The Church of Saint Timothy
Minutes of Parish Council Meeting
Janurary 13, 2010
President Paul Travers called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. Members in attendance were Theresa McGrath, Marilyn McGoldrick, Maureen Brouillard, Bob Shea, Mark Colbert, Ned Wentworth, Bette Marafino. Ex-officio- Father Cody, Pat Piano, Pat Pruitt. Guests- Ellen Pelkey, Nancy Pelletier.
Nancy Pelletier presented the CT Walks for Haiti event to be held on Saturday, April 10th. The walkathon will focus attention on the needs of the Haitian people and to raise money for established projects in Haiti. There was discussion of this event and suggestions from council members that the youth groups of our parish have an active part in this activity and that St. Tim’s parishioners walk as a parish community. Information will be placed in our weekly bulletin in the near future.
It was announced that parishioner Ellen Pelkey is now head of the West Hartford Catholic parishes Outreach Committee.
Ned Wentworth, who has long worked with Dr. Jerry Lowney in Haiti spoke of the great need there and suggested that Dr. Lowney come to St. Tim’s to present a slide show and talk about Haiti. This idea received enthusiastic support from the Council and Dr. Lowney will be invited to speak prior to the April 10th Haiti Walk.
The minutes of the November 11, 2009, Council meeting were approved.
C O M M I T T E E R E P O R T S
CCD/Youth Group: Ned Wentworth reported that the Confirmation retreat weekend will be from Jan. 15-17th. Father Cody will say a Mass at the retreat.
Liturgy, Environment, Evangelization, Music: Pat Piano reported for the Stewardship / Evangelization committee that children’s envelopes are ready for pick up in the rear of the church. Efforts are continuing to reach out to new members in the community.
Liturgy Committee: The committee met on Jan. 5th and reviewed the Advent and Christmas celebrations. Plans are being made for Lent and Easter. The parish is sponsoring a Week of Guided Prayer for the Week of February 14th. During this week parishioners will have a chance to meet with a spiritual director. The opening session will include instruction on the prayer technique of Lectio Divina (sacred reading) and a closing session.
Pat also reported that Fr. Cody was presented with a check for $427.00 as a gift to be used for a needy priest of his choice. This money was from the combined West Hartford Concert held in Nov. at St. Peter Claver Church. The next Adult Enrichment event will be on Tuesday, March 23rd at 7:00 P.M. at the Church of St. Helena. Loughlan Sofield will speak about his new book- “Collaboration: Uniting Our Gifts in Ministry.
Pat Piano also spoke about the Adult Education Committee which met in December and planned for 2010. A stress workshop presented by Joan Horovas will be on Wednesday, Jan. 27th at 7:00pm.
Two RCIA candidates will come into the church at Easter. Two other people are interested in starting the process.
Pastoral Care: The Pastoral Care team continues making visits to the sick and homebound.
Facilities/Buildings/Grounds: Theresa McGrath and Mark Colbert spoke about plans for the proposed signs for St. Tims. Mark checked with West Hartford Zoning and they reviewed plans for the two signs before a determination is made. The design committee will review the plans before making a decision. The cost of each sign is approximately $4,000.00. Currently $2,000.00 is earmarked for signs. Mark will prepare a message for the bulletin asking for financial help for this project. Many thanks to Mark for helping on this project. Regina Neal submitted suggestions for appropriate landscaping around the signs. Mark and Theresa will speak to Regina about her landscaping suggestions.
Community Outreach: Maureen Brouillard reported that the Outreach Committee conducted a successful Toy Drive to benefit four Hartford Schools- Clark, McDonough, Milner and Sand. The collection took place the weekend of Dec. 13th . Two hundred and eighty toys were donated for children ages three-fourteen. Seven toys were also delivered to Gifts of Love
Blankets for area shelters will be collected the weekend of Jan. 16th.
The Committee has planned for Lent a project around the Corporal Works of Mercy. There will be one mini drive each week of Lent: Clothe the Naked, Feed the Hungry
Visit the Sick, Visit the Imprisoned. Details will be posted in the bulletin. This activity will be an opportunity for the parish to get involved in works of mercy.
Maureen also reported that the Safe Environment meetings went well. The mid-term audit of this project was good. There is on-going training for a couple of volunteers who were unable to attend the previous sessions.
Finance Committee: No report.
Parish Life/Social Committee: Bob Shea stated that Hospitality Sundays have been successful; The Council thanked Bob for his leadership in this activity. There will not be a spaghetti dinner this year, but there may be an opportunity for a pizza party later this year. Bob, Paul and Theresa will discuss this further.
Website: Pat Pruitt thanked Bob Shea for his diligence getting people to sign up for the parish website when they attended Hospitality Sunday.. Currently 270 people have given their email addresses to Pat Pruitt. Pat also shared information from webmaster Jim Smith about updating to a more sophisticated list for emails. Jim recommended Constant Comment. Pat will schedule a meeting with Jim Smith and any parish council members interested in this subject are invited to attend.
School Board/Education: No report.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50.
Respectfully submitted,
Bette Marafino