Faith Formation sessions will be held as follows:

• Levels K-5
  • Sunday – 9:15-10:30am at Sacred Heart Church
  • Wednesday – 4:30-5:45pm at St. Maurice Church
• Levels 6-8
  • Sunday – 6:15-7:30pm at Sacred Heart Church
  • Wednesday – 6:30-7:45pm at St. Maurice Church
• Confirmation Preparation (High School Level)
  • All Confirmation Preparation sessions for Sacred Heart Church and St. Maurice Church will be combined
    • at Sacred Heart Church on Sunday – 6:15-7:30pm
    • followed by Youth Group 7:30-8:45pm.

Parish families are free to choose to attend sessions at either Sacred Heart Church or St. Maurice Church (exception – Confirmation Prep and Youth Group). You do not have to be a parishioner at a specific parish in order to attend Faith Formation sessions there, however, you must be a parishioner of either one of the parishes.

Registration fees are as follows:

• $50 for the first child/teen in your family
• $45 for the second child/teen in your family
• $115 Maximum fee per family
• $60 for Confirmation Preparation

If you are new to the parish or will have a child/teen enrolling for the first time in the Faith Formation program or need more information, please contact Rella (860-875-4563) or (rella@sacredheartchurch.net).

If you are new to the parish, or if your child/teen will be new to the Faith Formation Program, please contact Rella.

The day will begin with registration at 8:45am, followed by Mass at 9:00am celebrated by our pastor, Father Stan. Included in the program will be reflection, fellowship and lunch served by the ladies of the parish. This is a wonderful way to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Bring along a friend and take some time for yourself this Advent. All are welcome! There is no charge. Donations will be accepted.

To register or for further information, call Larry & Carol Deraleau at 749-4139 or the parish office at 875-4563. You’ll be glad you did.

Combined Pastoral/Parish Council Meeting
June 17, 2008 7:15pm, Saint Maurice

Name tags were distributed, an attendance sheet was distributed.
Meeting started with prayer. Persons spoke their names.

Father Stan sent apologies from Sr. Elissa – she has bronchitis and laryngitis and sounds like a bass – but Father explained that we will follow her agenda for the evening, which consisted of two questions.

———

Two questions were asked:

1 What is your greatest concern as the process goes forward? 
2 What do you see as the advantages? 

Reflection, then around the table…

The responses to question 1:

Mass times / schedules; Holy Week & Christmas; social functions/hospitality; finances/specifically drop in Mass attendance; limited access to the Pastor/showing support to the Pastor; “The Unknown”; losing members to other parishes or just losing members; losing individuality/effect on identity; maintaining identity in an arranged marriage; the burden on Fr Stan/duplication of duties/additional burdens; failure to properly delegate to others those things that do not require an ordained person/not calling on people; has the definition of “Yoking”  changed in the 7 years since the clustered discussions; parishes becoming enemies or merely tolerating each other; too much for Fr Stan to handle; counterparts in each parish should get together; mileage (driving to Mass); maintain positive face / image / attitude; might not run into as many problems as we think, we do have a lot in common – Mass, groups, functions; people will leave and new people will come to take their place as in any corporate merger; gifts and gaps of each church can fit together; Faith Formation and Youth Group require that the Mass schedule be set before setting up the programs for the year; Youth Group has been inactive at Saint Maurice for several years; Faith Formation at Saint Maurice is intergenerational; we have been trying at Sacred Heart for many  years to increase our numbers, so in a way this accomplishes our goal; having fewer Masses is a big change; Saint Maurice is still healing from having its pastor of 20 years yanked without warning with only 1 week notice; having a rotation of resident and visiting priests means there is no usual priest at a given Mass with whom to develop a relationship; despite assurances, will there actually end up being staffing changes, specifically with regards to Ernie & Don, and Faith Formation?

Respondents were asked to shift to question 2

The responses to question 2 (advantages):

The benefit to evangelization which may be enhanced by sharing ministers; at least there is a priest and so there can be Eucharist; this presents an opportunity to do things we never would have tried and to learn from each other; this presents a new opportunity for our youth to grow; an opportunity to learn how another parish operates; working together; potential to be great; now each parish can continue instead of having to consider closing; more flags = more fun!; learning about another parish allows us to learn about our own parish; Saint Maurice has a pastor again! We can form a relationship; lemons/lemonade; we are people of faith for others to see; perhaps the pall (of the closing of Sacred Heart’s church building) is lifting; staff can take vacations and share coverage/ learn and try new things; try new things we never would have tried; realization that Saint Maurice isn’t just gaining half a priest, but that Sacred Heart is also giving up half their priest; sharing ideas/getting to know new people; there is no monopoly on good ideas; creativity and the opportunity to be creative; more people = more experiences; additional facilities to use; we’re not actually merging, but what would really be so bad if we did?; it’s like a marriage in the family – we’re gaining new in-laws and so there is more family to love

Given that there will be only four Masses offered between the two parishes and Masses must begin at least two hours apart, questions were asked about:

what is the earliest possible Sunday Mass we should offer
(responses generally favored 8am)
what is the latest possible Sunday Mass we should offer
(responses generally favored 11am)
what is ther earliest possible Saturday Mass we should offer
(responses generally  favored 4pm)
what is the latest possible Saturday Mass we should offer
(responses generally favored 5:30pm)

What time should the Sunday afternoon Mass be offered
(slightly more responses for 7pm  than 5pm)

What is the best-attended Mass in each parish?
St Maurice 9:15 and 11:30 both very well attended, others not
Sacred Heart 10:30 very well attended, other not

How do the times of Mass affect those families with small children?

Father Stan then proposed choosing between the following two choices:

Choice 1)
one Mass in each location on Saturday (at 4pm & 6pm) and one in each location (at 9am & 11am)

or

Choice 2)
one Mass in one location on Saturday at 5pm, one Sunday morning Mass in each parish at either 9am & 11am and a Mass in the parish that did not have the Saturday Mass on Sunday at 5pm

The second choice was the overwhelming winner

The following choice was then offered:
Saturday at 5pm. Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30am and Sunday at 5pm –
but was discounted because 8:30am is considered too early for those who have children.

The question of a survey was addressed; because Tom from Saint Maurice already had  drawn one up so it was distributed and will be used

There was closing prayer.

Parish Yoking Meetings

Sacred Heart Church – June 3, 2008

Mass Possibilities
• Accommodate early birds with an early Mass
• Accommodate late risers with an evening Mass on Saturday/Sunday

• Sunday evening Mass in other parts of the country are very popular with the 20 and 30-something crowd, although other age groups do attend. 
• For families with young children, a 5pm Mass is impossible.  Also, “bookend Masses” (i.e., early and late Masses) are hard on families with young children.
• Weekday Masses – currently St. Maurice does not have weekday Masses.  They do have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Wednesday.  Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion open and close Adoration.
• Hopefully, the new Mass schedule will be in effect by the beginning of July.  A joint meeting of the two pastoral councils will coordinate efforts to come up with a new Mass schedule.  (A suggestion was made that the pastoral councils present new Mass schedules to their respective parishes and that the parishioners vote on the preferred schedule.  A survey, however, could be conducted, but voting would not be beneficial.)
 
Suggestions
• St. Philip & St. Jude parishes pray for each other at their Masses.  Perhaps this might be something Sacred Heart and St. Maurice parishes might want to do.
• Invite St. Maurice parishioners to Sacred Heart picnic on June 8 and to the anniversary Mass and banquet on June 29.  Fr. Stan will bring invitations to the St. Maurice meeting on June 4.
• Visiting St. Maurice would be a great way to begin the process of working and worshipping together.
• A “Yoking Bulletin Board” in a meeting room at both parishes would keep all parishioners informed of activities in both parishes. 
• Some parishes have a joint section in their bulletins informing parishioners of upcoming events.
• It was suggested that Fr. Stan allow time for fellowship to occur after all Masses.  His presence after Mass to meet with parishioners and enjoy fellowship with them is very important.
• It was suggested that a pot luck supper be held in order to bring both parishes together.

Questions
• Inquiry re: staff at St. Maurice – Fr. Stan reported that, to the best of his knowledge, the parish has a secretary, assistant secretary, groundskeeper, education minister, music minister, youth minister.  Most of these are part-time workers or volunteers.
• Inquiry re: financial implications – Bishop Cote instructed Fr. Stan that Sacred Heart parish would issue Fr. Stan’s salary.  St. Maurice is to pay ½ of the pastor’s salary and reimburse Sacred Heart parish every other month. 
• Inquiry re: the allotment of Fr. Stan’s time between the two parishes – Fr. Stan estimates that he will initially need to divide his time approximately 60 / 40 – 60% with St. Maurice and 40% with Sacred Heart because he will need time to get to know the St. Maurice parish.  There is also time needed to do some technological updating.
• Inquiry re: the parish envelopes if attending the other parish – Fr. Stan indicated that all envelopes would be returned to their proper parish.  This would work only with envelopes – if cash is dropped in the basket, there’s no way of knowing if the person is a parishioner of St. Maurice or Sacred Heart.

Information
• St. Maurice has a Knights of Columbus council.
• St. Maurice supports a school for girls in Haiti.
• St. Maurice’s faith formation classes occur once a month in intergenerational classes.  Confirmation Preparation occurs within the intergenerational program.
• St. Maurice does have fellowship each Sunday with each Sunday having a different focus – i.e., coffee fellowship one week, pancake breakfast another week, intergenerational faith formation on another week, etc.
 

Thanks to Rich Bernabucci for the pictures.

If you are new to the parish, or have a child who has not been a part of the Faith Formation Program, and wish to register your child for the 2007-08 Faith Formation year, please contact Rella.  Registration is easy and can easily be done over the phone.

Faith Formation Schedule is as follows:

Grades K-5 – Wednesday afternoons (4:00-5:15pm)
     and again on Sunday mornings (9:10-10:25am)

Grades 6-8 – Sunday nights (6:30-7:45pm)

Confirmation Preparation/Youth Group – Sunday nights (6:30-9:00pm)

Jacob Brigandi
Christie Quaranta
Yvonne Veilleux

Also receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation were two young men from St. Matthew Church, Tolland. They are:

Cory DeGiacomo
Michael Lyman

And on June 2, one of our young persons celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation at Saint Matthew! She is:

Kimberly Perna

We congratulate these young people and their families and pray that they may continue to be open to the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives.