Gift Tags for “holiday wishes” for the following children listed will be given out at the Nov. 21/22 and Nov. 28/29 weekend masses. All Gift Tags items are due back to Sacred Heart by Sunday, December 6th. It is a tight window…I know! Call me if you want to be assigned a Gift Tag now, or to make a donation.

All gift cards are requested to be uniform in the amount of $50

Cash/Check donations are welcome in any amount. Please make checks payable to Sacred Heart with the memo field indicating Covenant to Care. Please mark all envelopes attention: Claire Crane

It is helpful if clothes come with a gift receipt for an exchange, if the item does not fit.

Do not wrap anything, as the state must inspect everything. Please put your items in a gift bag. Teenagers that are just asking for the gift card…please feel free to have fun adding in a couple of inexpensive accessories or a CVS/Walgreens card for make-up, etc. Food is not allowed. I am always amazed at everyone’s creativity and generosity. I encourage families to share a gift tag. The goal is to end up with an even distribution between siblings in a family. We all know how brothers and sisters compare!

Please do not assign yourself a gift tag… you must call me or physically pick up a tag on the dates listed above. THANK YOU!

God Bless,
Claire Crane
Click to see the 2009 Advance Christmas List (pdf file)

Tickets at the gate cost $32 but tickets from Haitian Ministries cost only $20! A great deal! And half of the proceeds go to benefit Haitian Ministries and their programs!

There is an order sheet in the foyer. See Steve Smith for more information.

Click (broadband recommended)

Members of the Youth Group will be on hand Saturday, March 14th and Sunday, March 15th to collect pledges from parishioners. All proceeds will be given to Catholic Relief Services.

Sacred Heart’s Youth Group will be having a raffle on Sunday, December 21. Tickets will be available after all Masses. A Christmas floral arrangement will be raffled as well as a gift basket from Dunkin’ Donuts. Watch the bulletin for updates!

It will be a whole meal – there will be breakfast and lunch foods for your eating pleasure.

No charge – free-will offering. Bring your appetites! All money collected will go to buy food for the people of Haiti – additional rice and beans to carry them over after the brutal storms.

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.

There will be a “Bounce House”, an “Inflatable Batting Cage”, a “Pop-The- Balloon” game, a fishing pond and duck pool for the little ones and a “Dunk Tank” as well as sno-cone and popcorn machines.

Please sign up (if you can) at either of the entrances to the Church to 1) let us know how many people are coming, and 2) to let us know what you would like to bring to the picnic (vegetable dish, salad, or dessert).

No charge, and everyone is welcome no matter whether parishioner or not, and no matter whether you bring food or not. This is for everyone!

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.