ST. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church

14908 Main Street

Upper Marlboro, Maryland  20772

email:  rectory@stmarysum.org

Business Hours for the Rectory 10am - 5pm Monday through Friday

St. Mary of the Assumption Parish Council

Minutes of Meeting – Thursday, February 21, 2008

Present:          Father Wm. Foley                               Gloria Garner

                        Sue Payne                                          Annette Gilbert-Jackson

                        Steve Showalter                                  Barbara Fealy

                        Regina Piazza                                                Mary Sekela

                        Larry Horton

Father Foley opened the meeting with a prayer at 7:35 pm.

It was noted that minutes of the January 31, 2008 meeting, were made available on the St. Mary’s website.

Welcome Committee Presentation Postponed

Sue Payne spoke with Maureen Stickley, chairperson of the Welcome Committee.  Maureen was unable to attend this evening’s Parish Council meeting.  She has been invited to attend the next meeting on March 27.  Maureen stated her current procedure is to send new parishioners a welcome letter and packet which includes parish registration and school information, a background of St. Mary’s, a list of ministries and current activities, and the parish website address.  This initial information is followed up with a phone call and invitation to monthly coffee hour in the PCR.

Discussion ensued on whether the Welcome Committee contact number should be posted in the weekly bulletin.  It was decided that, for the present, potential new parishioners should initially contact the rectory.

Conversation continued on ways to welcome and build unity within the parish community. Suggestions were made to expand regular weekly bulletin information to include:

Names of newly baptized members

More details regarding family members of parishioners who are ill or have died.

Gloria Garner mentioned the recent death of a sister of a parishioner and Father Foley mentioned recently praying for the mother of a deacon. 

Another suggestion was to welcome new parishioners on the 1^st Sunday of every month– perhaps by including this welcome in the regular announcements prior to Mass dismissal. 

Father Foley told us of a beautiful prayer which can be said when a parishioner leaves a parish.

Parish Registration

Gloria Garner informed the council of her ongoing efforts to update the parish registration list as well as reach out to current members of the parish community.  Gloria drafted and sent out a letter signed by Father Foley to 400 parishioners who are not currently contributing to the parish through the envelope system.  The letter told parishioners of the intent to discontinue sending envelopes to households that are not using them and asked for a reply by March 24. The letter stressed the parish’s concern for all parishioners, especially those who are unable to attend church.  The parish phone number and email address were included.  To date 12 responses have been received.

Gloria is also combing through the roster in an attempt to discern members who may have moved, have grown children no longer residing in the household, are in nursing homes, or who may be deceased.

The Archdiocese is also requesting an accurate number of households in the parish.  This helps in determining the number of copies of the Catholic Standard that are needed and it also helps in determining the amount of money the Parish is assessed for various collections by the Archdiocese.

Father Foley reiterated how important it is that members be registered especially when it becomes time for the reception of the sacraments.

Pastoral Planning

Father Foley updated us on his recent meeting with Bill Gorman from the Archdiocese.  A second planning session has been scheduled for March 8.  Mr. Gorman will give us a summary of the findings and surveys of our first meeting held November 11^th, 2007, and lead us toward determining concrete goals and vision.  He will discuss the word “evangelization”.  Prior to the meeting all attendees will receive a copy of the 1992 USCCB document, “Go and Make Disciples”. The same groups will be assembled in the March 8^th meeting and ways will be discussed through which each group can reach out to others. The 3 major categories of people we are hoping to reach are our own parishioners, newcomers, and people not of the catholic faith.

Larry Horton requested that any written materials that will be used at the meeting be made available to attendees prior to the meeting.

Father Foley suggested that though our parish currently has a mission statement, perhaps it can be made more succinct and even printed on the front of the bulletin.

Liturgy Committee Report

Prior to beginning the Liturgy Committee Report, Regina Piazza advised the council that the person she hoped might be able to work on archiving parish photos is unavailable.

Father White’s Sunday Vespers and scripture class is great!!

The Mark Forrest adoration hour, though not heavily attended, was beautiful.

Many positive comments have been made by parishioners on the Lenten services booklet.

Father Foley reminded us that we are now two weeks into the Archdiocese “The Light is on” program and that he and a visiting priest are available for confession each Wednesday night from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.

It was noted that the Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings after the soup meal in the PCR have been fairly well attended.  The 1:00 pm Friday afternoon stations are also well attended and Steve Showalter, school principal, commented on what a great blessing it is for the school children to be able to attend.

There will be a bulletin insert regarding the Easter Triduum and Easter Sunday schedules and Father Foley is sending out an Easter letter to parishioners with the Triduum and Easter Sunday schedules as well.

The various music ministries will provide music for the same services as in past years.

Regina gave a detailed report on the many ongoing Holy Week preparations being worked on by the Liturgy Committee.

Update on School Matters

Steve Showalter presented a handout and update on school matters including:

            Concerns presented at Legislative Night (February 18, 2008)          

5^th and 8^th grades Assessment of Catholic Religious Education testing

All teachers being asked to become certified / and or pursue graduate work.

Reregistration forms were withheld from the packets of 40 families whose tuition

payments are in arrears.

Mention was made that the school has no nurse.

Discussion was held regarding lack of busing for Catholic School students.  Steve Showalter noted that all of our legislators in the district are catholic and yet there is no legislation proposed to address the busing issue.

Gloria Garner gave a background history of how the Knights of Columbus were instrumental in getting a law passed stating that if a public school bus passed a catholic school on the way to a public school, a catholic student could ride the bus.

It was noted that there was an accident on the road in front of the school this week.  Although there were apparently no injuries, it brought to the forefront the need for the reliable presence of crossing guards.  Steve noted that no crossing guard was present at the time of the accident, and that crossing guards come from other schools and often show up late.  Occasionally a police officer is present. 

Gloria Garner volunteered to contact District 5 (Bowie) regarding how to improve the situation and Regina Piazza will ask her husband John, a police officer, to call Steve to discuss what might be done. 

The council thanked Steve for his update and the excellent work he does as school principal.

Parish Directory

 Larry Horton spoke with Steve Wingate of Olan Mills regarding a new parish directory.  Larry reported that Olan Mills offers a turn-key solution for both registration and the directory.  Parishioners are now able to register for picture-taking on line.  However, as many people still prefer a sign-up in the back of the church, we will need some volunteers to assist.    Additionally, Olan Mills will provide staff during the picture taking sessions, but we should have a volunteer there to provide a familiar face to “meet and greet” parishioners.  Olan Mills will do the directory layout but we must have someone available to select which pictures are to be used and their placement.

Discussion ensued as to when to schedule.  It was determined that fall would be most realistic and Sue Payne suggested we aim for October noting that having pictures for Christmas would be an incentive.  Larry will check into available dates in October, making sure that a Saturday is included.  Larry will also be responsible for scheduling volunteers to assist in morning and afternoon shifts.  Barbara Fealy tentatively volunteered to assist.

Election for New Pastoral Council Members

Sue Payne noted that May is generally the month when elections are held for new Pastoral Council members.  Sue will compose a list of current members and their terms prior to the next meeting.  In an effort to get representation from a good cross-section of the parish, the following suggestions were made:

Current council members should talk to and recommend parishioners they believe would

be good candidates.

An announcement could be placed in the bulletin and made from the pulpit.

A representative from the music ministry would be helpful.

Young adults should be encouraged to participate.

Anyone potentially interested would be welcome to attend a council meeting.

It was noted that potential members must be registered members of the parish.

Current council members should bring suggestions of potential new members to the next meeting.

Parish Website

Larry Horton emphasized the importance of keeping the parish website up-to-date.  This should also include taking down notice of past events in a timely manner.  It was also mentioned that the website has many valuable links.

The next parish council meeting is scheduled for March 27, 2008.

Father Foley ended the meeting with a prayer at 9:35pm

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