Pastoral Regions

Latest News from the Regional Pastoral Council

Posted on Wednesday November 11, 2009

Our Lady of the Angels Regional Pastoral Council Meeting of September 15, 2009

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the
Our Lady of the Angels Regional Pastoral Council
Held Tuesday, September 15, 2009
________________________________________

A regular meeting of Our Lady of the Angels Regional Pastoral Council (“OLARPC”) was held on Tuesday, September 15, 2009, at 7:00p.m., at Our Lady of the Angels Regional Offices, in Culver City, California.

Attendees: Bishop Edward Clark, Dn. Hosea Alexander, Loraine de Jesus, Andrew Knox, Jane Leung, Dn. Scott Palmer, Fr. Damian Kabot, Sr. Bernadette Murphy, John Fisher, Doris Tims, Fr. Rodel Balagatas, Fr. James Barnes, and Fr. Allan Roberts.

Also in attendance were five new Regional Pastoral Council members:
Michelle Sarmiento (St. Frances Cabrini – D16), Alex Paen (St. Martin of Tours – D13), Ron Katsky (St. Victor’s – D13), Dn. Guy Wauthy (St. Jerome – D13), Susan Alcantara (Immaculate Heart of Mary – D14)

Fr. Damian Kabot commenced with the opening prayer “God’s Word of Love”.

Bishop Clark presided over the meeting with Loraine as moderator and Jane recording the minutes of the meeting.

Loraine began with the introduction of new council members Michelle Sarmiento, Alex Paen, Ron Katsky, Dn. Guy Wauthy, and Susan Alcantara. Then the current council members introduced themselves.

The first agenda item was a review of the June 16th meeting minutes which included revisions from Bishop Clark. Sr. Bernadette motioned to approve the minutes as corrected and Dn. Hosea seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Bishop’s Report:

Vocations Plan Update: Cardinal Mahony has asked that 25 new seminarians for the Archdiocese be recruited from all parishes to commemorate his various Jubilees in 2010 (25 years as Archbishop of Los Angeles, 40 years as Bishop, 50 years as a priest, and 75 years of age). This year we have 21 seminarians, but the Cardinal would like 25 for next year. All 75 parishes in the OLA region were asked to develop a plan. We have received 20 effective plans back so far (which were due on July 30th). The vocation plans should be on a parochial level and the Archdiocese will offer assistance in implementing these plans.

Schools plan update: After the OLA Education Summit in the spring, pastors and principals were asked to submit a plan with initiatives and proposals to help structure a system to preserve Catholic education in the region. Bishop Clark took 52 proposals and submitted them back to the pastors and principals. We asked the pastors to take the top ten initiatives they agreed with and prioritize them, and so far we have a third of them back. Kevin Baxter, the new superintendent of elementary schools and Bishop Clark will come up with a regional plan for the survival of our schools. A committee of pastors and educators will help develop the plan.

Almost every school has experienced a loss of students and a number of schools have suffered drastic decreases in enrollment because of the current economic situation.

The next agenda item was a review of the topics for the coming year’s discussion. The topic for November is Evangelization with an Emphasis on Hospitality. John Fisher, Dn. Hosea, and Dn. Guy will be on the task force to prepare the research materials.

Dn. Scott proceeded to explain the background for the research on parish pastoral councils and finance councils. There are formal Archdiocese-approved guidelines. The finance council guidelines have more legal issues than parish pastoral guidelines. We are asking the regional council to discuss what each parish will be asked to do to establish their parish and finance council guidelines if they currently do not have them in place.

The parishes that do have councils in place recognize that they are not operating as they should. Moreover, there are variations in the level of finance councils that do exist. We conducted phone surveys of which parishes have councils and which do not. Out of 75 parishes surveyed, 55 responded. Out of these 55 parishes, 84% said they had parish councils and 51% had finance councils.

One group of people who know the workings of a parish are the business managers. There is a business managers organization in the Archdiocese which has monthly meetings. They have an email blast network, share ideas, and are well represented by the poor parishes as well as wealthier parishes.

Bishop Clark explained that the business manager has oversight on finance and facilities in the parish (which is separate from the finance council). It is a paid position. A pastor could hire one to help him out, or some parishes share one business manager.

Ron asked what kind of sanction is imposed on a parish that does not have a finance council. Bishop Clark replied that there should be consequences if there is no council (as dictated by canon law). A discussion ensued about how difficult it is to fulfill the Archdiocese established guidelines.

These were various comments from the council members:

• How do we encourage parishes to establish the parish and finance councils? It is often difficult to recruit 12 people, but the pastor should have a few people taking an advisory role.

• A finance council can make a decision on the allocation of parish funds. The council has oversight responsibility.

• Sometimes a pastor does not establish a council, or he may feel overwhelmed by his responsibilities. In addition, some pastors from foreign countries do not have experience with a model of collaborative church ministry and therefore they do not feel a need for having councils.

• Fr. Damian remarked that establishing formal parish and finance councils were not a priority as compared to other demands from the Archdiocese. However, he does have a group of people who advise him on parish matters.

• People on a finance council sometimes don’t know what their role is, so when recruiting for finance council candidates, we could look for people with business experience.

Bishop Clark stated that we have guidelines about recruiting parishioners first before looking at outside candidates. He brought up St. Lawrence of Brindisi as an example of a parish that had no parishioners with business experience, and outsiders were brought in.

• Alex asked if the region offered parish and finance council workshops, and if so, we should strongly market the existence of these workshops to all the parishes.

• Fr. Rodel stated that he knew some pastors who expressed frustrations with parish councils, where the pastor finds the council is telling him what to do. Most of the pastors from foreign countries think parish councils are fundraisers. There is a lack of education on the part of parishioners. Parishioners think the council is there to hear grievances.

• Dn. Hosea commented that there are a variety of models that exist. We need to be practical and know what works.

• Fr. Damian remarked that we need to establish trusting relationships in the parish. Sr. Bernadette commented that when she taught seminarians, some resented being instructed on how to be administrators – they are there to be priests. After some years of experience, these seminarians who became priests recognized their need to be educated as administrators.

• Fr. Rodel indicated that the problem is keeping people motivated to attend the council meetings regularly and it takes a lot of effort.

More discussion about the individual councils ensued. Once a new pastor comes in, technically, the people on the old council resigns. However, most new pastors do not change the members immediately. Dn. Scott commented that we can show pastors how to work with councils and show them different models of councils.

• Andrew commented that council members do not have to be highly educated to be effective council members. However, pastors need to know how to use people wisely.

• Fr. Damian stated that it’s unbelievably hard to establish councils that are multi-lingual. What is the model for bilingual parishes? Dn. Hosea then related instances on how his parish broke the ice with bilingual programs that brought people together to work for the church.

• Sr. Bernadette brought up the need for a strategic long range plan and to help people know exactly what is to be the focus of meetings. If a three year or five year plan is established, then the council can accomplish goals.
What can we recommend to the parishes regarding parish and finance councils? The following recommendations were offered:

• Identify the parishes that do not have councils and reach out to them. Invite parish members to see how a parish/finance council operates.

• Each parish needs to work with the pastor and develop its own plan. When a new pastor comes in, he can look at the existing plan and add to it.

• It was suggested that Bishop Clark communicate to the parishes, asking if there are councils and if not, to encourage them to form them when he addresses a parish or when he gives a homily.

• Alex commented that more established parishes offer help to the parishes who do not have councils. Encourage the established council members to share their experiences.

• Sr. Bernadette gave a talk at St. Andrews in Pasadena, and their parish council members offered to help other parishes to form councils. This is a parish that has active, interested parishioners who want to help others.

• It was suggested that ongoing faith formation for parish council members would help them grow in their spirituality and thus aid in their council work.

• Dn. Scott commented that all parishes should have councils, and perhaps the OLA region should have a summit on councils. We could discuss the challenges, education and formation for council members. The Archdiocese has videoconferencing facilities to help parishes connect to the summit, and perhaps pastors should agree to establish a parish council before he is assigned to a parish that does not have one.

• Have an administrative workshop for seminarians. They should be introduced to the administrative aspects of their work sooner while in the seminary. Dn. Scott suggested that we take a survey of all the parishes to see what model of councils they are implementing.

• Fr. Damian commented that perhaps pastoral and finance councils can develop separately. It is hard to devote time to forming two councils at the same time. Fr. Rodel also remarked that it takes a long time to develop talent.

• Since finance councils approve funding for parish ministries, it would be helpful if the parish council and finance council meet with one another to have a better understanding of each council’s role in the parish.

Other Business:

Fr. Rodel is stepping down as Vice Moderator because of his pastoral commitments. We have two at-large members of the Executive Council, Tanya and Doris. We will need to elect a new Vice Moderator and will email all members about the self-nomination process for those who are interested.

In addition, the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC) needs two members from the OLA Regional Council to replace Hortense and Caitlin who have finished their terms. We will ask the current council members if they are interested in self-nominations to serve on the APC.
Safeguard the Children audits will take place next week throughout the Archdiocese. Five parishes in each region are chosen for the audits.

ACES Email System – the Archdiocese has created a new system to eliminate faxes. Parishes are being asked to sign up for this system by September 30th.

The APC has been working on how well the Synod initiatives have been implemented throughout the Archdiocese. A survey is produced approximately every five months. The last survey conducted was about how well the parishes are implementing their social justice initiatives. All the surveys are collected by our office and then reported to the Archdiocese.
Finally, Dn. Scott reminded council members of the following important meetings and dates:

Regional Council meeting dates for 2009-2010 are:

November 10, January 19, March 16, May 18, and June 22.

Inter-Regional Council Workshop – January 16, 2010 at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks 8:30am to 2:00pm

The next Leadership Forum will be held on April 21, 2010 with the location to be arranged.

Dates for the open annual Deanery Presentations with Cardinal Mahony and the ACC Leadership in 2010:

February 9 – St. Frances Cabrini D16; February 19 – St. Vincent D15
March 8 – St. Augustine D13;
March 11 –Immaculate Heart of Mary D14

All Regional Council members are strongly urged to attend the open Deanery Presentations, especially the ones in their own deanery. Council members would be introduced to parish leaders and answer questions that may come up.

The Closing Prayer was recited by all council members and the meeting adjourned at 9:05pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Jane Leung
Secretary, Our Lady of the Angels Regional Pastoral Council