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PARISH COUNCILS & COMMITTEES

THE COMMITTEE FOR THE CELEBRATION OF ST. PETERS 150TH ANNIVERSARY (12/25/2027)

Saint Peter’s 150th Anniversary Committee Meeting

November 12, 2024 St Peter’s Church Hall

Present… Kathy Golec, Florence Golec, Michael Kreek, Kellie Wilson, Father John

Our meeting began at 6:30 pm with an opening prayer

The meeting ended at 7:25 pm.

Additions, subtractions, corrections are welcome.

Respectfully submitted

Father John Loughnane

 

SAINT PETER’S ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE MEETING
October 22, 2024 6:30 pm St Peter’s Church Hall

Present: Jean Wetherby, Joanne Perry, Kathy Golec, Florence Golec, Keli Wilson, Michael Kreek, Pat Casperson, Father John

We are looking forward to our parish dinner on Saturday, October 26th at 5:30pm in St Peter’s church hall. The Knights of Columbus will cook a ham and bring it in to the hall cooked.
We are grateful to our parish Knights for donating the ham.
Jean and Dwayne will help to serve the meal.
Kathy will get potatoes ( 35-40 of them) – from Maine?
Michael will bring potatoes from his garden. 40-50 pounds
• He will give the number of potatoes to Joanne
We have 75 people signed up plus six take out meals.
We will have 25 pounds of carrots from Allen Brothers. We can peal them or just wash them and cut.
Joanne has onions. She will also make the potatoes and bring them in.
We have containers for the take out meals.
We will set up a table for desserts. (maple bars)
We should have two serving lines
Carrots will be sliced at 2pm on Saturday.
We should use large serving spoons
A table will be set up for donations
We will have a 50/50 raffle.
Cole slaw will be made at home and brought in.
We will boil water for tea.
We will make sure that everyone gets a thank you note. (About 5 people)
We have coffee in the hall. (Regular) Florence will get decaf.
• Pat will donate a bag of decaf coffee.
• Kathy will get half and half and milk
• We have sugar
Michael will give a brief talk before the meal introducing the Anniversary celebrations.
We now have $2,025. In our anniversary bank account.
Leslie, the parish bookkeeper, will manage the account.
** Maybe she can pay expenses with checks from this account
With Father John’s signature.
Joanne has a commitment after the meal on Saturday night.
We have a dishwasher in the hall.
Father John should not announce the meal at 4pm Mass, since only those who signed up can be fed.
People can wait around after the meal to see if any food is left over. We will put napkins and silverware on the tables for the dinner.
Do we need help to clean up after the meal?
Cindy or Dominic will take out the trash afterward.
It would be great to know if our diners heard about the meal
Through the newspaper press releases.
Kathy has put an ad on facebook.
Michael wants to talk to us at a later meeting about the press releases and the calendar.
The press release that Michael sent out says that the deadline to sign up was the 20th of October. We need to stick to that.
We have a gallery of church events back to the time of Father Michael that we can use for our anniversary celebration.
People are welcome to send in pictures of St Peter’s activities from the past.
COOKBOOK John Foster has been doing a great job selling advertisements, and collecting recipes. He contacted a company who gave samples of cookbooks that they offer.
The committee looked over samples of the cookbooks.
We would like to order 500 books.
Production of the books takes about ten weeks.
The cost to us will be $4.95 per book.
We can sell them for $20 each which will give us $15.05 profit per book.
We have about 250 recipes so far.
We can form a sub committee to look at options for the cookbook design.
We will pay for the books up front.
It is great that people have included their names with the recipes that they have submitted.
We should have a blank page at the back of the book to write notes.
John Foster has typed up recipes that were hard to read, hand written,….
Will the company edit the recipes, so that, for example, if someone wrote 1 cup instead of 1 teaspoon,… it will be corrected before the book is printed?****
Our committee needs to approve the cookbook style that we will choose.
We also will choose a picture for the cover of the book, such as a nice picture of St Peter’s church ***
Would we like to have a sponsor webpage?
People can buy a personal ad to place in the book.
The company will format the ads.
Pat wants to donate a very beautiful framed cross stitched picture of the Last Supper. She showed us this picture, which is amazing. It has been placed in the convent for safe keeping.
Perhaps we could have it at a dinner later on with a silent auction.
***OUR NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON NOVEMBER 12TH AT 6:30 PM IN ST PETER’S HALL. Father John is putting this on his calendar in pen so that he will not forget this time.
The meeting closed about 7:30 pm.
Additions, subtractions are welcome.
Respectfully submitted.
Father John Loughnane

ST PETER’S 150TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE MEETING
September 30, 2024 St Peter’s church hall
Present… Florence Golec, Kellie Wilson, Kathy Golec, Joanne Perry, Fr John
We welcomed Joanne Perry, our caterer, to discuss the parish dinner
On the menu will be ham, coleslaw, carrots, (carrots add color), scalloped potatoes, and dessert
We expect about 85 people, and need 42 pounds of ham
Joanne makes everything from scratch
We need 42 pounds of coleslaw
The more food that we can get donated, the better
Can we get rolls and butter donated?
For drinks we will have water, coffee, and tea. And maybe cider?
We should plate the food, or serve it from shafting dishes.
Get volunteers to help serve the food
We are advertising in the bulletin and by press releases.
By the 17th we will let the Knights know the number of people who will be eating
Dinner starts at 5:30 pm
We should have two lines for serving
For dessert we suggest serving bars instead of pie.
Joanne has a commitment at 8pm that night, so she will not be able to help clean up
Use regular plates
The tables will be decorated
Let our young people help with decorating the hall.
Joanne will do the cooking
Theresa from Pete’s may be willing to donate
Joanne’s company is Sweet Pea Caterine
Her number is 802-274-0938
We will get pats of butter for the dinner
Joanne will cook in St Peter’s kitchen
She will give us a break on the price since it is a fund raiser dinner
We will keep in touch with her
The cut off date for signing up for the dinner is the 20th of October
We can edit the bulletin article.
The newspapers may have a limit to the number of words for an advertisement
Our next meeting will be on October 14th at 6:30 pm in St Peter’s church hall.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 pm
Additions, subtractions, corrections welcome.
Respectfully submitted
Father John Loughnane

Monday, September 9, 2024  St Peter’s Hall   6:30 pm
Minutes  St Peter’s church 150th Anniversary Committee Meeting
Present:  Michael Kreek, Florence Golec, Kathy Golec, Kelly Wilson, Father John
The meeting began at 6:30 pm without a prayer
The question was raised whether anyone has heard from Michelle Gallagher
Florence was contacted by the Knights of Columbus who are willing to donate
Meat and cook it for our dinner
We will advertise our dinner when we specify a date on the radio, television, shopper magazine, and locally.
The dinner will be open to the public
Saturday seems to be the best day for a dinner 5pm or 5:30 pm
The dinner is not just religious.  It is for everyone
Press releases will be published two weeks before the dinner.
We would like the dinner to be held before Thanksgiving.
October 26th is the best date.  At 5:30pm in the hall. ***
On the menu will be:  potatoes, dessert, meat, vegetables. (Not squash) green beans
We can seat 150 people in the hall.
Donations will be accepted.  ($10 minimum would be great.)
We should publicize an email address for rsvp.
Reservations must be made by a certain date.
Beverages:  Water, coffee, tea.  We will buy small bottles of water.
What expenses will we have?  Buying potatoes, vegetables, beverages, cole slaw, rolls, desserts
In the press releases we will mention that this is a fund raiser for our 150th anniversary
We can have raffles – baskets of items.  Tickets will cost $1 each, or 6 for $5
Can we get baskets donated by companies?
The baskets will have a theme, such as types of coffee, and tea, or spaghetti and sauce,…
Should we have music for the dinner?  (background music)
Involve St Catherine parishioners too
The servers will dish out the food.  (Not self service)
We should have two serving lines, so that people will not wait too long to eat
The Brittons have offered to donate meat for the 150th anniversary.
We must tell people that space is limited for the dinner.  They should sign up as soon as possible.
We can accommodate a maximum of 75 diners
We need to have a cut off date to sign up.
We can put up posters
It would be great to have caterers help us.  Father John will contact them.
Michael is willing to be a signer on our new bank account, which Father John has opened.
We want people who remember St Peter’s church from years ago to contact us.
We can use St Catherine’s rectory office for our St Peter’s anniversary work.
(We need wifi access.)
Michael will send out press releases.
Father John can receive anniversary correspondence at the rectory
 How are preparations for the road race coming along?
We will check on this.
The stores where we buy supplies require a tax id.  (We have a parish tax id, but it is confidential.
Not to be given out because it could be misused.)  Father John can get it for us if necessary.
The meeting closed at 7:40 pm.
 Corrections are most welcome.
Respectfully submitted.
Father John Loughnane

Monday, August 12, 2024 SAINT PETER’S 150TH COMMITTEE MEETING (#4)
Our meeting began at 6:30 PM in St Peter’s church hall
Attendance:  Michael Kreek, Kathy Golec, Florence Golec, Kelly Ann Wilson
Father John began with a silent prayer
What are our favorite projects to work on for the anniversary?
   Mass, dinner, concert, cookbook
This advent (2024) let’s have a parish dinner to raise money for the anniversary
Invite everyone in the wider community.  Ask for donations
One of us should speak at the dinner and announce what our anniversary committee is doing
Put the money raised from donations into our parish anniversary bank account
(Which Father John will open)
We will need to put out a sign up sheet one month in advance
This will be a fun, sit down dinner in St Peter’s hall
Try to reduce the cost of the dinner for the parish.  This will allow us to have a larger profit.
People can be asked to donate food, and help to prepare the food at home and bring it in
(Peel potatoes,….)
John Foster knows a man who has offered in the past to put on a roast pork dinner for the
Church
Josie Britton, and Britten Fern are willing to donate ground beef for the 150th anniv celebration.,
   Their number is 603-313-4584
The Knights and the Altar Rosary Society can work together on the dinner
It should be held during Advent, 2024.
(The first weekend of Advent?  But that is a couple of days after Thanksgiving, 2024)
What foods are associated with Advent? 
     All Saints Parish webpage includes information about the anniversary.
If we had internet access at St Peter’s church that would be great.
We should print out our documents to share as needed.
(On St Catherine’s rectory copy machine?)
     During the dinner we can have an auction.  Or a 50/50 raffle
We can bid on items, and sell chances on baskets of items
Or have a Chinese auction.
Are we allowed to raffle off alcohol in the church hall?  Father will find out.
Nice teas and coffees can be raffled off
Do we have anyone who owns a retail business in our parish?
We should check out the businesses who advertise on the back of our bulletin
Put in the bulletin… We are looking for items to auction off for a Chinese auction.
For projects, Michelle Gallagher and Kerry Pickering are good contacts
What is Michelle Gallagher’s email?  Send this to Michael
Food donations will be welcome for the parish dinner.
   Avoid bone in meat.
Boneless roast pork is great.  (Father thinks that John Foster knows someone
Who can put on a roast pork dinner for us.)
     Can we have a carnival, or a lawn party?  Can we use the land behind st Peter’s church?
John Foster says that we can.
Father John should call the power company to check on this.
The Diocese has contacted Father John regarding a road trip.  People from the Diocese
Will visit our parish and take pictures, and do a program about All Saints Parish in the near
Future
     Kelly Ann can help to find names of past altar boys who have served at St Peter’s church
     Michael will put anniversary items on our parish website.
     He will need help with the concert which is in the planning stage.  Contacts and legal work will be
Needed.  We would like to have religious music, but we want the concert to appeal to a broad
Group of people from the community at large.  Will this help to evangelize? – bring people in, or back to,
The church?  Some people will be attracted to religious music, others will not.
     The fund raising dinner should be open to everyone – parishioners and non parishioners
     Kelly Ann mentioned the Zenith Ensemble, a music group who performed at the church in Keene.  They put on a great concert.
How much does such a concert cost?  We will inquire.
We will have to pay the musicians, and sell tickets for the concert.
Michael will contact the Zenith group
The Keene Chorale is another music group that is popular. 
Do we have enough parking for the event?  How many people can we seat in St Peter’s church?
Would the music group sign the kind of music that we want?
We prefer to have quality Christian music. 
The Ashuelot (?) concerts are connected with the Catholic school in Keene.
     Our first two activities are the parish dinner, and the race. 
We need to ask for volunteers to cook parts of the meal at home and bring them in
We can buy a cake at the store
Our altar servers can help with the dinner.
**Father John called the state today and was told that bingo is allowed if we do not involve money (No entrance fee, or cash prizes)  Otherwise we need to have a license.
So far Father has received one recipe for our cookbook.
Father received an envelope with some information from the Diocese about the history
Of St Peter’s church.
Kathy will come up with a menu for the dinner.
WE should try to get people from St Catherine’s church involved.
For our next meeting we will have more precise details about the dinner
What will bring us the highest attendance and revenue?
Press releases will be used to advertise.
St Peter’s hall can hold 150 people.
**Father John is concerned that our proposed date of December 1st for the dinner is on the weekend
After Thanksgiving.  Everyone will be full of turkey or could be out of town at that time.
Father John said a closing prayer to himself.
The meeting was adjourned about 7:45 pm.
Our next meeting will be in St Peter’s hall on Monday, Sept. 9th at 6:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted
Father John Loughnane
PS  corrections, or additions or subtractions are welcome.\

SAINT PETER’S 150TH COMMITTEE MEETING (#3)
July 15, 2024 6:30 pm St Peter’s church hall
Father John began the meeting at 6:30 pm with a prayer
Present were: Kathy Golec, Florence Golec, Michael Kreek, Michelle Gallagher, Kelli Wilson, Father John

We discussed the proposed bike race. It can be a 5k. Donations should be accepted. Florence has spoken with a couple of people to get information about the details of a race. We need to promote the race, and raise money (donations) Prizes can be given for first place and second place winners. 5k’s are often held in the Fall. Bellows Falls has had a number of 5k races.
Fall Mountain has a 5k in the spring. (May)
A “Go fund me” page was set up to raise money for a playground in Walpole.
Donors names are published.
We should print tickets, and sell tickets. Prizes can be given out by age group.
Small water bottles and granola bars are given out.
The rail trail can be used.
We should hire a timing company to check off the racers and keep track of their time.
We should have a sign up day.
The superintendent of schools can give permission to send information home to the families of our students.
Radio and facebook announcements are free.
T shirts cost $6 each.
The costs come out of the registration fee.
Should we start from St Peter’s church and proceed along route 12?
Route 12 is very busy, and it is dangerous.
Kerry and Nancy are willing to help us.
Michael can talk with the Walpole rail trail committee
The rail trail goes to Keene.
Spring is a bad time of year for the race due to mud season.
The children can ride along the rail trail, and adults can take another route.
We should pick open spots where the runners can be seen well
Should an ambulance be on call?
Could we have the race in Charlestown?
There are lots of back roads in Charlestown that can be used
Evangelization is a very important aspect of our anniversary celebration and activities.
The funds raised through our fund raising activities will be used for 150th anniversary expenses.
Michael would like to arrange a concert for the 25th of December, which is the actual anniversary of the first Mass at St Peter’s church. This concert can be in St Peter’s church.
They would perform on the altar. Father believes that the Lord should be removed before this concert.
Jim Managan has information about St Peter’s church during the prohibition. The priest would confiscate alcohol from people’s homes,….
The Diocese must have archives from St Peter’s history. Father John will check on this.
Our anniversary celebration will take place throughout the church year 2027.
The first day of advent, 2028 will be the end of the year long celebration. (Is this correct?)
We will have part of our celebration every other month or so throughout 2027.
Can we use the power company land behind St Peter’s church? (Father will check on this)
A great Mass will be celebrated with the Bishop and priests who have been assigned to St Peter’s church over the years.
Father John will invite the Bishop.
Michael suggests that we should go back through the minutes of our past meetings and select 5 things each that we would most like to do for our anniversary. Bring our list to the next meeting.
Can we have bingo for fun as part of our anniversary celebration? (Father will check on this)
Do we have each other’s email?
Father John can be in touch with priests who have been assigned to St Peter’s church in the past for their reflections.
The diocese must have historical documents. Father will check on this. (In his spare time.)
Can we raise money this Fall toward our anniversary celebration? There is a yearly Fall raffle for the parish needs from October through Christmas. Will this interfere with our anniversary fund raising?
Brant Fagan can take pictures and preserve momentos from our parishioners of St Peter’s activities through the years.
It would be great to have internet access at St Peter’s church.
***Our next meeting will be on August 12 at 6:30 pm in St Peter’s church hall.
All corrections and additions are welcome.
Respectfully submitted.
Father John Loughnane

 

SAINT PETER’S CHURCH
150TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE MEETING #2
June 6, 2024 St Peter’s Church hall
Present: Michael Kreek, Kathy Golec, Florence Golec, Father John
Father John began the meeting with a silent prayer

We need to have internet access at St Peter’s church
We will publicize the 150th anniversary preparation activities on our parish webpage
Our webmaster will send out the link to us.
We would like to get more young people involved in the preparations
We want to have a special Mass on the actual anniversary date
How many of our “to do” items do not require money?
Tom will help us with music.
Should we purchase prayer cards?
Should we buy food for the celebration?
We will have a special concert
The Altar Rosary Society and the Knights will put on a meal.
Advertising… Parable magazine is diocesan-wide, and they will be willing to advertise for us.
We will ask if anyone has a special memory of St Peter’s church years ago.
People from St Peter’s have moved elsewhere, and may be able to give us pictures, stories,….
WE would like to have a couple of fund raisers to raise money for the celebration.
Could we hold a raffle and auction?
We should advertise – “The 150th committee is looking for volunteers with various talents and abilities” (For example could someone teach a class about photography,….?)
St Catherine’s and St Peter’s churches should get together more
Bevin Kennedy, of the diocese, would like to do a parable story about All Saints Parish.
St Peter’s hall can hold a maximum of 150 people.
We can use the TV screen in St Peter’s hall.
Maybe Brant can put on a picture show on the hall TV
For fund raising we can have a race. (Father will check with our parish insurance)
Donations will be raised by this race for the parish.
We will need to advertise this.
Does the Shopper do free advertising?
We can get a press release.
Blanket the area media with this for no charge.
We will print business cards with our contact information.
Can we contact someone who has conducted a race before to tell us how to do it?
On our parish website the webmaster decides if information should be restricted to the parish,
Or shared with the wider community.
We would like to get the word about the anniversary out to as many people as possible.
Could a business donate a car to be raffled off? – or another large ticket item?
We must decide where the race will begin and end
We can check with the town police and the town hall
Walpole conservation committee has been trying to bring back the rail trail.
(from Jiffy Mart to Keene)
We can give a dollar prize for the first 3 winners.
Can the school participate in the race? (A separate race for adults/children)
Can we advertise to former parishioners on Facebook?
We need to get sponsors for the race.
Our parish does have some unused bank accounts that can be used for fund raising.
(Or Father John can open a new account for this purpose)
We can buy T shirts for the race with numbers on them.
There may be old pictures of St Peter’s in the convent.
Father Steve, Father Michael, and other former pastors can be invited for a Mass
What were pre Vatican II Masses like?
Our next meeting will be on June 20th at 6:30 pm in St Peter’s church hall.
All corrections or additions are welcome.

Respectfully submitted
Father John Loughnane

 

Saint Peter’s 150th Anniversary Committee Meeting
Thursday, May 23, 2024 6:30 PM St Peter’s Church hall.
Present… Michael Kreek, Kathy Golec, Florence Golec, Father John
Father John opened the meeting with a prayer.
It was suggested that we have a special Mass and invite the Bishop and all priests who have served in St Peter’s church over the years.
Michael would like to organize a concert
We could hold a parish picnic. We do not know if the land behind St Peter’s church can be used without permission, or without extra insurance.
We will investigate the history of the parish, and update our information.
People can be invited to bring in pictures of events that have happened in St Peter’s church over the years. Brant Fagan can scan them to be displayed on a large poster.
We would love to know what Mass was like 150 years ago.
What was St Peter’s church like in the old days?
• How has it changed over the years? (benches instead of pews,…)
• When did they put in the marble altars?
• Was there marble under the floor?
• Could Deacon John give us some information?
• Can Tom provide music for the celebration?
• What hymns did they sing 150 years ago?
• What instruments did they play?
• Fall is a good time for our anniversary activities.
• It is important to promote our anniversary activities
• Can we have bingo in our hall, just for donations, not for profit?
• We can produce prayer cards (featuring the church)
• We should have a fund raising committee
• We would like to have a church dinner
• We can have a book produced with pictures of our parish families.
• We need to advertise in the bulletin
• Father John has chatted with Father Tony Dirusso recently.
• The Walpole historic society can be very helpful to us
• Also the Bellows Falls historical society.
• When were the stained glass windows installed?
• The library and newspapers of the time are great resources
• How did St Joseph’s church become part of the parish?
• Can we look at old sacramental books? (They are now in St Catherine’s rectory)
• Are there any records in St Peter’s rectory?
• What saints are in St Peter’s altars (relics)?
• We can coordinate with other events going on in the area
• Our parish website contains information about the history of St peter’s church
• We would like Father John to be our coordinator.
• Can we find anyone who would like to join us for our next meeting?
• Our next meeting will be held in St Peter’s church hall in two weeks – on June 6th at 6:30 pm.
• At that time we will come up with an action plan.
Additions, subtractions are most welcome.
Respectfully submitted.
Father John Loughnane

PASTORAL COUNCIL

The purpose of the Parish Council is to consult with the pastor regarding the spiritual and social life of the parish. It meets once a month at St. Catherine of Siena Rectory except for the months of July-August. Parishioners may contact any member of the council to share their concerns. Its members are:

Deacon Ken Czechowicz - Chairperson
Brant Fagan
Paula Gallagher
Serena Lamontagne
Kerry Pickering
Debra Piletz

FINANCE COUNCIL

The purpose of this council is to advise the pastor in areas of parish life pertaining to finance and maintenance of the physical plant. It meets at the pastor’s discretion. Parishioners may contact any member of the council to share their concerns. Its members are:

Jean Wetherby, Chairperson
John Peska
Jeffrey Rodden
Richard Chuda

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