MeetingSynopsis

Saint Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church - To See as Christ Sees and Love as Christ Loves

Suscipe Prayer by Ignatius Loyola

Pastoral Council Corner

For information on the Pastoral Council, please contact Mike Motsinger 800.9784

August 2011 As we conclude a busy year on the Council heart felt thanks go out to the many people who have worked so hard on the major projects undertaken. Check out the Parish Long Range Plan (English and Spanish). This document comes with (survey and town hall meeting) input from the parishioners as well as groups and staff and we hope it represents the focus on which the people of our parish tell us they want to invest their efforts and resources. The Parish Annual Plan supports the objectives of the long range plan. Later this month you will have an opportunity to elect new members to the Pastoral Council. They will join a fine group of continuing members to make sure the goals and objectives of our parish are carried out, as you wish. Please prayerfully reflect on the slate of candidates and vote for the individuals you trust to represent your needs for the next several years. Finally, let’s have some fun as we celebrate the wonderful diversity and ethnicity of our parish during the weekly special celebrations in October. As always, we invite you to our Pastoral Council meeting - Sept 12 at 7pm in the Lewis Room. Regards, Mike Michael.Motsinger@gmail.com

July 2011 During the dog days of summer your Pastoral Council is still hard at work planning for the present and future needs of the parish.

The Long Range Plan has been developed, reviewed and commented on. It is in the final stage and will be formally published by the end of this month.
The Annual Plan has been established for the 2011-2012 year and is in place. It, too, will be published soon.
The Diversity Subcommittee has been developing plans for celebrations in the fall. You will be hearing much more about this in the coming weeks. We encourage your participation in the events – scheduled for September and October - celebrating our rich diversity.
Finally, the Elections committee has assembled a fine slate of Pastoral Council candidates. Biographical information is being assembled and the candidate information will be distributed next month for your consideration. Thanks to those who have made themselves available for this leadership ministry.

June 2011 As the school year ends for many and activities wind down for the season the Pastoral Council is completing some projects and just getting ramped up on others. The much anticipated Long Range Plan is in its final stages. We thank all who gave their input at the recent Town Hall meetings to review the draft of the plan. Our committee will now take into consideration the comments offered and put the plan into its final form for publication. We are also putting the finishing touches on the Parish Annual Plan. It is the primary way in which we carry out the mission of the church and enact the long range plan for the Parish. It will be completed by the end of June and published shortly thereafter. We are nearing the end of terms for a number of our Council members, so we will shortly be swinging into full force with recruiting new members. If you feel called to serve the church in this leadership role or if you know of someone who has this leadership gift to offer, please let us know. Keep an eye on the bulletin and upcoming announcements to participate in the election process. The Diversity Subcommittee has been working with many groups within the parish. They are planning several activities that will be very visible in the fall. Stay tuned for celebration of our rich heritage and diversity. As always, we invite you to the Pastoral Council meeting.

May 2011 The Strategic Initiatives of the Pastoral Council, “Turning Your Ideas Into Action”
Last year many of you participated in the Parish Survey. You provided candid and insightful feedback as to what was important to you and your family. Taking the results of this survey, your Pastoral Council, several ministry leaders, and staff have spent the last few months identifying and prioritizing the present and future needs of our parish. We continue to focus on the four key Strategic Initiatives that have been identified from your feedback. To date, some of the top issues identified from the Key Strategic Initiative, Fostering a Culture of Stewardship, include the following:

Embrace stewardship as a way of life
Elicit involvement through personal and collective ownership
Create links between individual talents and community needs
Provide an inviting environment focusing on personal invitation
Make the offertory more universally supported, bolstered by clear communication of needs and plans

Each month your Pastoral Council will report back to you via the weekly bulletin and our website on what progress is being made on these initiatives. The topic of focus for next month’s update will be the Key Strategic Initiative, Build Community-make St. Raphael a welcoming home for all. Should you have any ideas that you would like to share concerning building community in our Parish please submit them to don-hamrick@nc.rr.com. We look forward to sharing with you how we are “turning your ideas into action”, and welcome your feedback! Reminder: The Draft version of this Long Range Plan will be unveiled at the three upcoming Town Hall Meetings so mark your calendar and schedule to attend one of them. The dates are:

Sunday, May 22 at 3:45pm (to be followed by an ice cream social)
Tuesday, May 31 at 7:00pm
Sunday June 5 at 3:45pm in Spanish

April 2011 Christ is risen, alleluia! We certainly had a Holy Week filled with wonderment, prayerful reflection and the broadest range of emotions imaginable. At the same time we have been celebrating the holiest time of our liturgical year we are also grieving the loss of young lives and many homes in the tornadoes of the week before. It is good to know we have our Risen Lord to lean on in our time of need. Our prayers certainly go out to all who have been affected by the storms. We thank all those who have donated generously of their time and resources in the initial response. I know we will continue to reach out to our parishioners and our community in a special way during this time of need. Please be as generous as possible during this long process of healing and recovery. Consult the bulletin and check the parish website, often, for updates of needs and opportunities to help. Blessings. Contact: Michael.Motsinger@gmail.com

Mar 2011 The Strategic Initiatives of the Pastoral Council, “Turning Your Ideas Into Action”
Last year many of you participated in the Parish Survey. You provided candid and insightful feedback as to what was important to you and your family. Taking the results of this survey your Pastoral Council, several ministry leaders and staff have spent the last few months identifying and prioritizing the present and future needs of our parish. We continue to focus on the four key Strategic Initiatives that have been identified from your feedback. To date here are some of the key issues that have been identified from the Key Strategic Initiative, Investing in our Youth - the future of our parish. They are:

Encourage youth fellowship and make a more conscious effort to recognize the youth in our parish
Increase the support of faith development, especially with middle school and high school aged children
Provide meaningful outreach projects to increase awareness in our children of the value of stewardship
Integrate the youth programs among the diverse cultures within our parish community

Each month your Pastoral Council will report back to you via the weekly bulletin and our website on what progress is being made on these initiatives. The topic of focus for next month’s update will be the Key Strategic Initiative, Formation of Faith – youth and adults. Should you have any ideas that you would like to share concerning faith formation in our Parish please submit them to don-hamrick@nc.rr.com . We look forward to sharing with you how we are “turning your ideas into action”, and welcome your feedback!

Feb 2011 We continue to make steady progress on implementing the plans developed through the parishioner survey and the subsequent four initiatives that were developed through discussions with many leaders of groups and organizations at St. Raphael. Through our Pastoral Council Corner and other communications we will keep you informed of the details of the implementation.

The Long Range Planning Subcommittee is busy gathering input from many groups and preparing a long range plan that will guide our efforts over the next 3-5 years. Their plan is expected to be completed this fall. Their progress will be communicated through this column.

The Annual Planning Subcommittee is helping groups and organizations develop their plans for the 2011-2012 annual planning cycle that begins July 1. They are encouraging groups to be ever-mindful of the creative ways in which they can contribute to the carrying out of the four strategic initiatives. Drafts of plans will be due in mid-April, with the plan to be finalized in May and approved in June.

The Diversity Subcommittee is encouraging ministries and members to consider ways in which they can help to bring together varied cultures and constituencies into a unified parish.

The Elections Subcommittee is beginning to develop procedures to conduct the elections coming up in the fall.

Finally, we welcome two new members to the Council – Pierre LaPierre and Rosalina Aldana. They will be completing terms of other members who chose to step down. We thank Guillermo Diaz and Mayela Migliore for their service to the Council and the parish.

Please continue to monitor our progress through the Pastoral Council Corner and other means of communication. We encourage your comments and questions. Please feel free to contact any Pastoral Council member listed in the directory at the back of this bulletin.

October 2010 Many thanks to those who have made themselves available to serve on the Pastoral Council. At our October meeting we installed the (8) new members and elected officers for the 2010-2011 year. Mike Motsinger will continue as Chair, assisted by Rick Gall as Vice-chair and Michaeleen Hoblit as Secretary. We have organized the council members into 4 subcommittees: Long range planning, Annual planning, Diversity and Elections. We will feature each of these groups in future columns. If you have questions or concerns, all members are periodically listed on the contact page of the bulletin. We encourage you to contact any member.

September 2010 Please join us in congratulating these newly elected members to the Pastoral Council. They will begin their terms on October 11, 2010.

Jennifer Luebke / Mike Shinners / Maria Romp / Rick Gall / Andree Stanford / Ramon Castillo / Denise Tanas

Also joining the Council will be Mayela Migliore as an appointment by the Pastor. We are grateful to all those who were willing to offer themselves as candidates in for election to the Council. Thank you also to the following members who are completing their service on the Pastoral Council: Ben Briggs, Ursula Nwapa, Tom Smith, Tom McGoldrick, Joe Pulawski, and Jack Tanas.

If you did not receive a summary report of the results of the parishioner survey it is
available at the Pastoral Council election table this weekend or you may pick up a copy at the church office. The survey detail is also available upon request.

September 2010 On Sept 11 and 12 we will distribute information about the fine slate of candidates who have made themselves available for elections to serve the St. Raphael community as members of the Pastoral Council. Please prayerfully consider who you would like to represent you in this leadership body that advises our Pastor and looks after the long range plans of our parish. Then vote your selections on Sept 18-19.

We are also distributing the Executive Summary of the parishioner survey taken in the spring. Please review the results to find what the collective input of the parishioners is. This information will be one of the important inputs as the Pastoral Council, in conjunction with ministry leaders and staff, formulates the long range plans for St. Raphael Church. Further information is available from the Pastoral Council members stationed in the atrium on Sept 11-12.

August 2010 We have reached another milestone in developing a Pastoral Plan for St. Raphael. On August 21 the Pastoral Council hosted a Leadership Conference wherein we gathered with our clergy, councils, administration, ministry leaders and other interested parishioners to discuss the results of the parishioner survey conducted in the spring of this year and to discern our focus as a parish over the next 3-5 years. We received wonderful insights and recommendations, and we plan to spend the next months using this and other input to develop a draft of the Pastoral Plan. Many parishioners have been patiently waiting to hear the parishioner survey results. We will incorporate the additional input received at the Leadership Conference and publish the survey results within the next few weeks.

July 2010 These may be the dog days of summer, but rest assured that the Pastoral Council is hard at work. It has taken some time to enter and analyze the large amount of data we received from 1800 parishioner survey responses. This phase is nearly complete. The next step is to interpret the data to give us guidance in making plans for the future of St. Raphael. This will be done in accordance with the newly published Pastoral Plan for the Diocese of Raleigh. To that end we will be convening a leadership conference on August 21 consisting of Pastoral Council, Finance Council, parish administration, ministry leadership and other parishioners to prayerfully discern focus and direction of the parish in the coming months and years. We will keep you informed of our progress and results.

June 2010 If you are reading this article, you are the kind of person we need on the Pastoral Council – engaged and informed. Serving on the Council is an opportunity to influence the direction and focus of our parish. These are exciting times on the council, as we continue to develop a long range plan for St. Raphael. Be a part of making St. Raphael the best it can be in serving the people of our parish and our community. There will be information sessions explaining the role and the responsibilities of Pastoral council members, July 24 at 6:45 p.m. and July 25 at 1:00 or 4:00, Room 103. Please come and explore, if you feel called run for council.

May 2010 We are very busy with working on the long term plan. Our wonderful volunteers have already completed input of the 1600 plus parishioner surveys into the database. Our next step is to analyze the input and find what our people are telling us they want and need. This process will take a number of weeks, as we analyze, consult and develop action plans. We will keep you posted on our progress.

Our annual plan is nearly complete. We will need to finalize budgets by the end of this month and will post the plan on the St. Raphael website.

We encourage all eligible parishioners to run for Pastoral Council. We are in the midst of some exciting changes and improvements to better serve our community. Come join us and be part of the team. Council applications are available in the atrium. Click for detailed information.

April 2010 Thanks to the more than 1700 parishioners who have submitted their Parishioner Survey. We are grateful for your input and we will carefully consider your thoughts in formulating a long range plan for St. Raphael Church over the coming weeks and months. We will let you know of our progress through regular updates. There is still time to submit your survey. Please mail your completed survey to the office or drop it off during regular business hours.

March 2010 At our March meeting we had two guests who shared progress reports. On behalf of the Finance Council, Dan Gerlach reports that weekly contributions are somewhat below budget. They will be monitoring the status and evaluating any needed actions to bring finances into balance. We also heard from Susan Clark of the Stewardship Committee. In a continuing effort to reach their goals of 1) developing a sense of belonging and 2) sharing the spirituality of stewardship they have recently sponsored the World Marriage Day celebration, as well as improve communications and prayerful reflections through the use of the atrium Stewardship bulletin board and the parish web site. Check out both when you can. In other news, the Parish Survey will be done in-pew on April 24-25 (with a supporting on-line option). We are also developing the required Annual Plan for the year 2010- 2011. Lastly, representatives from Pastoral Council, Stewardship Committee and Welcome Ministry are available after most weekend Masses at the Welcome table in the atrium to answer questions. We invite your thoughts.

The LTP Our Long Term Planning Subcommittee is busy working on the initial planning process. An important aspect of this stage is to survey the congregation to find out what we are doing well and what we need to focus on implementing or improving. To that end, they are preparing a survey document which will be administered at all masses one weekend in April. Members of the Long Term Subcommittee are (l to r) Joe Pulowski, Kim Dixon (chair), Jack Tanas, Guillermo Diaz, and Scott Molnar.

February 2010 The Pastoral Council is deeply immersed in planning for the future of St. Raphael. We are moving along, nicely, on the needs survey document to poll our parishioners about their needs and concerns. The survey will be administered during masses one weekend in April. More information will be forthcoming as we approach the survey date.