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Holy Name Roman Catholic Church |
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HARD AT WORK FOR THE PARISH |
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Current members of the Holy Name Parish Council: Front row, left to right: Jennifer Bopp, Donna Ridgeley (Chair), Pat McMullen, Sr. Margie. Back row: Brian Bracken (Vice-Chair), Doug Tusing, Jamie Oravec (Secretary), Rege Bodenschatz and Msgr. Gaus. Absent from the photo are Jacqueline Hajjar and Don Ratchford. |
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What is a Parish Council, and what does it do? Holy Name
Parish Council of nine members, six elected, three appointed, is at the heart of
parish life. Working closely with Msgr. Gaus and under his guidance,
Council members are primarily attentive to the spiritual growth and needs of
Holy Name Parish. The Parish Council is deliberately composed of members
who are representative of the various age groups that compose our parish, and so
are better able to reflect and advance the spiritual life of this community.
Following our parish-wide self study a few years ago, five initiatives emerged
which the Parish Council was then asked to prioritize and begin to address.
These five initiatives were:
As an initial response to these five initiatives, the Parish Council was instrumental in hiring Sr. Margie as Coordinator of Evangelization and Adult Ministries. As a result, many adult programs on scripture, spirituality and Catholic faith have been offered here in recent years, with Holy Name becoming a center of hospitality for surrounding parishes as well. Parish based faith sharing groups have been cultivated. The RCIA process and "Welcome Home, Catholics" are part of our evangelizing efforts. An Outreach Committee was formed to tend to special needs in the parish, including a bereavement support group. A Liturgy Committee has been established to provide ongoing training and support for the many, many liturgical ministries that serve our parish family so well each time we gather to worship. The Parish Council also established an "Spread The Word" Information Committee, which, among other things, is responsible for documenting and promoting Parish events through the media, church bulletin boards and the Parish website. The fifth and final initiative addressed by the Parish Council with the hiring of Parish youth Director and the establishment of the Youth Activity Committee. Msgr. Gaus and the Council members have long shared a deep concern for the spiritual needs of the young people of our parish family. Much groundwork has been laid by previous Parish Councils in preparation for this step of maintaining a Youth Director to our parish staff. The Parish Council will continue to keep this developing ministry as a focus of their attention at upcoming meetings, and we ask for the supportive prayers of the entire parish as well. |
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