Meet your Parish Advisory Council
Consists of several active parishioner volunteers working in concert with Clergy and Staff to provide inputs on Parish decision making
The members of the PAC are as follows
Father Scott Whitfield
Pastor
Fr. Scott Whitfield, B.Journ., M.P.Th., Th.M, was born and raised in what is today the city of Mississauga, in that city’s district of Port Credit. Not baptized until the age of seven, his religious upbringing was in the Anglican Church of Canada. After graduating from Port Credit Secondary School, he attended and then graduated from Carleton University School of Journalism in Ottawa in 1989. He laboured at a brief career in journalism and public relations, working as a freelance writer, editor and media analyst for various NGOs and government departments before taking a position as an assistant to an elected councillor in the Ottawa-Carleton Regional government from the mid to late 90s.
Cindy De Nobriga
Parish Secretary
I am a life-time resident of Dundas, and have been a member of St. Augustine’s Church for 42 years. I married my husband Michael in August, 1978 at St. Augustine’s Church. We raised three wonderful children Brian, Amy and Catherine and now my greatest joy is being a Grandma to two adorable grandsons Blake and Austin. For many years I was the Coordinator of the Children’s Liturgy Program. I am the treasurer of the St. Augustine’s Catholic Women’s League and I have the pleasure of being the Parish Secretary for the last 16 years.
Martin Strybosch
Finance Committee Rep.
Martin has been a resident of Dundas and a member of St. Augustine since 1982. In addition to being a member of the parish’s advisory council, he is also involved with St. Augustine as an usher, cash counter and member of the finance committee. Martin, a Knights of Columbus member for over 31 years, is presently the Financial Secretary for the Knights, Dundas council.
Martin is a retired banker having held various positions over his 42 years of service. His last position being a Private Banker with the Wealth Management group in the Hamilton office. Martin has been involved in various charities over the years, March of Dimes, Kidney Foundation and the chair/board member with the MS Society, Hamilton chapter to name a few.
Married to Debbie for over 40 years, father to 3 grown children, proud opa to 3 grandchildren.
Yvette Beach
HR and Parish School Advisory
Born in Trinidad. Educated in England and Canada.
Retired Principal of the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board. Proud mother of two adult daughters.
Served on the Board of Directors for Catholic Family Services; Past President of KIds for Kaga; Member of the Board of Directors for Immigrant Workers (Hamilton).
Presently serves on the Board of Directors for The African Caribbean Student Scholarship Awards.
I have been a member of St Augustine Parish for over forty years and have had the privilege of serving both as Eucharist Minister and Lector.
Deborah Altmann
One Heart One Soul Projects
Deborah is a former Psychometrist who worked at The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto prior to starting a family. She has lived in Dundas for the past 28 years with her husband Steve. They have two children, Joshua and Victoria. Deborah has been actively involved in the community including; service to the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate (Hamilton and Toronto), participating in the out-of-the-cold program, helping Syrian families, active supporter for the Joseph Brant Hospital’s Labour and Delivery Unit, and was very involved with the Parents Association at Hillfield Strathallan College where her children attended school. She has been an active member of St. Augustine’s Parish since 1992. Most recently she has been involved in the One Heart One Soul Campaign and is on the Parish Advisory Committee as well as the Parish Centre Renovation Committee. Deborah enjoys the outdoors and loves to garden, walk, hike and ski.
Dave Weber
Parish Communications Advisory
Dave is a long-time resident of Dundas and has been a member of St. Augustine’s since 1997. Over the years, he has been involved with the parish in a number of capacities, most recently as chair of the One Heart One Soul campaign.
Dave is senior partner at Sims Advertising in Burlington and very active in the community. He has recently joined the St. Joseph’s Health System board and is a new member of The Knights of Columbus here in Dundas.
Father to Alexandra and Mitchell, both grown. He became a grandfather to Charlee Grace in 2019 – and is spoiling her every chance he gets.
Our Vision
Christ above all else.
Our Mission
To create a welcoming Christ-centered community that strives to address the spiritual needs of all His people; so as to connect them to Christ.
Our Values
Compassion Clarity Kindness Gentleness Patience Communication Love Generosity Reconciliation Humility JusticeParishioner Outreach
PAC strives to contact and include all current and future parishioners through a communications platform that will enable St Augustine’s parish to provide Catholic foundational service to all that seek Christ in the Dundas community. Plans may include training select volunteers through Father Scott for frequent parishioner / new recruits outreach visits / calls and select administration of regular Holy Communion to Catholic shut-ins.
Governance
Catholic parish governance arises from the requirements of canon law (Church law) as interpreted by the bishop of the diocese. To each parish the bishop assigns a priest to serve as pastor (latin for shepherd) who is directly responsible to the bishop for the administration of the sacraments, teaching, and parish property and finances.
Every parish is required to have a finance council comprised of laity of the parish to aid the pastor in the administration of parish finances and property (canon 537). There are six members (we currently have two vacancies). The pastor is the chairman, but may appoint a vice-chair who coordinates this council’s meetings (establishes schedule, organizes the agenda, sees that minutes are prepared, etc.)
A pastoral council (sometimes referred to as a “parish council”) is made up of lay members of the parish as an advisory group to the pastor to aid in the development and promotion of pastoral activity. These exist at the discretion of the bishop, who may or may not require them (canon 536). In the Diocese of Hamilton the bishop has given pastors the discretion to create such councils. At St. Augustine’s we have a “Parish Advisory Council” that fulfils that function. There are six members. The pastor is the chairman, but may appoint a vice-chair who coordinates this council’s meetings (establishes schedule, organizes the agenda, sees that minutes are prepared, etc.) The current vice-chairman is Doug Herman. He also has responsibility for communicating the content of discussions and the decisions of both councils to the parish community.
The relationship of the two committees to each other is one of cooperation in offering counsel to the pastor. It is not unusual for one or two persons to be a member of both councils to facilitate cooperation and coordination of each councils’ activities.
Other committees and advisory groups may be formed as needed, either to exist permanently (e.g. property committee; worship committee) or for a special project or initiative (e.g. One Heart, One Soul project committee; parish anniversary committee). At the time the committee is struck its line of accountability is established. For example, the One Heart, One Soul project committee reports to the Parish Advisory Council, but refers financial questions to the Finance Committee. Some committees may report directly to the pastor who then reports on their behalf (e.g. worship committee) to the council most appropriate for a given issue.
The term of service for committees is not fixed, but for the governing councils (finance and parish advisory) two-year terms are usual with a limit of two renewals. Special committees exist for the life of the project/initiative they oversee. Other permanent committees would generally follow the example of the governing councils with exceptions where justifiable.
Governing council terms run from January to December with new appointments made in October and November. Other committees and advisory groups set their terms from the start of their activity, or by agreement choose their term start date.
Financing
Administration of Parish
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 6:30pm.
Present: Father Whitfield, Doug Herman, Deborah Altmann, Yvette Beach, Martin Strybosch,
Dave Weber, Kim van den Heuvel,
Recording Secretary: Cindy de Nobriga
Father Whitfield opened meeting with a prayer.
Approval of Minutes: The December 2, 2020 PAC Meeting Minutes under New Ministries at St. Augustine’s was amended to reflect the name of the new ministry as Liturgy Committee.
COVID Update:
Father Whitfield informed that PAC Committee due to the province wide shutdown until February 11, 2021 there are no public Masses, postponement of baptisms, first communions and confirmations. Weddings and funerals are allowed at 10 people but no Mass, recommendation for graveside burials. Father continues to reach out daily to parishioners over the phone.
Dave Weber, Father Scott, Doug Herman, Tony Kerigan and Karen Kiely are participating in the Zoom meetings through the Diocese to develop the new Compassionate Care Ministry for St. Augustine’s. Dave Weber will arrange an upcoming meeting (1Feb; 7-8pm) with Teresa Hartnett, Diocesan Director of Family Ministry Office to discuss the implementation of our new ministry.
Dundas Valley Construction has approval from the City of Hamilton to continue with the Parish Centre renovations with minimal contractors, two to three only at any given time. CCXIT Computer Services are in the process of completing the wire cable system between the church, parish centre and parish office.
Through the Liturgy and Worship Committee the parish hopes to offer Zoom weekly liturgy programs such as 30 Days of Grace, a daily devotional journey and The Search, full presentation of life journey through faith.
Father and parent Bert Loranjo will be implementing one night a week the virtual program for the sacramental preparation for First Reconciliation and First Communion for parents. The RCIA program continues to run weekly by Zoom under the direction of our parishioner Roger Ferriera. Kim van den Heuvel would like to resume the Symbolon program on Sunday mornings. In order to facilitate these Zoom liturgy programs the parish will require two Zoom accounts which needs to include the break-out session feature. Information regarding these new liturgy programs and to enroll with be sent out by email in a bulletin.
Financial Report:
Martin Strybosch reported that our total offerings reduction is down by $47,000.00. Parish In Need Grant, Canada Helps Program and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy has kept us ahead of our budget. Our expenses are down, lower staffing levels, only one payment interest made on Chancery loan and one Cathedraticum payment made to date, so after capital expenditures $34,000.00 favourable. Garry Condon presented the first draft of the 2021 Parish Budget to the Finance Committee at their meeting on January 13th, 2021. The budget draft reflects similar numbers continuation for 2021. Garry will present the 2021 proposed budget at the next Finance Meeting in March. The Finance Committee would like to see the implementation on Pre-Authorized Giving. Martin will report back to the PAC members on this proposed implementation process at the next meeting.
Ministry Fund Update:
No requests at this time. Received $50.14 interest on the ten thousand dollars investment.
One Heart One Soul Campaign Update:
Dave Weber updated the One Heart One Soul figures.
Total Pledged as of end of 2020: $285,681.00
Total Paid: $179,177.00
Balance Outstanding: $106,504.00
Parish Share: $134,383.00
Funds Drawn: $53,100.00
Funds Available: $81,283.00
Parish Centre Renovations Update:
The new ceiling tiles are installed but will not be painted; dry walled the new meeting room but no work on the new window; installation of new heat pump; dismantling of the steps and stage and new LED lighting.
Painting of walls and installation of new floor to come. No installation of acoustic panels at this time.
Marian Garden Renewal:
One Heart One Soul Project is the renewal of the Marian Garden. Father Whitfield will reach out to our Garden Renewal Committee of Lucy Dubeckyj, Richard te Boekhorst and Leo Volpato to move forward and obtain estimates on the costs of moving of the statue of Mary to the other end of the garden, recovering the inground water sprinkler system, new cedars, regrading the existing garden and a memorial wall. Twenty thousand dollars have been allocated from the One Heart One Soul Funds for this renewal. Deborah Altmann will look into the cost of new cast iron benches for the garden.
Social Media Coordinator / Website Management:
The new position for a social media coordinator / website management will be put on-hold and will be re-visited after coming out of the COVID pandemic.
St. Augustine’s Parish Website:
Two or three weekly updates on the website between Doug Herman and Dan Smelt at Global Printing. When the 2020 Financial figures are completed, they will be posted on the website page in graph forms. Our parish website is current and offers online services. A suggestion to have Dr. Tony Kerigan’s Seniors and Caregivers Resource Guide to be made current and formatted to become interactive on the website. This will be coordinated with the new St Augustine’s Compassionate Care Ministry.
New Business:
Julie Makarski will be stepping down at the Youth Group Coordinator. No successor has been identified at this time for this very important ministry to continue.
Knights of Columbus will provide the bar service for the Parish Centre rentals once the renovations are completed. Father Whitfield and Doug Herman will approach the Catholic Women’s League Executive on a charitable activity for the parish and encourage them to set up a CWL page on the website.
PAC Meeting: The next PAC Zoom Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 24th at 6:30p.m.
Closing Prayer: Father Whitfield