Summary of Meeting of the Valley Catholic Community of St. Patrick and Our Lady of the Snows held on Monday, February 3rd at 7:00 PM, Founders' Hall, Waitsfield
Focus of Meeting: Religious education of the youth of the Valley
Father Bernie Bourgeois opened the meeting with a prayer. He then referred to two letters which were mailed to all parents having children in the Religious Education Program currently held on Tuesday afternoons at 3:15 PM in Founders' Hall, expressing his concerns about the future of the program. Of the 19 letters sent out he has heard back from five people, one of whom teaches in the program.
He summarized his observations of the Religious Education Program since becoming pastor in June, 2000:
- It is difficult for children to be attentive after a full day of school
- Class time competes with a variety of after-school extracurricular activities
- Founders' Hall was not built with a religious education program in mind
Beyond the issues of time and space, Father Bernie expressed his concern that he does not see the majority of these students at Mass on the weekends. Parents bear the responsibility to educate their children in faith. A religious education program is meant to help you in this endeavor; however, if children are not attending Mass it is very difficult to successfully teach them how to live out their faith.
In addition to the above, our coordinator, Kelley Morin, will be moving away the end of this month. While classes will continue for the remainder of the school year, we will need a replacement for Kelley if the program is to resume in the Fall.
As he see it, our options are:
- Change the day and time of the classes at a site in the Valley so that the program could be tied in with Sunday Mass; or
- Combine the Valley program with the St. Andrew Sunday morning program in Waterbury which meets immediately after the 9:00 AM Mass.
He then asked for input from those present at the meeting.
One parishioner indicated she lives in Warren and it would be very difficult for her to make it to Waterbury by 9:00 AM on Sundays.
One parishioner who already sends her children to the Waterbury program says it works for her; it was just a matter of getting into the routine.
Others commented that they hated to see the Valley program done away with; their children won't know the children in the Waterbury program. They feel it is important for them to have their own program. Also, they want to continue to attend Mass in their own Church.
One parishioner wondered whether the Moretown Elementary School might allow them to use classroom space on Sunday mornings, before the 11:00 AM Mass and volunteered to pursue that idea.
After further discussion, a group of parents agreed to form an informal committee to pursue the possibility of keeping the program in the Valley, their focus being:
- changing the date and time of classes to tie in with Sunday Mass
- locating a new coordinator
- making sure they have enough teachers
Father Bernie thanked everyone for attending the meeting. Committee members will keep him informed of their progress. The meeting was adjourned around 8:30 PM.
Dianne Bilodeau, Parish Secretary
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