Picnic will be August 4th. The Knights of Columbus will be planning the food, games. The Parish council was asked to participate with set up, cook, shuck corn, cut up watermelon and cleanup. Contact Mike Schifano if interested in volunteering.
Members of the Holy Spirit parish council joined the St Joseph’s parish council and it was a nice welcoming meeting.
Pastor's Report
Welcome Ned Sayegh, Parish Council Chair and Cathy Kamp, Pastoral Associate from St Joseph’s. The idea of a joint parish council is a good one.
Congratulations on the roof donations. Tony Gramza and Bob Kress did a great job in leading this effort. The actual roof should be completed soon. Hope to have money to fix the ceiling and the floor as well.
Financial Report
Budget was proposed last month and passed this month.
Collaboration with St Joseph’s
Productive meeting June 4th at St Joe’s. The process is to be proactive in light of the clergy shortage and the decrease in finances at both churches. If we don’t make a move the diocese may dictate our future. It is rooted in the future of both churches that we should share our best practices, we have our own giftedness, but we can work together. Each church will retain it own identity but will share the best each has to offer.
The feeling from St Joseph’s church is positive having both churches work together. We already share faith formation programs: home family & VBS at Holy Spirit, weekly and summer intensive classes at St Joseph’s. Holy Spirit does soup suppers/stations of the cross during Lent and St Joe’s does Christ Life. Currently the clergy share hospital visitation and nursing home visits. Coordination of the Easter masses between Holy Spirit and St. Joe’s was well executed and we plan on doing the same again for Christmas Liturgies.
Mike Lynch: we should have faith that this will work out, we should not be afraid.
Pat Schichler: We cannot ignore the financial aspect of sharing with St Joe’s. Am in favor of this but understand why the parishioners are concerned that we may be swallowed up.
Bill Keenan: wonderful but what actually will be different than what we have now?
Joe Sakmyster: agree with the benefits but is it a reaction to the church in crisis and necessity is requiring this sharing?
Ray Garbach: need to look what happens, we need to see how things develop and need more specific areas to focus on based on needs.
Fr. Jim: Assumption and Resurrection in Fairport just went through this process with Fr. Palumbos. Father Palumbos is available for help. This joining may be of necessity, but it doesn’t mean it is not God’s plan in the first place.
Gabe Pellegrino: does not want to lose our connection with Webster as a majority of our parishioners are actually in Webster schools. He is also worried about losing more Holy Spirit personnel.
OVERALL: how do we communicate all this to the parishioners of both churches? Need to mention it more in the bulletins and at the pulpit. We need to keep communication open.
Ray Garbach & Cathy Kamp: Need more practical communication. Need to investigate shared parish councils and its look. Need to identify common goals for the councils. The staff from both churches are meeting to develop a plan for the melding, next steps and action items.
We all need to be supportive and embrace this or it will fail. We need to also involve more parish council participation and not just staff. But we want to keep the identities of both churches separate! We need to remember that when Fr. Jim first started at Holy Spirit the St. Joseph’s people felt that they “lost” their pastor in the process. We may want to start by talking about this effort at each of the smaller groups in church: Ladies Auxiliary, Knights of Columbus, Prayer Shawl, etc.
We need to trust in the Holy Spirit and continue forward with this process and develop a plan of action.