May 2013 Core Meeting Minutes

Monday 6, 2013 in Mary Immaculate Auditorium Room #1

Present: Deysi Martinez, Kathleen Greulich, Sal Barrios, Cece Berragan, Azucena Bonillas, Mario Murillo, Carmen Pernudi, Joseph Montoya, Rosie Cardenas, Danny Lopez, Fr. Porfirio, Jorge Ortiz, Ted Valle, Heidi Rajput, Fr. Jack
Absent: Fr. Frank, Larry Ruiz

1- Opening Prayer: Jorge

2- Song: Ted

3- Meditation: Cece

4- Open floor for non-core members: Gene Torres voiced concern regarding the return mass for the women’s retreat due to the financial presentation in place of the homily. Carmen states that she believes that the retreatants had a good experience anyway. Johana Jones presented the expense sheet/report for the women’s retreat to the core team, The women’s team was able to be self sufficient in raising funds to cover the costs of the retreat. Christina Valle discussed concerns brought to her attention regarding the commitment of individuals to the retreat team and the importance of understanding the potential difficulties in the lives of those who may miss events. Fr. Jack commented that commitment is personal and between the individual and God. Jorge suggests that the men’s team remember this point during team formation. Joseph explained the symbolism of the vines planted on the ACTS core retreat. Jose Cardenas encouraged that difficulties be expressed openly to allow for growth. He is encouraged by the atmosphere in the current core meetings. Jose believes that it is important to communicate well to avoid frustration of the members. Fr. Jack states that the overall feel in the parishes is one of decreased tension and he attributes this to ACTS. Cece mentions that addressing all minute problems may be detrimental. Ricky asked about the need for all team to take Virtus training. Fr Jack stated that team is not required, Core team is recommended to take Virtus training.

5- Review of last meeting’s minutes: Carmen made a correction, Joseph approved, Rosie seconds, minutes approved.

6- Old Business:

• Review/approval documents: presented by Joseph- He discussed documents for budget and expenses with the goal to make the finances of ACTS transparent. Core team is asked to review the documents and be prepared to vote on using the forms for the upcoming retreats. He also discussed the spiritual formation sheets/ guide presented at a prior meeting for assisting the retreat teams in providing spiritual formation for its members. Kathleen and Jorge requested clarification of requiring vs offering as a reference the forms for spiritual formation. Deysi spoke about the formation process used on the past women’s retreat. Fr. Jack stated that it is important to follow the original ACTS process. Mario spoke about his preference for the unification offered by following a guide and the potential to feed the team members as they prepare. Rosie spoke about how the guide could potentially assist future retreats. Joseph states that the guide can be used to help the priests check on the progress of team formation. Jorge moved to accept the guide be required for use on future retreat Azucena 2nds, majority votes were affirmative, the motion passed.
• Joseph discussed the activities proposal forms and how to make them available for others to fill out. Rosie moves to accept the form, Cece 2nds, a vote was taken, the form is accepted. Joseph discussed the calendars and the description of the roles of each position on the ACTS core.
• ACTS Vision Strategy: Joseph recapped the vision planning session that occurred at the core team retreat. He is working summarizing the work that was done so that vision planning can continue to proceed.
• Catholicism Series: Mario states that the planning is delayed due to lack of location potentially until July. Deysi requests that it be publicized on the website.
  Growing in Faith: Danny reports that he has been looking into the numbers of copies needed and ways to decrease the cost of copies, getting a letter from the parish/ the pastors may allow for a discount at some printers. Cece suggests that the parishes pay for their own copies.
• Carmen and Cece will be the ACTS contacts for scheduling at Mary Immaculate.

7- New Business:

• Publishing other ministries functions on ACTS website: Carmen discussed the use of the ACTS website to publish parish events. Jorge commented that there is concern regarding the clarity of what is an “ACTS” event, vs a “non-ACTS” event on the website. Ricky states that clear communication can be made on each post to diminish confusion. Mario suggests that a separate location be used for community events. Kathleen described the process of publicizing the events on the website. Cece would like to see options for people without computer access including bulletin announcements. Jorge states that the phone call system is an option. Joseph suggest a quarterly news letter.
• Start nomination process for next Women’s director: Core will begin accepting nominations for the next women’s director
• Fr. Porfirio: will be moving to Texas in July, Fr. Jack will be the parish liaison for ACTS. Fr. Porfirio advises that ACTS maintain a close relationship with the pastors especially when making decisions in a spirit of obedience to the needs determined by the pastors. He discussed the similarities of the Oblates to the ACTS mission. He emphasized the importance of reading and following the ACTS chapter (manual).
• Fr. Jack: introduced himself and discussed his role on the ACTS team.
  Leaders Training: training will be offered, register through the ACTS missions website. cost will be 35$. Core training will be offered on June 1. Aud. 1 and 2 will be unavailable for some dates in May and June.

8 – Coordinators report:

• Deysi gave a report of the past women’s retreat, emphasizing the importance of trust in God and detailing the team’s commitments in writing. She suggests having regular meetings for the retreatants returning. She discussed the river rule, team selection and use of a mini-retreat prior to team formation.
• Mario discussed possible dates and locations for commissioning mass June 2nd at St. Ferdinand’s, and return mass at St. Ferdinand’s, and send off at Santa Rosa, with team formation done at Mary Immaculate to assure participation of the St. Ferdinandes.
• Cece states that there is a meeting for the picnic planning May 7 at 7:15pm at MI dining room, and reports on the Hollywood Bowl event.

9 – Meeting Evaluation

10- Next Meeting: June 3, 2013

11- Song: Ted

12- Closing Prayer: Rosie