Queen of Saints Cluster Council Minutes 03 December 2007
Members present – F. Jack, Mike Douglas, Jolene Walter, Brenda McGurk, Barb Maternach, Adam Madsen.
The opening discussion - What are the shared convictions of the people who make up the Queen of Saints? One of the most essential convictions is having Mass in our parish. Is faith formation also one of our shared convictions?
From now on, the term ‘faith formation” will replace the term “religious education.” Part of the problem with successful faith formation is trying to get the children of the parish to the designated class sites. Faith formation is a community effort. It is an invitation to prayer by our presence and an invitation to faith. Attaching families to faith formation would aid in creating strong families who will provide acceptance and support, where weak families would break down.
What type of faith formation fits our cluster situation? We have limits of no common education center and no place where a community catechesis (adults and children) intermixing. There are some things in the scope of faith formation that need to be done together.
Some community building is already in place because of the central high school, although it would be nice to have more participation in the Youth Group. The National Catholic Youth Conference had some encouraging and positive feedback from those who went. Along those lines, Fr. Jack is a fan of TEC-Search (Teens Encountering Christ) retreat program. A disadvantage to the program is it required an overnight weekend stay and it would interfere with sports practice sessions.
What shared community events could we do? Could we schedule something as a cluster? We have 5 parishes; in 5-10 years, what will become of us? If we do not have a Mass in our church, are we still a church? Do we plan for changes or do we live for the moment? What do we have to do to prepare for the future? We have been anticipating the inevitable – can we change our mindset away from the inevitable?
Faith formation – how do we keep faith in the lives of the newly confirmed when they have an idea they are finished with faith once they are confirmed?
Faith formation – what is the cluster’s role? Fr is not pleased with the current state of Faith Formation, but it is early in his time here. Let’s think about this together.
Another thing we can think about is some kind of fun activity for the cluster.
The next meeting is set for 11
February,