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Posted on Friday February 13, 2009
Minutes Of San Pedro Regional Pastoral Council Meeting Of November 25, 2008
SAN PEDRO REGIONAL PASTORAL COUNCIL Most Reverend Alexander Salazar Deacon Bob Miller Meeting Minutes (notes) November 25, 2008
SAN PEDRO REGIONAL PASTORAL COUNCIL
Most Reverend Alexander Salazar
Deacon Bob Miller
Meeting Minutes (notes)
November 25, 2008
I. Gathering and fellowship: The meeting was called to order by Moderator, David Kennedy.
Present were Bishop Alexander Salazar, Rev. Antonio Garnica, MSC, Rev. Michael Sears, Rev. Michael Gleeson, Deacon Frank Dieter, Deacon Bob Miller, Deacon Carl Gibboney, David Kennedy, Hank Cierpich, Earl Lovett, Tom Connolly, Marisol Meza, Charles Salfity, Nora Rodriguez, Alfonso Perez, Martin Clement, Dennis Branconier, and Lou Cassani.
Guest included Deacon David Estrada, and Myra Perez.
Excused were: Sister Karen Wilhelmy, CSJ, Fr. James Kavanagh, Kathy Hamrock, Frances Jonte, and Ana Rosal.
Absent were: Sr. Kathleen Burns, Jim Dela Torre, and Rosalie Marquez.
II. Opening Prayer: Dennis Branconier led the opening prayer with the Gospel proclamation from the 1st Sunday in Advent (John 13: 33-37). Reflection followed with many sharing on the meaning of “watch”.
III. Agenda Confirmation: The agenda was approved as written.
IV. Approval of Minutes: The minutes were approved with minor grammatical corrections.
V. Moderators’ Comments: David Kennedy commented that we have a lot to do tonight and we will concentrate on the business at hand.
VI. Bishop’s Comments: Bishop Alexander Salazar introduced Deacon Carl Gibboney as the newest member of the San Pedro Regional Council.
Deacon Carl shared his background. He was ordained as a Deacon in 2006. He and his wife Judy are members of St. Bartholomew Parish, a very quiet parish in Long Beach. He stated that he has promoted many ministries within the parish and has had some success. He has been very successful at encouraging participation in a feed the hungry program in the parish that now ministers twice every week. He has also spent a lot of time in the detention ministry and that’s where he felt he received the call to the diaconate.
Deacon Carl said that the education he received in the diaconate helps when talking with the kids in Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. He said he lets them know there is an adult that cares, gives them hope, and will talk and pray with them.
Deacon Carl closed with saying that his first love is teaching the 1st year confirmation students, and preparing them for the 2nd year to ask questions.
Bishop Alexander Salazar thanked Deacon Carl for accepting the call to the Regional Pastoral Council and also thanked Deacon Bob Miller and Deacon David Estrada for doing the interviews.
Bishop Alexander Salazar then announced that on November 20th, the Archdiocesan Finance Council met and gave a report on all the movement that has taken place to go from recovery to settlement.
The Bishop also announced that they received a note from the Archdiocese regarding the 20 Deanery meetings that will take place in 2009. The San Pedro Regional Deanery meetings will be:
Deanery 17
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - St. Bernard Church, Bellflower
Deanery 18
Friday, February 6, 2009 - St. Pius X Church, Santa Fe Springs
Deanery 20
Thursday, February 19, 2009 - St. Anthony Church, Long Beach
Deanery 19
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - American Martyrs Church, Manhattan Beach
The regional pastoral councils will be active in the process of these meetings and also part of the structure. Each region will be given the opportunity to make a presentation at their respective deanery meetings on the issues they face.
Discussion followed as to what process to follow and the content of the regional presentation.
Some expressed that they would like to see a presentation on Initiative #2 and what we have accomplished. Others commented on being open to what we want as a Regional Council for the future.
The Bishop mentioned that the San Pedro Region will soon have our first Parish Life Director and would like to give that person an opportunity to comment.
Deacon Dave Estrada said that this would be a perfect opportunity for the regional councils to present themselves to the parishes. He suggested starting with the history, show our progression and then share our vision for the future.
It was agreed that an ad-hoc committee should be created to address this issue. The Bishop recommended that we only ask those interested in this to be on the ad-hoc committee and give them a deadline of January 15, 2009.
Those who volunteered to be on the ad hoc committee to prepare the SPRPC presentation for the deanery meetings will be: Deacon Carl Gibboney, Dennis Branconier, Marisol Meza, David Kennedy, Tom Connolly, Earl Lovett, Charles Salfity, and Nora Rodriguez.
The Bishop then asked Hank Cierpich to send an e-mail to those not present to invite them into the process.
Deacon Bob Miller said that this would also be an excellent opportunity to get information on contact people in the different parishes.
VII. Old Business
A. Initiative #2, report on Structure, Participation, and Accountability:
Tom Connolly reported that the recent workshop for Pastoral Councils held at St. Joseph High School in Lakewood on October 18, 2008 was attended by approximately 150 people representing about 20 parishes. It was a great turnout. The facility was excellent, the help from synod office outstanding, and we have received good feedback from several parishes.
Discussion followed on ways we need to improve our next workshop and how the council can better represent themselves to the parishes.
Fr. Michael Sears commented that the people from his parish were energized by the process and learned a lot as to the differences between the councils.
B. Report on Representative for Deanery 17
Marisol Meza reported that she got together with Fr. Antonio Garnica and Jim Dela Torre to search for a viable candidate to fill the vacancy in Deanery 17. She said they are still working on the process and hope to have the vacancy filled soon.
VIII. New Business
A. Inter-Regional pastoral Dialogue. January 10, 2009
David Kennedy reported that all the regions will be getting together on January 10, 2009. The six synod initiatives will discussed and we need three people on each initiative committee. The following committees are:
Initiative I – Earl Lovett and Frances Jonte
Initiative II - Charles Salfity, Tom Connolly, and Hank Cierpich
Initiative III – Lou Cassani, Jim Dela Torre, Nora Rodriguez, and Deacon Carl Gibboney
Initiative IV - -Marisol Meza, Martin Clement
Initative V - Deacon Frank Dieter, Alfonso Perez, and Dennis Branconier
Initiative VI – Frances Jonte and David Kennedy
B. Proposal to promote the RPC /Initiatives
David Kennedy opened the discussion stating that we need more opportunities to promote our Regional Council. An invigorated discussion followed with the following suggestions:
• A booth at the annual Religious Education Congress in Anaheim
• Making presentations at events the Bishop attends or at Masses the Bishop is invited to preside.
• Catholic Charities
• Booths or tables at parish festivals
• Creating competition among parishes
Deacon David Estrada said the San Gabriel and Our Lady of the Angels regions have started a process by inviting parishes to the regional council meetings to address their needs and how they can serve them.
Bishop Alexander Salazar said these were all wonderful ideas and thanked everyone for their dedication.
IX. Synod Office Report:
Deacon David Estrada reported that media committee is in the process of writing a communication plan for archdiocese and this involves a large number of people.
He also announced that Evangelization is in the media and even though it is too early to report, it involves interfacing with Hollywood.
He also reported that they are busy establishing a system of Parish communication where every parish will have an e-mail address and it will be used for better communication and they are also expanding video conferencing. He went on to say that they will be doing workshops in the future on Stewardship and Evangelization. He announced that the next Finance Council workshop will be at St. Vincent on March 14, 2009.
Deacon David Estrada closed by announcing the number of baptisms that occurred in the Los Angeles Archdioceses last year was 100,640, which is more than the number of individuals baptized in the Archdoceses of New York and Chicago combined. He closed by announcing that the Cardinal has indicated that pending the Vatican's approval, he will be retiring in 2011.
X. Announcements:
The Regional Office received a letter from the Department of Religious Education asking for a date to make a presentation to our regional council. It was agreed that the March 24th meeting would scheduled for this purpose.
XI. Closing / Night Prayer / Fellowship: Bishop Alexander Salazar led the council in the night prayer.
The next meeting of the San Pedro Regional Pastoral Council will be on Tuesday, January 27, 2009. It will be held in the St. Pancratius conference room and will start at 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments will be provided by Marisol Meza.
Opening prayer will be proclaimed by Alfonso Perez
Closing prayer will be led by Martin Clement.
Respectfully submitted:
Hank Cierpich,
Secretary, SPRPC
