Cluster 11 Committee Minutes
Meeting held at Holy Redeemer Guild Room – October 16, 2005 with the following in attendance: Rick Palazola, Fr. Scott Mower, Bill Sargent, Mary H. Swartzmiller, Grace Poulin, Max Brenninkmeyer, Rick Daugherty, Eileen Fahey, Joanna Herrick, Joe La Plante, Eleanor Renault, Darrell Phillips, Robert Smallidge, Jr., Fr. Jack O’Hara, Facilitator, Matt Murphy. (Jane Iverson [non-voting member] arrived late and will be taking minutes of the meetings. Eileen Fahey took the minutes during the early portion of this meeting as noted.)
EF-
The meeting was opened with a prayer.
Eileen Fahey is this month’s Chair and prepared the Agenda, but the exact order of the topics listed would not be followed for this meeting.
Darrell Phillips will Chair the next meeting held in November.
Matt Murphy (our Cluster facilitator) introduced himself and mentioned that he has not yet been fully commissioned by the Diocese.
Matt presented the following standing rules:
· No cross talk, or side bar talking.
· Matt will keep the Cluster on topic.
· All topic discussions will be kept to an agreed upon timeframe so as to move the meetings along (timeframe not set).
· It will be necessary for all to help enforce the rules set down by the facilitator.
Robert Smallidge asked whether or not the meetings should be open. A small discussion ensued and Matt suggested that he would check into whether or not there is any diocesan rule, for or against public comment.
Darrell Phillips offered to explain the “location” demographics of both the Ellsworth and MDI areas which included the number of year-round registered parishioners. It did not include the ages of members, the numbers of attendees, seasonal versus year-round. (hand-out attached)
JI-
Communication to Parishioners - Methods of communications to the Church community was then discussed, highlighting the methods to be used, content and preparation. Comments were made that it was not easy for the pastors to speak on this topic during Mass. Whatever method of communication was to be used, it would be done consistently in all Parishes. Names of the members of the Cluster Group will be noted in the various bulletins. Bob Smallidge felt it was important to keep our seasonal parishioners informed about this process, as they are some of our major benefactors, which help maintain our Parishes. Rick Daugherty mentioned that he felt a quarterly mailing should be made. Darrell Phillips mentioned that we already had the list of addresses available to us and he volunteered to do a draft of the first quarterly mailing submitting it to the Committee and then sending it out to the summer members. The months for mailings would be December, March and June. He would also explain that they can access more detailed information about this process from the websites. Communication to our year-round parishioners would be made via the posting of the Cluster minutes (after approval) 1) on parish bulletin boards, 2) inserts in bulletins, 3) handouts in back of churches and 4) websites.
Father O’Hara mentioned to the Cluster that the Diocese is hosting a Seminar on the “New Evangelization” on Friday November 4th (for clergy) and Saturday, November 5th for the lay community. Sign up sheets are available for those who would like to attend.
A discussion was held as to how to derive which Model suggestion would be best for our various communities. Rick Daugherty suggested that the Cluster should check into the “trend analysis” for our communities and use this information, noting that MDI parish communities are about 1/3 the size of Ellsworth parish. By reviewing these multiple pieces of data, such as, parishioners by town, age of parishioners, size of families, Mass attendance, property values, etc. the Cluster can make a more informed decision. Both Fr. Mower and Fr. O’Hara said that the Diocese maintains a copy of the directory (Kennedy Directory) which might hold some of that information, but neither one was sure who to contact at the Chancery. They suggested contacting Fr. John Skeehan’s successor, (Ernie Lebel) in Development. It was the general consensus that other Clusters might be in need of this information to assist them in making a choice, but that this prep work will play a vital role in our Cluster’s decision making. Rick Daugherty will contact the Chancery to see if he could obtain this information for our Cluster.
The next meeting for the Cluster will be held, Sunday, November 20th at St. Joseph’s at 3:00 PM. Tentatively there will be no meeting held in December because of the holidays and busy schedules. January’s meeting will be at Holy Redeemer on the 15th. Another meeting may be necessary if progress is slow in developing our decision for the Diocese.
The meeting was closed with a prayer at 4:33 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jane Iverson
