PARISH REPRENTATIVES

MINUTES OF MEETING

Location:                  St. Francis Xavier Parish                       Date:         Wednesday, May 4/11                                                Mississauga                                           Time:         7:45p – 9:00p

                                                                                                Duration:   1.25 hours

Chair:                       Gabriel Ogundele, Enza Mazzotta

Rec. Secretary:       Irene Della Rossa  

Attendees:

E-Mail:             CCCSC Chair and Secretary to send to Principals and School Council Chairs to forward to their Parish Reps 

1)    Actions, recommendations, feedback arising from meeting with Father Damian Ali.  Did your council implement action items?

2)    Collaborate items to address with Bishop Boissoneau.  Best Practices, struggles, challenges associated with Parish Rep roles.

1.     Gabriel welcomed participants, brief round table introduction of participants.  

2.    Attendees separated into groups (elementary and secondary) for discussion.  Following notes are highlighted pertaining to each action items:

COLLABORATIVE RESPONSE ACTION ITEMS: (Feb. 2011 Meeting with Fr. Ali)

A.    There needs to be a public invitation to come back to God/Church extended to those who have been away from their faith (e.g. neon signs in front of schools and churches)

·         Rosary club, Rosary Apostolate, The Circles of Rosary

·         Bus Funding for church masses to transport students from school to church.   School mass should be celebrated in the parish church at least once a month.  School council may provide money towards bussing to church in order to increase the number of masses celebrated at the church.

·         Notification in bulletins and or newsletter one month notice of all events, mass times, fundraising and request of volunteers if required from the church

·         Confessions at school with priest.  Some schools have a special room for the pastoral visits and a designated area for confessions.

·         Priest not visible in schools (especially noted in the high schools)

·         Youth masses involved in mass. (Eg.  Readings, to reflect virtues)

·         Pastoral Plans – welcome package, table at the school open house

·         Summer Camp in church where parents and high school students can volunteer (collecting their community service hours) while children develop their skills in a spiritual atmosphere and get connected with their church. 

·         Youth Program flyer to involve teens (www.totuuschicago.com)

B.    Visibility of the parish representatives on the School Council should be increased.  Perhaps consider a commissioning at Sunday Mass.

·           Recognition with other ministries at the beginning of the school year

·           Parish Reps are there to help the priest

·           Introduce parish rep during the school’s open house.  Perhaps set a table in the school’s foyer for the church’s pastoral team reps, school’s parish rep, youth group reps, etc.  Handout welcome package that shows the different mass schedules, the various ministries that are available to the community including the names of the leaders of each ministry and their contact numbers.

C.   Recognizing that people are at different stages on their faith journey (or, in the case of high schools, where parents on the School Council may even be of different faiths), it is important to focus on the common ground and build on that foundation instead of increasing factions on divisive issues.

·           Creating activities for the children and parents to engage in catholic faith and to building a community.  Children to draw their parents back into the faith through school activities. 

·           Virtues displayed in school halls and in church

·           Encourage psalm contest

·           Convert a vacant room in school into a Chapel

·           Include mass schedule in every school newsletters

D.   As an organization in a Catholic School, there should be an increase in funding to ShareLife to support Catholic charities, many of which have no other means of financial support.

·         Encourage council, school and parents to support ShareLife as one of their key fundraiser.

E.    Each parish representative should make a sincere effort to bring CHRIST to every council meeting.

·         Creating sacred space at school council meeting

·         Opening and closing prayers

·         Reflections pertaining to  current theme/ events

·         Contact Parish prior to council meeting to relay any info to be shared with school council and parents

·         Inform Parish/ Pastor of current events that is happening in the school and community (eg. Copy of their school council minutes – highlighting faith based events.)

F.    Insist that the Parish Representative is on the agenda for EACH School Council meeting.  The agenda should not be approved unless this is the case.

·           Most attendees confirmed that parish reps are on and take part in the agenda of their school council meetings

G.   Make a sincere effort to share “best practices” among parish representatives and pass along to all schools.

·           Annually review list/ clearly defining parish rep tasks with pastor with family of schools reporting to  church

·           Review expectations from Parish and Pastor of their responsibilities as a parish rep.

H.  The parish representative should make every effort to bridge the gap between the pastor and the school if such a gap exists.

·         Have the monthly Virtues displayed in church

·         All church events to be included in the school bulletin and newsletters

·         Some schools participate in sending church bulletins home to the students

I.       Encourage administrators to insist that each school day is ended with a prayer if this is not already happening.

·           Some schools practice end of day prayers within each classrooms

·           Elementary grades conduct lunch prayers within their classrooms

·           Encourage administrators to end day with prayers over pa system. 

3.    Items for Discussion with Bishop Boissonneau

·           Officially making Parish Rep a Ministry in the church.  Priests to give recognition to the role of parish rep to the community/ parishioners

·           Create a Welcome Package include information of church annual events, school’s saint, different masses and ministries available to the community.  Also to be shared at the Open House at schools.

·           List Parish Rep name  on church bulletins, school newsletter to inform the community of their current representative.

·           Bishop to define Parish Rep roles to the priests to maintain the consistency in the school and with member.

·           Annual symposium forum to build and exchange best practices/ information

·           Pastoral Plans – parish reps to be invited and be involved at the school level. 

·           Pastors to hold meeting (beginning of school year) with Parish reps reporting to parish to review roles, expectations, etc.

4.    The Circles of Rosary – Cora Bryce                                                                

Group of volunteers are invited to the schools to teach our faith and to instill the peaceful spirit.   A group of volunteers  once a month visits a school – praying and reflecting the mysteries of the rosary with the students and the teacher

Ø The school circle is when the  students learn to pray the rosary together.  The teacher and the volunteer facilitates this school circle prayer.

Ø  The students are encouraged to bring the Family Prayer Kit and become leaders at home – Family Circle – “the family that prays together stays together”.

Ø  Also, the family  writes down their petitions  that the family bring to church and drop in the Family Circle Petition box placed at the church foyer – joining the church community – the church circle,  inviting families to come to church on Saturday/Sunday mass.

Ultimately, building ONE GOD CIRCLE with strong faith and love of peace.  This program builds  the relationship between home, school and church. 

If interested, please contact Cora Bryce at corabryce@sympatico.ca  905 896 2958

Next Meeting:   June 28, 2011 Meeting with Bishop Boissonneau

Place:                 St. Francis Xavier Parish, 5650 Mavis Road, Mississauga

Time:                   6:30 pm (Pot Luck), Meeting at 7:00pm