Pastoral Council

                     January 2025 Pastoral Council Meeting Summary

Financial Report:  Reviewed reports for August, September and October of 2024. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. It continues to be a solid year financially and everything is running steady.

Finance and Administration: Amy Testone has been hired to replace Morgan Evans as the Church Youth Minister. Ms. Evans transitioned to become the St. Joseph High School Counselor. Adult Faith Formation Director Christy Trantina will be stepping down from her position in April. A search will begin for her replacement.  

Liturgy and Worship Commission: Fr John and Fr Daniel are going to be addressing issues related to Sacristans. A meeting was being held to address them and those wishing to become Sacristans could attend. Our deacons have been advised that starting in February, our transitional Deacon, Joel Brackett, will be begin delivering homilies at least twice a month during his tenure here through May. He’ll be ordained into the priesthood that month.  Fr Daniel also noted that high school students will be assisting at some weekend Masses, serving as EMC’s and ushers, and will be doing so once a month on the weekends.

Education and Faith Formation Commission: The Healing the Whole Person Retreat was held January 10-11 for which 50 persons registered. A new ministry called COR for Catholic Men is now meeting once a month at the KC Hall. Cole Kennedy is leading this group. The St. Joseph Men’s Retreat at Subiaco is set for February 21-23. A Lenten Retreat with Fr John Marconi and Debbie Eckert is scheduled for April 4-5. There are also Men’s and Women’s Cursillo Weekends scheduled for February 2-23 and April 24-27, respectively. It was noted that a dozen or more St. Joseph students attended January’s March for Life in Little Rock. This was a significant increase from the previous year.

Stewardship Commission: The October Stewardship Month went very well with the emphasis being on treasure. It wasn’t a strong push because collections have been healthy. A video was recorded by Father John explaining what it takes financially to run a parish of this size.

Parish Life Commission: The Volunteer Appreciation Dinner in November was very successful with around 250 in attendance. This bodes well for the future and may encourage even more parishioners to be involved in volunteer work.  

Hispanic Commission: The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe went well. The Commission will begin planning for the Feast of St. Joseph in March. Members have been helping some families with translation issues. It’s also started RCIA again and have accepted two new persons in the class. The Renovacion Carismatica group is having a retreat on February 22nd.

Missions Committee Report: A Border Mission Trip to McAllen, TX is planned for April 1-5. The Community Volunteer Day is March 8th. Seven projects have been confirmed and five others may come to fruition. Ron Gatto has agreed to become the Delta Disciples Administrator and their next planned weekend is March 27-30. At Fr John’s request, a new partnership opportunity is in development this year with the Divine Mercy Medical Mission. It’s been confirmed that the Missions Committee will be organizing the Lenten Dinner offered on March 12.   

Old Business: The parish’s listening sessions regarding its future goals ended recently. The February meeting of the Pastoral Council will focus entirely on summarizing everything learned from those sessions. Subsequent meetings will flesh out what ideas rise to the top for eventual implementation. Two Pastoral Council members, Dave Jedlicka and Mary Walter, are leaving the Council after six years of dedicated service. David Hambuchen and Paul Young will be taking their places.

New Business: There was a short discussion about seating capacities at the Christmas Masses.  

Pastors Report: Father John, in order to balance his very full schedule, will continue to write his “From the Pastor’s Desk” articles but not quite as often. One of his new responsibilities will be mentioning Deacon Brackett. 

January 2025

October 2024

August 2024

June 2024

May 2024