• September 27, 2012 - 7pm
   
  In Attendance:  John Mitchell, Reno Sartori, Jeanne Singh, Joe Osteen, Ginger Osteen, Laura Hack  (several members had conflicts with meeting;  this was one week past our usual meeting night)
   
  1.            The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm and the opening prayer included "Open My Eyes Lord".
   
  2.            John discussed with us his attendance at the Convocation of Church Leaders held September 8th, and Bishop Gainer's remarks.  Just as evangelization, Bishop Gainer said that our work as Church leadership:
  ·        should always work towards communio
  ·        should be done through consensus
  ·        should look at Church through the "Catholic eyes", not through business or academic eyes
  ·        should always be seen as formation for ourselves and those we serve--not just education
  ·        should recognize that we can only give those we serve what we have first--formation, spirituality, love of God and neighbor, faith, etc
  ·        should call us to examine why we 'do' what we do
  ·        should call us to ongoing formation through our entire lives
  ·        should call for us to evaluate; have we met our goals?
  ·        should call for all 'coming together' to be evangelistic
   
  3.            August's meeting minutes were approved.
   
  4.            The group shared their experiences of evangelization over the last month. 

  • One of our members has brought a child into RCIA in the last month. 
  • One of our members was sought-out by co-workers for prayer on the morning that Lexmark was releasing some of their employees.  They prayed together for co-workers and their families, and for the management who had to carryout the layoffs.
  • One member's Southern Baptist in-laws have been circulating the "Test of Fire:  Election 2012" YouTube video and saying that when the Catholic Church states anything pro or con publically then we all know it's a very important issue.  The YouTube in question is done by a private organization who's members are Catholic, but they have not been cleared through our Kentucky bishops or the USCCB.
  • One member thinks that "Evangelization" is still too threatening and has unpleasant connotations and that perhaps we should think about calling our committee, "Reaching Out".

   
  5.            Laura began a discussion in regard to two articles about exit interviews of parishioners who are leaving a parish or the faith all-together:  "Exit Interviews", by Parish Evaluation Project, and "On Their Way Out", by William Bryan in America magazine.  The members in attendance had all read the articles.  Several members think that written surveys would be more effective and reap more-honest feedback.  Some members said that many issues are very sensitive and evoke strong emotions in people, including the abuse scandal and that maybe a written survey would allow them to vent, but as one of the articles mentioned, many people--particularly those leaving their parish or the Church-at-large, would doubt that a written survey would even be read.  The discussion included the possibility of certain questions to be asked:

  • "Do you/did you feel loved by your parish?"
  • "Do you feel your parish is/was a place of worship?"
  • "Do you/did you enjoy attending Mass at the parish?"
  • "Do you/did you feel your parish was more about administration than your/our relationship with Christ?"

   
                 The suggested questions led to some stories being shared where it was appropriate for us to go into Executive Committee conversation.  Following the discussion, Laura told the members that the FiOF final push was able to identify some parishioners who agreed to face-to-face exit interviews.  Committee members were given slips of paper to write the name of one or more committee members or parishioners who they thought would be gifted for doing such interviews.  The recommendations were not discussed, but will be given directly to Fr. Dan after speaking with two other members who were not able to attend tonight's meeting, .
   
  6.            At Prayer With Mary participation looks strong considering leaders were expected to initiate responses from their small group participants--instead of the parish initiating contact.  Laura and committee members hope this is a sign that the past five years of small faith-sharing groups have nurtured some new leadership who are more open about their faith journey.
   
  7.            This is the time of year when term limits for our ministry representation on our Parish Pastoral Council come to an end for some and new representation is appointed.  Our Evangelization Committee asked John Mitchell to continue in his role and he graciously accepted.
   
  8.            Our next meeting will be Thursday, October 18th, 7pm, in the Media Center.
                                                             
  11.         Closing Prayer included the intercessions for Evening Prayer.
   
  lhack

  last updated 08/25/2013 jm