St. Thomas Aquinas Human Concerns Committee Meeting Minutes January 22, 2008

Attendance:
Paul Chestnut, Mary Fong, Ruth Chippendale, George Chippendale, Carol Schaffer, Patricia Markee, Terry McCaffrey, Chris Lundin, Laura Chiu, Sasha Madison

A new member, Sasha Madison, was welcomed.

1. We had a moment of silence for Tom Jaworowski, who died on December 15.

2. Faith-Sharing/Question of the Week
Mary talked about the movie, "God Grew Tired of Us" (the story of four boys from Sudan who embark on a journey to America after years of wandering Sub-Saharan Africa in search of safety). We discussed the question: "Can God Grow Tired of Us?"

3. The November minutes were approved.

OLD BUSINESS

4.  Selection of a successor to Tom:
Ruth said that she would be the representative of the HCC to the Pastoral Stewardship Council for two months to see whether she can handle it for the next year. Tom also served as parish liaison to the diocesan HCC and as parish representative to the deanery social justice group, and we need people to fill these functions.

5. PSC annual retreat - Saturday, May 17.

6. Report to PSC - Laura
Laura attended the January Pastoral Stewardship Council meeting. The main topics were:
1) the archiving project: we agreed that this is a worthwhile activity. The emphasis should be on future fulfillment of a requirement to maintain records in digital form (see item #13).
2) Financial issues
3) Hispanic community doing well
4) Fundraiser Sunday

7. Death Penalty - Terry
The National Coalition Against the Death Penalty conference was held January 17 to 20. People from all over the country were present. The Governor of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, who signed a bill to abolish the death penalty on December 17, was there. There was a "families reconciliation workshop;" some say that closure to families is achieved by execution, but that is not true - there is never closure. The County of Santa Clara has a budget problem: two-thirds of the mental health budget is to get cut; the cold case unit is being eliminated. These facts are being used to leverage the District Attorney to eliminate the death penalty, which has a significant cost. A petition was passed around that asks legislators and supervisors to avoid asking for the death penalty.

8. Web Site - Paul
Some new items were added. Paul asked for help to review the HCC web page with a view to rearranging and upgrading it. Carol volunteered to help.

9. Christmas gift delivery results - Ruth/George Christmas gifts were delivered to over 1000 families.

10. HCC Budget for 2007 - Terry
The HCC budget for 2007 was included with the agenda.

NEW BUSINESS

11. Undie Sunday
Mary will connect with Nancy Ng. Undie Sunday will be on February 17. Volunteers are needed to collect contributions after each Mass.

12. New Developments on "Faithful Citizenship":
"Faithful Citizenship" is a call to political responsibility from the Catholic Bishops. It has to do with what the church teaches regarding issues affecting public policy, and making moral choices. There is a new web site (http://www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/) devoted to this concept. The site includes a wide range of resources for parishes committees, educational programs, youth and young adult ministries, and other groups. To quote from the site: "Parishes may want to consider some ideas to begin developing a plan for sharing the message of Faithful Citizenship, such as bulletin or pulpit announcements and distribution of voter education materials." Promotional mailings are being sent to all parishes. A workshop on Faithful Citizenship is being offered for priests, deacons, and seminarians. HCC is on record for favoring these concepts, since this kind of political participation reflects the social teaching of our Church.

13. Request for archives:
The Parish is discussing the need for archiving information associated with its activities, including minutes of meetings, and other forms of data. We agreed that this is a worthwhile activity. The emphasis should be on the goal of maintaining records in the future in digital form. For example, each ministry could provide one CD each year with all of their minutes, agendas, lists, etc. Then these data could be transferred to a database of parish information very easily. Paper records are valuable, but to compile and preserve paper documents from the past seems to be a big job with questionable payoff. We have agendas, minutes, and HCC reports to the Pastoral Stewardship Council for the last two years in digital form. We have names and email addresses of members for the past two years.

14. Pros and Cons of Ballot Propositions - Patricia
Meeting on ballot propositions February 3 after the 8:45 Mass at St. Thomas Church. Speaker: Jane Bahr.

15. What's On Your Mind?

Patricia: JustFaith Planning - Course modules covering six to eight weeks. Topics: globalization, immigration, and simplification of one's life.

Laura: HCC should collect unused gift certificates to raise money.

George: The plight of immigrants in our midst.

16. Volunteer for Faith-sharing/Question of the Week Carol volunteered.

Next meeting - February 26