Parish Council meeting for July

Tonight, we had another great Parish Council meeting. Topics included a report by our Finance Committee: we're basically meeting our expenses, our investments are slowly coming back from the depths, we've paid off the balance of the only outstanding loan with a bank for the construction of the "new wing." We discussed the possibility of putting away some money "just in case" we get hit with a major capital expense (like new heating/AC equipment).
The closing of Pope John XXIII regional Catholic school has been a stressful experience for our parish pastoral council. We are very grateful to John Boyko, our current Vice President, for his work as our official liason to Pope John XXIII, and to the "Board" that oversaw the school. The closing of the school should help our overall financial picture as a parish.
I reported on the Deanery Study, especially the opening of a new parish in Long Branch, "Christ the King" with Fr. Daniel Peirano as the new pastor. The new parish has three priests, and they will take primary responsibility for the care of Monmouth Medical Center. As of this writing, we still have not heard anything "official" as to the future of St. Anselm parish "linking" with any other parish.
Our Religious Education program began this morning, and I'm told that the office is getting lots of calls from neighboring parishes about enrolling their children in our RE program. I've instructed the parish staff who handles these calls to inform these inquirers that they must officially join our parish before they can enroll their children in our RE program. That means that they will worship here on a regular basis, and contribute to the support of parish activities.
Our other committees of the Council presented reports about upcoming activities. Our bookeeper, Francine, helped the council to understand our current financial picture, and I'm very grateful for her presence and her leadership.

Finally, thanks to Mike Bellina for the refreshments at tonight's meeting....it's always a good meeting when we can cool off with Rita's Italian ices at the July meeting!

Stay tuned!