Parish Council Meeting: October 8, 2020
Attendance:
- Ken Shuping
- Jose Arce
- Paul English
- Lucy Portzer
- Amos Etilo
- James Brown
- Abraham
6:30 pm – Call to order
6:45 pm – Opening prayer (Bicentennial Prayer)
6:47 pm – welcome and thank you to those attending.
6:48 pm – the renovations in the restrooms in the commons is still going on. It will continue for the next few weeks. Some changes will be different for the weekend, directing people around the building. Because of our renovations our commons area may be closed.
Some trees were in danger or falling over the electrical wires. We had an agreement for the city to come and cut those trees at not cost for the church. The space open may be used in the future as parking spaces.
Next week (oct. 12 to 17) the roof at Kibeho house will be replaced.
The Eucharistic Conference will be handled over the next month. It will be available to people virtually. It should be announced in advance to our parishioners here in St Gerard.
In Roanoke City Coronavirus cases have been going up. We know from our community some people are still afraid to come back to Mass. Others, on the other hand, feel comfortable and confident about the rules and regulations we take in place inside the church for Masses.
We are not using the church as a test site. Those rules about the distance, masks, the use of hand sanitizer may be in place for a long time.
New business:
- How are we feeling about out parish and how we are handling everything inside the church?
- From father Jose he is asking the parishioners to send any feedback to father Ken about how he is doing. This includes celebration of Mass, homilies, behavior, and/or other issues.
- How about if we ask in general to parishioners about any changes or things they will like to see in St Gerard. We may receive letters or emails.
- How to reach those who are not attending to Mass. According to the numbers we are missing hundreds of families. Ask, how are we doing in the parish? What would you like to see different in the parish? don’t forget about your family at church. Do this through the bulletin and announcements in Mass. How to reach those who have no email.
- The feast Mass in celebration for St Gerard our patron will be on Thursday oct 15 at 6 pm in English. And oct 16 at 6:30 in Spanish.
- The 40 days for life is going on. People are attending outside Planned Parenthood on Peters Creek.
- Our roof on the worship space is no longer very good. We have seen leaks in the sacristy already going on. This roof has been a project for years.
- St Gerard international cookbook. Three people was called who are from the different communities and are bilingual. Those people loved the idea of having this unique book from our unique community. The idea was well received. They are: Will Sparta, Beatrice Ntukibitabo, and Victoria Brown.
- We have had some complaints from people that is has been hard to understand the person speaking in Mass because the speaker has his/her mask on.
Our next meeting will be on November 5, 2020.
7:48 – final prayer