all the locks
for tighter security and on campus and facilitate quick response should
a lockdown be required.
D. Automatic climate controls are being installed throughout the campus.
E. Meeting room chairs are expected to be replaced soon or have new
ones phased in over time. Current chairs are over 15 years old.
VII. Ministry Reports
A. Joyce Blasizzo
1. Catholic Daughters: At October 20 meeting, Regent Andrea Walker
introduced Guest Speaker, Cy Laurent of the Laboure Society of St.
Paul, Minneapolis, at 7:35 pm. The Laboure Society is a National
Charity of Catholic Daughters of the Americas. He presented what
the society is about and how we can help with their mission.
There are 10, 000 discerners of priesthood and religious life. 42%
have educational loans that prevent them from entering vocation.
Candidates for formation that are approved by the diocese come to
Laboure to help raise funds to reduce and pay off their educational
debt. There are 4,200 people today that need assistance.
Guests in attendance were: CDA Regent Natalia Lopez and Vice
Regent Betty Nauman, Converse, Texas; Sister Jane Mary Gawlik,
CSSF; George Gagnon, Knights of Columbus 4183; DeeAnn
Jimenez, Our Lady of Angels Court #2505 Seguin; and Father Art
Flores, Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
2. St. Anne’s Christian Mothers Altar Society: Fundraisers will be
held after all Masses on November 7&8.
3. Helping Hands: Assistance offered in October:
RENTAL - $1,550.00
SOS FOOD BANK - $900 (AUG-OCT)
HEB CARDS - $50
NBU - $334.32
THRIFT STORE VOUCHER - $100
4. Doll Ministry: No report
B. Greg Machalec
1. SOS Food Bank: No report
2. Little Flowers: No report.
3. Ushers and Greeters (Hospitality Ministry): No report.
4. Knights of Columbus: No report.
C. Mario Silva
1. School – No report
2. Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School Charitable Trust – No report
3. Lectors: Nothing to report.
4. Eucharistic Ministers: Nothing to report.
D. Cyndi Foster
1. Healing Ministry – Would like to know if they develop a brochure
for the Healing Ministry, would our Deacons or whoever else visits
the patients in the hospitals give the brochures to the patients? Who
should wthey contact to see if that is possible?
Deacon Rusty responded that the ministry team should develop the
content they would like to present and, if possible, a suggested
layout, and come to see him to discuss the project.
2. PTC – No report
3.
Family Promise – No report
E. Lidia Rodriguez
1. Bereavement: No response
2. Rachel’s Journey (formerly Project Rachel):
- Having a one day retreat on November 14th. Plan on having one
in December also on the second Saturday of the month.
- Had a very successful Rachel Sunday on Oct. 10/11. Many
interested in what we do.
- Spoke at St. Thomas the Apostle in Canyon Lake and Our Lady of
Wisdom at Texas State. Talks went well.
3. Welcome Committee-Ministry Awareness Weekend : No response
4. Lending Library: No response.
5. Divorce Support Group: No response
F. David Henk
1. Catholics for Freedom of Religiona. Eight-plus months of planning and effort culminated this past
Saturday in our "Fearless Faith" conference in St. Mary's Hall.
Although over two dozen registrants could not make it because of
washed out and flooded roads between their homes and New
Braunfels, we still had about 125 folks present for the all-day
event. Attendees were vocal in their praise and appreciation for
the event.
We had attendees from as far away as Houston, Waco, Jarrell,
Belton, Georgetown, Gonzales, Lytle, Boerne, and even a
vacationing family of 4 from Sacramento, CA. My only regret is
that more of our own parishioners and more New Braunfels HS
youth failed to avail themselves of this opportunity.
b. We'll be selling 'Keep Christ in Christmas' magnets, decals, and
yard signs again this year in the Gathering Area after all Masses on
the weekend of November 14 & 15.
c. Planning to submit another guest Op/Ed to the Herald-Zeitung later
this month. It will remind readers of the importance placed by
Presidents Lincoln and Washington on giving thanks to our Creator
for His abundant blessings - and that without Religious Liberty,
public recognition of our Creator's gifts to us and public
expressions of gratitude in return would not be permitted.
d. Hosting our third annual National Religious Freedom Day
observance on Saturday, January 16, in St. Mary's Hall. While
plans aren't yet final, we will likely host a movie night presenting a
film or documentary with at Religious Freedom theme.
e. On March 09, hosting a talk by nationally known Constitutional
Attorney, Author, Speaker, and Radio Host Kris Anne Hall,
speaking on the Foundations of Religious Liberty.
2. Marriage Encounter:
- Next Weekend Renewal is Sunday, Nov 8th, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
at the Oblate.
- The November Weekend in Corpus Christi has been cancelled.
- The WWME Christmas Party is Saturday, December 5th. It will
be a joint Christmas Party with
3. Gardening Angels: Nothing scheduled.
4. Disaster Relief – No Disaster Relief activities in New Braunfels
G. Steve Minus
NOTE- these reports were received after the meeting and are entere
into the minutes for record purposes.
1. Divine Mercy Cenacle – No report.
2. Divine Mercy Chaplet: No report.
3. Prison Visits: No report
4. Scouts:
a. Cub Pack 163
- The families of Pack 163 have learned that the best way to make
it rain is to schedule a camping trip! With severe weather forecast
for the weekend of October 24, the pack leadership cancelled our
fall camping trip to Kerrville-Schreiner. A number of dens made
alternate arrangements to get the boys outdoors.
- We kicked off two fundraising activities this fall which include the
BSA sponsored popcorn sales and flag sales, which is unique to
Pack 163. The flag sales allow the boys to ask permission from
their neighbors to place a US flag in their front yard on specific
federal holidays in exchange for a donation to the Pack. Some
scouts have already secured permission and donations from their
entire street. What a sight it will be on Veteran's Day!
- During the month of October, the Pack registered with the Texas
Facilities Commission to gain access to high quality federal
surplus gear. We have already purchased one truckload of
camping gear for families in our pack and hope to get more in the
future as inventory arrives.
b. Troop 163: Note- David Schlageter just became the COR,
Charter Organization Representative, for the Knights, therefore,
w\the troop will need a new committee chair.
- Two night camp out at Ingram Ranch, hiked, fished, cooked and
swimming was enjoyed by 11 boys.
- Troop painted parking lot stripping on KC lot, the Columbus Club
donated money for our summer camp which is going to held @
Camp Alexander located near Colorado Springs/Pikes Peak area
July 24-30th 2016.
- Merit Badge University Nov 7th, @ San Antonio College
- Rest of Troop is asking for donations this same day @ Wurstfest.
- Volunteering Nov. 10th to help park cars and cook dinner for the
Knights for Wursfest Parking.
- Nov. 21st service project and camp out in Wimberley for Vietnam
flood victim @ Rio Benito Camp Ground, Pack is also invited.
After cleanup the boys will be served BBQ and then will be
enjoying a demonstration of a portable saw mill used to cut the
wood into planks that will later be kiln dried and then the boys
will be able make different wood projects out of them.
- Troop elections: JD Schlageter was elected Senior Patrol Leader;
Joseph Pickett and Zack Rodeffer were elected as Assistant Senior
Patrol Leaders.
H. Juanita Lopez
1. Archives: No report
2. CYO: CYO is looking to kick off two community awareness events
to initiate programs to give back and will work with church to involve
as many families as possible. The projects are 1) working with
Wounded Warriors Project and 2) helping the New Braunfels Humane
Society. More info to come.
a. Basketball: registration is around the corner and will be open
from Oct.1st - Oct. 31. Limiting the # of teams we have this
year so we are encouraging interested players to register early.
b. Volleyball: CYO volleyball regular season has come to an end
with 2 teams making Zone Playoffs. In the first round we had
one team win and they will advance to City playoffs, the other
team lost the first game and is looking to rebound the second
game this Wednesday to advance to City as well.
c. Baseball: No Report
3. Youth Ministry: No report
I. Curt Hand
1. Catholic Alliance: No report
2. Pro Life Coordinator: Rally for life event held downtown. Our
group did well. We were represented well. Since people started
praying outside of abortion clinics, 300 lives have been saved.
3.
Eucharistic Adoration: Need more adorers in the mornings.
4. Thrift Store: No report
J. Mary Kay Wilson
1. Bible Study: No report.
2. Parish Choirs: No report
3. CCD –
- First confession preparation is underway. Between 2nd graders in
religious ed, those at school, and the older students, we'll have 205
receiving first confession and communion this year.
- Our numbers are now 737 for preK-5th, 231 in Junior High and
322 in High School for a total of 1290.
4. RCIA – No report
K. Jill Peterek
1. Gabriel Project:
- Received 27 new families into the program in October.
- Hotline answered 76 phone calls.
- 5 families received new cribs during the month
- Had 6 referrals from area agencies.
- Helped 164 families with diapers
- Gave clothes to 46 families during our 10 diaper days in October.
- The Gabriel Project and Rachel’s Journey were guests at the
Annual Options for Life Banquet on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 6pm. We
thank Robin Janysek for collecting the ticket money and reserving
our seats at Options for Life. It was an inspiring evening filled
with hope for a Culture of Life being built in America today. Kirk
Walden was the speaker who endeared the audience with his very
human and real life talk.
- Mark Your Door for Mary Campaign 2016 Planning Committee
has started meeting to plan the Annual Gabriel Project and
Rachel’s Journey Fundraiser. The 2016 Campaign will be held at
all three Catholic Churches in New Braunfels on Jan. 23, 24, 2016.
Our next planning meeting will be held on November 16 at 9:30am
in the Holy Spirit House.
- Pat Gittinger represented The Gabriel Project at the Community
Agency Meeting in October. Pat reported on announcements from
Rise Recovery, a drug treatment program for teens looking for a
permanent place in New Braunfels. Also St. Jude’s, Texas
Workforce, STEPS, Kitchen Table, Centro Med, Family Life
Center and Comal ISD gave announcements at the meeting.
- Diaper Day Volunteers are looking forward to the Holiday Closing
coming up on November 22. We will not have Diaper Days again
until Jan. 6, 2016. We have been giving out Double Diapers to the
moms in anticipation of this Holiday Closing. The Supply Room
Volunteers will continue to meet on Wednesdays at Noon to
process donations that come in.
- Thanks to all the generous parishioners who support The Gabriel
Project with prayers and donations. We thank the staff for all their
support and work they give to The Gabriel Project, and, a special
Thank you to Father Tony for his spiritual help that he has given.
2. Rosary Guild: – No report
3. Couple Prayer Series: No report until next year.
4. Sick and Homebound – No report
VIII. Father Tony’s Comments 1. Father lauded the thrift shop for all they do and highlighted their
contribution of $500,000 per year to parish youth activities.
2. Father noted that the new security system will help mitigate the
situation of “extra” keys circulating around the parish over time.
3. Please provide names to Father (or Deacon Rusty) for new candidates
for the next pastoral council year. He likes to surface new people and
create diversity among the group when he can. Mike noted that
“retiring” members should inform Father if they would be interested
in continuing, should Father need the help. Father noted that two
terms is the max for anyone.
4. Father commented on the upcoming “Open Door” celebration. He
noted that the effort is designed to bring acknowledgement to get
people to “open the door” and “come in” to the fold. He suggested
that the event could be used nicely as a teaching moment for families
and the community.
5. Father Tony reminded the council that SPP welcomes about 3 to 4
families per week to the parish. He calls each to personally.
IX.
Other Business: Nothing offered.
X.
Next meeting will be December 3rd, note that this meeting time will
be the night of the Wassailfest in town, so parking will be an issue.
XI.
Mike Senneway adjourned the meeting at 6:43 PM after the closing
prayer.