Weekly Letter from the Pastor

The Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church calls for two consultative bodies to be present in each parish: 1) a Finance Council, which is an obligation of each parish and stands on its own within a parish; and 2) a Pastoral Council, which is the personal and pastoral board of consulters to the pastor. A Pastoral Council requires a pastor to be in place. There is actually no such body as a Parish Council envisioned by the law.

A pastor has certain rights and obligations in the law, and authority that goes above and beyond the domain of the consultative bodies. Some parish decisions and expenditures can only be made with the approval of the diocesan bishop. The parish must also have two trustees – lay members of the parish who stand as the guardians on behalf of the parishioners, making sure that due diligence is done with regard to budgets and expenditures. The Diocese of Trenton also expects that each school has a school board.

There are term limits to each of the offices and several members will be termed out very shortly or they are serving beyond their terms and that needs to be addressed. Tony Paparella and Mary Mykityshyn have served as trustees and are both at the end of their service. We, as a parish, are grateful to them for serving the pastors (Fr. Dan and myself) and, the parish, in this role. I am obligated to name two new trustees in their stead. Among their responsibilities is the ability to attend Finance Council meetings as members with no voting privileges.

Lillian Lent has served most capably as chair of the Finance Council but her term has expired and a replacement needs to be appointed. Lillian has offered great insight and due diligence in handling the parish finances and the other issues that the council has and needs to address. The Finance Council is required to meet ten times a year. They are responsible for working with the Business Administrator (Fran DeMuria) on budgeting, overseeing bank reconciliations, the investment portfolio, and deciding on capital improvements and ordinary repairs. All major decisions in the parish pass through the Finance Council. If anyone has a competence in business, finance, construction, investments, accounting, etc., and would be interested in serving on the Finance Council, please send an email to Fran DeMuria. I am happy to announce the reappointment of Tim Sullivan and Christine Greiner to the council. They serve with Steve Cook, Austin Lindsay, John Caroselli, John Kurowski, and Kenneth Grogan. It is an excellent team and I enjoy meeting with them on parish issues.

As you probably noted in the bulletin a while ago, we need to restructure the school board. The membership of the school board that was in place here did not meet the standards established by the diocese and that needed to be corrected. With the approval of the diocese we dissolved the board over the winter and are working to replace the members. A board may not have any more than 3 current school parents at any given time and must include both parishioners and members of the community. I know that our principal, Ms. Wallace was reaching out for people willing to serve in this capacity. It is important that our school governance, from the board perspective, serves our parish well.

I also have a Pastoral Council with whom I meet quarterly, to discuss broader ideas and big picture items. The Pastoral Council is a discussion forum and not an implementation or action oriented council. I am grateful to them for their insights and advice.

Thank you to everyone who serves our parish in any capacity, it is only together and in association that we can do the work that we do.

Peace,
Fr. Garry