Transcript Nativity of Our Lady Town Hall Meeting Council and

Nativity of Our
Lady Town
Hall Meeting
Council and Committee
Reports …
In their 2000 document
“Built of Living Stones”,
the U.S. Bishops’
Conference suggested that
the typical Catholic parish
in the U.S.A. should be
guided by (as a minimum):
•A Pastoral Council
•A Finance Council
•A Liturgy Committee
•A Building Committee
Since October 2013,
Nativity of Our Lady has
had in place these four
functioning groups, to
which we have added
“The Catechetical
Group.”
In this way, we make real
the call of the Church for
all the People of God
actively to participate in
the governance and
mission of the Church.
Pastoral Council
Report
Members of the Pastoral Council :
•Georg Trexler, chairman
•Brian Feeney
•Doll Gale
•Isabel Strafford
•Jan Seavey
•Nuris Copeland
Purpose of the Pastoral Council
The Pastoral Council represents the parish membership and is the
organ by which all members of the parish community exercise
together their shared and specific responsibilities to continue the
mission of the Church. Therefore the PC is primarily an elected
body. The PC advises the pastor for the good of the whole parish
through the following functions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Fostering the unity of the parish
Assessment
Dialogue
Research
Consultation
Action
Some highlights of the
2012-2013 term:
Farewell to Fr. Leo, hello to Fr. Bob – summer 2012
New Liturgy Commission – October 2012
New website www.nativitydarien.us – October
Advent Fair – December
Theology for Young Catholics – January 2013
Renewal of membership roster – since spring 2013
Blessing of the Fleet – April
New arrangement for cleaning hall – May
VIRTUS campaign – starting May 2013
New Twitter Feed @nativitydarien – May
Travelling Madonna – June 2013
Daily prayer requests – every day at 6:55 – since June 2013
New bylaws for the Pastoral Council – July 2013
Renewed baptism prep and marriage prep programs – July
Other notable activities:
Nifty Knitters cooperative project with Care-Net – since
November
Five Loaves and Two Fishes
More altar servers
Gardening Angels
St. Francis Xavier Catholic School
Red Door Yard Sales
In addition, the Pastoral Council seeks to cooperate with the
many ministries and activities coordinated by:
The Finance Council
The Liturgy Commission
The Building & Maintenance Committee
The Catechetical Group
Nativity of Our Lady
Town Hall Meeting
Nativity of Our Lady
Finance Council
Report for 2013
Purpose of the Finance Council:
The Finance Council is charged with funds
entrusted to us by the congregation of Nativity
of Our Lady and to uphold both canon (church)
and civil law. We are a consultative body,
advisory to the Pastor in his role as
administrator of the temporal goods of the
parish.
Members of the Finance
Council
● Bishop’s Annual Appeal
Parish Goal: $8,341
Number of Households: 76
Pledged so far: $12,115
Donors: 63
Percentage of goal: 145%
Percentage participating: 83%
(official diocesan list)
● Diocesan Audit of Nativity of Our Lady
The audit process began in August of 2013. We received our preliminary audit report in
December of 2013 and we sent a response in February 2014. The council welcomed this audit
and the opportunity to put our financial affairs in good order. Our response was by members of
the finance council, Fr. Bob Showers, Gloria Whatley and Maggie Shafer, Director of Finance at St.
Francis Xavier. We also had help from the Finance Council at St. Francis Xavier.
Upcoming Events for 2014
February 2014 - Create By-Laws for
finance council
March 26th
regular meeting
(We meet once a month)
The Liturgy Commission
Was established by the Pastoral Council in
October, 2012. Our purpose:
1.
To help the Catholic Community of the Nativity in
attaining the full, conscious and active participation
of all the faithful in parish liturgical and sacramental
celebrations.
2.
To advise the pastor/pastoral administrator in his
care of the sacraments. The pastor bears the ultimate
responsibility for the administration of the
sacraments.
3.
To ensure smooth communication between everyone
involved in our liturgies.
4.
To see that our church has good, authentic and holy
liturgy.
5.
To create and maintain appropriate liturgical
formation.
6.
To coordinate the planning of the liturgical seasons
and other liturgical events in the parish.
The Liturgy Commission
Meets 4 or 5 times a year. At each meeting,
we evaluate previous liturgies and look at
the coming season. We do not plan the
details of the individual Masses, but rather
we set the basic guidelines and set the
general direction.
We consider:
•The general environment
•Flowers, curtains, banners and other decoration
•Music
•The liturgical ministries – readers, greeters, altar
servers, offertory ministers, eucharistic ministers,
etc.
•What people experience when they first walk in
the church
•How welcome people feel during Mass
•What happens after Mass
The Liturgy Commission
One highlight of 2013:
We held a series of LITURGICAL
WORKSHOPS in June 2013 for
Readers
Greeters/Ushers
Sacristans
Offertory Ministers
Altar Servers
Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers
This led to some small changes in how we
do our liturgies – these were published
online and in a letter to all the volunteer
ministers.
Thank you all for being such a wonderful parish!
Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church
Building Committee
CHARTER
The Building Committee, in collaboration with the staff, is responsible for
assuring that the structure, systems, equipment and facilities of the Nativity of
Our Lady Catholic Church in Darien, GA, are properly maintained, replaced
and rehabilitated, consistent with the architectural integrity and historic
character of the buildings, in order to meet the spiritual and liturgical needs of
the Parish.
In order to accomplish this mandate, the Committee shall:
•
•
•
Maintain the buildings
Replace and rehabilitate equipment, systems, and facilities
Improve the buildings
MEMBERS
Brian Feeney, Doll Gale, Jane Heying, Carlos Inacio, Kieran McMullen, Georg Trexler
Fr. Bob – Advisor
Maintain the buildings
•
•
•
•
•
•
Grounds maintenance
Caulked gaps in sides of buildings
Repaired exterior lighting
Caulked awning over entrance to offices
Cleaned out basement
Contracting with building engineer to inspect building and provide formal
report
Replace and rehabilitate equipment,
systems, and facilities
• Replaced covering to coal chute on side of building
• HVAC maintenance
Improve the buildings
• Replaced doors to church office (compliance with church policy)
• Replaced exterior locks (security, audit item)
• Annual Budget
– Our approximate annual budget is ~ $12-13,000
• APPROVED
• Redo church floors
• Refinish pews
WHEN
IMPACT
Cost
Future project:
(sand, stain and finish)
(sand, stain and finish)
first of June
church will not be accessible for 3 weeks
still negotiating but estimate $20,000
• DISCUSSION
Committee recognizes capacity constraints of our
present church hall. We ask you:
What purposes does the hall need to serve?
What capacity does the hall need?
What features does the hall need?
… the kitchen, bathroom(s), storage, ????
Please share your thoughts with committee
members …
“THE CATECHETICAL
GROUP” REPORT
February 15, 2014
For 2012-2013, Nativity
celebrated:
First Confession and First
Communion with 3 children
Confirmation with 3 youth
Started a youth program called
“Theology for Young Catholics”
We did not yet have a program for children
between 1st Communion and Confirmation, an
adult faith formation program or an active
RCIA group – these all came in 2013-2014.
CATECHETICAL REPORT
• Fr. Bob & Two Catechists initiated a Catechists’
Workshop in Jesup on Sep 21, 2013 for three
parishes (Darien, Waycross, Jesup)
• Three classes for children began the week of
Sep 15, 2013:
First Communion
Tweens
Confirmation Preparation
FIRST COMMUNION
• Teachers: Jan Seavey & Salina Guzman
• Meets every Sunday 11:15-12:00
• Textbooks: “Call to Celebrate:
Reconciliation” and “Call to Celebrate:
Eucharist” by Our Sunday Visitor
• Six (6) Children will celebrate their First
Communion this year
• The candidates will celebrate their First
Reconciliation on Sunday, April 6, 2014
• First Communion will be held at 10:00 am
on Sunday, May 11, 2014, Mother’s Day,
with the May Crowning and a reception
brunch in the Hall to follow. Please join us
for this very special day!
TWEENS
Teachers: Carol O’Connor & Gloria Whatley
Meets every other Sunday 11:15-12:00
Textbooks: Alive in Christ (OSV)
Four Children Participating
CONFIRMATION PREPARATION
• Teachers: Father Bob & Jeff
Spratt
• Meets every Tuesday, 5:00
to 6:15
• Textbooks: Call to Celebrate:
Confirmation (OSV)
• Bishop Hartmayer will
celebrate the Sacrament of
Confirmation with our two
candidates at 7:00pm,
Thursday, May 29, 2014,
with a reception in the Hall
to follow
THEOLOGY FOR YOUNG CATHOLICS
• Teachers: Father Bob &
Georg Trexler & Gloria
Whatley
• Meets the last Friday of
the month at 6:00 pm
• Every month the group
discusses a topic such as
evolution, martyrdom,
contraception, abortion,
call to religious life, the
death penalty, etc.
ADULT EDUCATION
• Teachers: Leo Kennedy
• Meets on Wednesday
evening at 7:00 pm in the
church hall
• There is a series of topics
for specified number of
weeks per topic. In the first
session we discussed
“Aspects of Prayer” and
currently we are in the
second session discussing
the Papers of Vatican II. The
group chooses the topics
that are of interest to them.
RCIA
(RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS)
• Teachers: John & Angie Spisak
• Meets Tuesdays
• One candidate will be received
into the Catholic Church
during the Easter Vigil the
night of Saturday, April 19,
2014 at 8:00 pm
• In addition, two candidates
will be Baptized during the
Easter Vigil Mass – one from
the First Communion class and
one from the Confirmation
class (who will also receive her
First Communion at that time)
To summarize:
At the Easter Vigil, we will celebrate
2 baptisms
2 first communions
1 confirmation
You won’t want to miss it!
NATIVITY TOWN HALL MEETING
end of reports …
Thank you for your attention!