Minutes for October 18th, 2008

Attendance
Patti LaRue, Darlene Greiner, Father John Amsberry, Lori Burmester, Lillian Erwin, Mike Jefferies, Marlene Meyers, Mike Caldwell, Tim Cook, David Mastroieni, Janet Rathbone.

Not in Attendance
Mark Butler

Breakfast began at 9:00 am

Meeting began at 9:30 am

Opening
Father John led everyone in prayer.

State of the Parish
First off Father John apologized for forgetting about last months meeting.

Father felt we need to continue to work on "community" and should think of whether we should do less than more and perhaps doing less but doing it better. Father believes we need to reach out more to the poor especially those in our immediate area and parishioners.

Father feels he needs to prayer more to see what more he himself can do for the parish.

He stated that he feels that we need to invite others to grow in the church community and to encourage them to grow in their faith. He also feels that the church needs to move away from depending on him to be the leader but instead encourage the church community to lead the church.

Helping Hands
Mike Caldwell will be spear heading a campaign to begin to organize our own Helping Hands for the East County. He hopes that St. Joseph will spear head it and get the other East County churches to join in.

Helping Hands mission is to strengthen our community by enhancing the quality of people's lives through the delivery of goods and services to those in need. Food, clothing and furniture are the main focus for those in need.

Helping Hands is already operational in Milwaukee at Christ the King. Decisions will have to be made on whether or not to build a facility or rent one of the program. Would have to coordinate with St. Vincent de Paul as well so that they would know who to send to the program for help.

Pastoral Council agreed that this sounded like a worthwhile project for St. Joseph the Worker. Mike and David will begin researching for this huge project.

Theme For 2008-09 "Community"
Marlene mentioned she felt our parishioners need to be fed spiritually. The adults need to have their spiritual lives built up.

It was stressed that we need to get people more involved in the church community not just during Mass but after Mass as well.

Father stressed that we need to help everyone learn to hear each others stories, don’t judge, need to learn to run to God, run to each other for community.

Father said he's working on a Lent Retreat for 2009.

It was suggested again that there might be prayer teams after each Mass and encourage parishioners to seek them out for prayer. Father suggested mentioning to the Prayer Group and said that it would probably be best if he were the one encouraging parishioners to participate.

It was suggested that we reach out more to the Pilipino Community of our parish. Perhaps hold an event focusing on the Pilipino Community that would introduce them to the parishioners.

It was also suggested that perhaps the next Ministry Sunday should be held at the church picnic and that the picnic/bbq should be held on church grounds. It was also suggested that Ministry Sunday be held twice a year.

Father also spoke some on the Haitian Project which includes the Louverture Cleary School which provides religious Catholic education for the poverty stricken in Haiti. Father suggested that St. Joseph consider some way of contributing as a community.

Another way of helping the church community might be to make welcome packages to give to all newly registered parishioners. Marlene will take this to Claire Clow for ideas since she use to do this.

Goals and Objectives for 2008-09
Youth Group – Meetings with other youth groups from other churches have been established but have been changed from a monthly basis to a quarterly basis.

It was suggested that the Youth Group think of some way to work with the elderly at St. Joseph as a way to give back to the church community. Another suggestion was a youth run Mass in the future.

Janet said the youth are really into prayer, they’ve created a prayer circle and are eager to learn about scripture.

Janet now has three young adults that are helping her out with the youth as well.

Ecumenical Programs – Reaching out to non-Catholic churches.

Invite churches perhaps a procession for the Stations of the Cross. Mike and David will try to come up with a plan.

It was suggested to set up small groups to set up meetings with other faiths.

It was also suggested to invite the other churches in the area to the Church cook out/picnic at the church.

Social Event Themes
Bob Anderson is thinking of no longer doing the church picnic. It was suggested that it be held at the church beginning in 2009.

Knights of Columbus have offered to do the Spaghetti Dinner in 2009, scheduled for March 15th.

Family retreats were suggested as a social event.

It was stressed the church really needs to have things that families can do together.

There will be an Advent teaching given at Back to Prayer Night, given by Nancy Anderson. This will be an in depth presentation of activities, prayers, teachings that has worked for her and her family.

It was suggested to have a church mission or a series of prayer nights.

Another suggestion was to have a yearly Life in the Spirit held at St. Joseph. Some agreed that sometimes people need something to fire up the people to get spiritually involved.

Lillian suggested getting different people involved with creating food baskets for the needy.

Darlene mentioned how involved the Altar Guild has been in the church community. The new Stations of the Cross will be presented to the parish soon and Mike will decide where they will be displayed.

Father stressed that we still need to continue to encourage parishioners to pray on a daily basis.

Closing
Father led the group in the closing prayer.

Meeting Adjourned at 11:45 am

Next meeting will be held in the Parish Office.

Minutes prepared by Patti LaRue, Recording Secretary