All, the Sept. 12 community meeting notes have been published at SavingOurParish.com on the Articles page. The executive summary has been sent to the parish leadership and will be posted online, too. Copies will also be available at tomorrow night's pastoral council meeting at Rogers Hall at 7 p.m.
Plans are already being made for a followup meeting for the community.
Just read the sticky notes. It's a shame that these thoughts and suggestions are only now coming to the attention of those in charge. Will be praying for those who will be presenting at the Parish Council meeting.
ReplyDeleteWhat can leadership do with sticky notes? Can not make decisions based on ideas!
ReplyDeleteThen I guess we'll continue to make decisions based on no ideas...??
ReplyDelete9:52- Rather than mock or discredit, leadership can and should take a serious look at the "sticky notes". On them are the words of the faithful. Why would anybody ignore these people? I am tired of the mentality that if you are not on staff or on a committee, you have nothing of value to contribute. Parishioners are stepping forward to save a Church, why are some opposed to this? Are there some that actually WANT to lose a Church?
ReplyDeleteJoe you are correct these are great ideas and should not be ignored. But they are only ideas and not firm proposals. It would be good if "someone" put together a plan to implement some of the key ideas rather than just presenting the ideas.
ReplyDelete8:44am- Most good plans begin with good ideas. The development process takes time and this is what the people of this parish are begging for.
ReplyDeleteTime to think together.
Time to plan together.
Time to provide together.
Forget about sealing a deal with Providence House. Let's seal a deal to work together to save OUR HOUSE.
Who Picked the Facilities Council? Who are these ten people on the council? I know three of them and cannot understand how they have the knowledge to decide what Church should be sold. I know a few of them have a hard time running their own household and yet they think they are making the right decision to sell St Vincent's.. I could go on and on but instead am going to pray that everything turns out as God would want it. Not based on 10 people and of course the Dean. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteThe people who serve on the facilities council did put in a good amount of time. Even though I disagree with their final analysis, I thank them for this sacrifice. I only wish they had spent some time surveying the parishioners, talking to the people in the pews, locating the lost sheep. I think they would have discovered, in a BIG way, that treating the symptom and not the source is never good business practice. Closing Churches because parishioners are leaving is not a good reason. Sooner or later, the primary source of discontent must be dealt with- charitably, honestly and directly. It must be done.
ReplyDelete11;03 yes, yes, yes For the sake of the parish, it must be done.
ReplyDeleteI am sure the councils have considered everything on that list, there's nothing extremely out-of-the box there. What surprises is me are people's suggestions of "sell St. Mary's" or close the school. Doesn't that affect an even greater number of parishoners than St. V's? Whats more important--an organization dedicated to bringing up the next generation of catholics or a church building with an alternative one 5 minutes away? Where's the logic here? We are already one parish regardless of church building, but after reading this blog I do not get the sense that people really believe that. What happens to your website if the councils, while encouraging your fundraising, decide that it is best long-term to sell St. V's?
ReplyDeleteSometimes reality can be hard to swallow. As an example, we should be prepared in like 15-20 years to be clustered with ABC or Elmira, due to the priest shortage. We witnessed that this past weekend that there aren't the amount of priests around like there used to be. Right now there are 16 non-priest administrators and that number is only increasing. We need to accept this reality and find the best way to cope financially and support each other, no matter where we end up worshipping.
ReplyDeleteMy only comment is what is going to happen after St Vincent's is closed, and the numbers at mass (and monetary contributions)are down at St Mary's? Will the "committee" again think that the right decision is to close the church? We need to survey our parishiners and find out why they are not attending mass at All Sts Parish (after all the attendance at St Vincents is merely a result of the time of day, the type of mass - ie childrens mass,etc.),why we are not choosing to give our time or money. A survey might just tell the "committee" things that they do not wish to hear
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, I am assuming you are going to lead this study?
ReplyDeleteHow can you survey the parishoners that aren't in the pews? (I don't know--seemed really full last Sunday) I hardly believe getting back a small group of parishoners will help save the church. After talking to some people on staff i am told collections are not really down overall and if people have left the church they were hardly giving at all in the first place.
ReplyDelete1:59-
ReplyDeleteIf you want to survey the people that aren't in the pews, head up to Campbell or to Addison or to the Monastery. One of the priests used to joke that the Corning people paid for the new air- conditioning system. And that they were going to name the newly black-topped parking lot after our Pastoral Administrator. So, even if you don't care about this small group of people, their presence and their monetary contributions (that you dismiss) are appreciated elsewhere.
Has anybody considered that the facilities committee members were chosen and not elected. Because of this process, it is possible that they are not a full representation of the parish. So when we are told that Dean has the support of the facilities committee, he doesn't necessarily have the support of the majority of the parishioners.
ReplyDeleteParishioners can and have been surveyed through mailings to our homes
ReplyDeleteI never received a survey asking me how I felt about selling Saint Vincent's.
ReplyDelete8:43 Did anybody receive a survey in regards to the sale of Saint Vincent's?
ReplyDeleteNope.
ReplyDeleteI didn't either.
ReplyDeleteBoy let me do something that might save a lot of angst, let me call the central office and ask if they sent out a survey! I will then blog you later.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I just got off the phone with the Parish office, “no surveys in regards to the sale of Saint Vincent's were ever mailed from the Parish office to any parishioners.” Please relax!
ReplyDeleteWho keeps putting out this "false information" like September 27 8:43 p.m. just did?
ReplyDeletewow - my original post was totally misunderstood.
ReplyDeleteI asked why the Parish counsel doesn't try sending out a survey to see why parishioners are not attending mass at All Saints Parish. Then someone said that you couldn't survey those that are not in the pews. I was not trying to incite anger and post lies. I was trying to state that in the past I did receive a survey from the church asking about my church habits,etc. (It was before the sale of St. Vincent's was ever heard of) What I was trying to say is why doesn't the Parish counsel send out another questionair. Sorry for all of the anger. I am on the side of those wishing not to sell St. V., but I can see how things sometimes come out wrong - and will not send more comments as I feel that all of this passion to save our parish has turned to anger on both sides
4:59- Please keep posting. Through your post we were able to determine that the parishioners were never consulted through a survey, in regards to the sale of Saint Vincent's. I like your idea to survey the registered parishioners. I would ask 3 questions:
ReplyDelete1) Do you attend mass at All Saints parish?
2) If not, where do you attend?
3) Why did you leave?
And one more...
4) What can we do to bring you back?
Chris...Short and simple wouldn't take any longer than (possibly) 5 minutes to respond. Perhaps it will be considered.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous of 9/29 @4:59...I agree with Chris. Keep posting. I wouldn't say you brought out anger. Some "posters" like to be instigators and try to twist things around.
Anonymous September 27, 2010 8:43 PM "Parishioners can and have been surveyed through mailings to our homes" is the quote from above. This is offered in a blog where the major theme is the selling of St. Vincent dePaul Church. I was not intending to twist things. But from reading all of the previous entries, I was left with the impression that parishioners had received a survey about the selling of the church. This does illustrate that clarity in communication is essential. Please do not stop contributing.
ReplyDelete