St. Ignatius Pastoral Council Meeting
Monday, October 11, 2021, at 6:30PM
Virtual Meeting via Zoom
Present: Father Casciotti, Len Heckwolf, Joe Hillery, Kate Walsh, Barbara Ipsaro, Ryan Bixler, Toni Moore-Duggan, and Kevin Burdinski.
Opening Prayer
Len opened with prayer.
1. Pastor’s Report – Father Jim
Synods
- A synod is an ancient word in the tradition of the Church whose meaning indicates the path along which the People of God walk together.
- The early Church met all together to solve a problem.
- Vatican 2 said we should start having synods again, but it got watered down.
- This is trying to be restarted so there isn’t what looks to be a “dictator.”
- Trying to really listen to each other to help improve the hierarchy. Listening to the people and taking their thoughts into perspective.
- The question was raised by the Council, will there be any change/development in the principles of the Church?
- Anything can be discussed at these synods. It not a place for debate, but rather to get all ideas/thoughts/perspectives on the table to be considered by the Church.
- What can we as a local parish do to be involved? We all talk openly and don’t debate.
General
- Father Casciotti and Candra met with a Synagogue about ideas to partner with them to do more justice work with them.
- We received more money for the music program.
- Father Casciotti made an introduction with Peabody which may result in getting younger people interested in the Church.
- Plans for CHAP credit are being redrawn. Hoping to have the revised plans in early November.
- Two new parishioners joined in the past two weeks. Both came from the virtual mass and said they really enjoy the homilies.
2. Deacons Update – Andrew
- Andrew will still be operating in his role at Corpus Christi as least through the middle to the end of next month.
- Weddings and baptism are continuing at a good pace.
- Andrew wants to get more involved and is turning his attention back to pre cana. The idea of extending pre cana to people outside the Church was discussed.
- The parish is opening up again which comes with a lot of opportunities and challenges.
3. Justice and Peace Update – Joe
- The Justice and Peace meeting is Thursday.
- A lot of emphasis was on the Feast of Saint Francis. Emphasis on care of our planet.
- Catholic Charities was asked to sponsor Afghan families. There is a Zoom meeting Thursday to talk about adopting a family. We have money from the poor box to support this.
- There will be a candidate night for politicians to discuss their positions/policies.
- We addressed signing up for the ministries so there is a greater representation of the Parish. Joe will emphasis to people to only sign up once a month so others have opportunities to participate.
4. Closing Prayer
Kate closed with prayer
5. Upcoming Meetings
November 8th
December 6th
