Mr. Ritchie Self & Co. (Self Floor Service) finished sanding and refinishing the floor of Nativity of Our Lady Church at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, 2014. The pictures above are from the afternoon of June 19.

Southeast Church Furniture delivered our refinished pews on the morning of Friday, June 20 and began reinstalling them. We will post more pics soon.

The Bishop's Annual Appeal is an ordinary - and important - part of the financing of the Diocese of Savannah. Many of the basic ministries of the diocese depend on the Appeal, for example:

• Education and catechesis of our children - in Catholic schools, parish programs, etc.
• Family life programs such as marriage preparation, outreach to the divorced, Rachel's Vineyard and more.
• Support for rural missions and outreach initiatives to build up the Catholic Church in Georgia.
• Education for the 15 seminarians now studying for the diocese of Savannah.

About 55 parishioners attended the Nativity Town Hall Meeting on Saturday evening, February 15, 2014. There was a positive attitude in the hall as we worked through an ambitious agenda.

1. REPORTS - click here to read the full council and committee reports
2. BLESSING OF THE FLEET - weekend of April 11-13 (info) - there was general agreement that we will do food sales the morning of Saturday, Apr. 12, probably some kind of take-away. The Pastoral Council will appoint a planning committee to work out the details at its March 9th meeting.
3. FLOOR AND PEW RENOVATION - The Building & Maintenance Committee explained plans to renovate the church's interior. Starting the week of June 1, the pews will be removed and the floor sanded, stained and finished. (Projected cost: app. $12,000) At the same time, we hope to have the pews renewed in the same way. We have not yet received any bids for this, but presume it will be comparable to the floor project. All this means that we will not have access to our church building or between one and three Sundays. MASS OF PENTECOST, JUNE 9, WILL BE OUTDOORS AT THE RIVER! Additional Masses will be celebrated in the Hall. Nota bene: we need to start brainstorming about renovation and enlargement of the parish hall as well.
4. BISHOP'S ANNUAL APPEAL - after watching the Bishop's video announcing the appeal, we reviewed last year's very successful drive (145% of goal, 83% participation) and looked at this year's goal. BAA GOAL FOR 2014: $9587.
5. FRANCISCAN FRIARS LEAVING THE GOLDEN ISLES - Fr. Bob made the sad announcment that the Province of Our Lady of Consolation of the Conventual Franciscans (OFM Conv.), which has staffed Nativity for more than 20 years, will close its friary community in Brunswick this summer. Frs. Wilfrid, Chuck and Bob will all be leaving Georgia for other assignments. The Franciscans are working with the bishop to ensure a priest for Nativity.
6. A PROPOSAL FROM THE PASTORAL COUNCIL - The Council proposes that the people of Nativity set as a goal for themselves to be established as a full parish by the year 2020, which is Nativity's 75th Anniversary of existence. There are many reasons for this desire: we are growing in every way, already now we are bigger than many other parishes of the diocese, and we have potential for more growth. Alone in McIntosh County there are more than 400 Roman Catholics. We wish to shoulder our responsibilities as the People of the Church, doing our share to make Catholicism a reality. We want our community to grow in grace and holiness before the Lord! There was strong support for this proposal at the Town Hall Meeting. Please note - this discussion was only advisory, to sound out the feelings, hopes and ideas of the parishioners. We do not intend in any way to short circuit the authority of our bishop, rather, we wish to help him grow his diocese. We understand that being erected as a canonical parish is absolutely no guarantee that the bishop can find a pastor for the parish!
7. PASTORAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS - click here for a PowerPoint summary of the process - click here for a more complete presentation of the rules and procedures, taken from our by-laws

All committee reports for tomorrow's Annual Meeting were submitted as MS PowerPoint presentations. Here is the combined report, including reports submitted by

• The Pastoral Council
• The Finance Council
• The Liturgy Commission
• The Building & Maintenance Committee
• The Catechetical Group (religion teachers)

This shows what a vibrant parish community Nativity is!

Nativity's Pastoral Council met on January 9, 2014. We hereby invoke a Nativity Town Hall Meeting on Saturday, February 15, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. - that is, after the 5:00 Mass - in the Parish Hall. This will serve as our general assembly or annual meeting.

The Parish Town Hall Meeting is a chance for the whole parish to hear what's going on, to contribute ideas, to make constructive criticism and to ask critical questions. The 5 central committees of the parish (Pastoral Council, Finance Council, Liturgical Commission, Building Committee and Catechist Group) will account for their stewardship in 2013. Future plans will be revealed and several big proposals will be laid on the table. You definitely do not want to miss this! (The agenda will be published at this link)

Here are some other highlights from the January meeting:

• The 2014 Bishop's Annual Appeal (BAA) begins in a few weeks! We talked about how we can run that campaign.
• First Communions will be celebrated on Mother's Day, May 11, 2014. This will involve our catechists, our Liturgy Commission, and many other people. The Pastoral Council will handle the reception as well as the recognition of the mothers of the parish.
• Confirmation will be on Thursday, May 29, 2014 (Ascension Thursday) at 7:00 p.m. This celebration will also involve the whole parish. We encourage as many parishioners as possible to participate together with our confirmands and our bishop. The Pastoral Council will plan the day's events before and after the liturgy itself, as well as coordinate the meeting with the bishop.
• Pentecost is on June 8. We propose an OUTDOOR MASS followed by a PARISH PICNIC. The Liturgical Commission will continue the planning.
• The Building & Maintenance Committee presented its plans for redoing the floor of the church. It's a big project and will require the we celebrate Mass elsewhere for several Sundays. After some discussion, we decided to begin the project in June of this year. This gives the B&M Committee, the Finance Council, the Liturgy Commission and the Parish Office time to prepare. (There will be more about this at the Town Hall Meeting)
• We also began planning our participation at this year's Blessing of the Fleet. Our proposal will be given at the Town Hall Meeting.

Pastoral Council

The Diocese of Savannah is trying to improve its stewardship of resources. As part of this, several parishes and Catholic schools will be audited each year. Nativity of Our Lady was one of the first to be looked at by the new diocesan team, together with St. Francis Xavier Parish and St. Francis Xavier Catholic School in Brunswick.

The auditing team spent three days in August in Darien, looking over everything. They spent several weeks in Brunswick, where most of Nativity's records are stored.  This was a "structural and procedural audit", looking at how we do things. The Draft Report was sent to the Finance Council on December 18. The Council held an initial meeting on December 19 with Mr. Jon Bokina, Diocesan Audit Manager. We have held several meetings since.

Here are some highlights from the report.

The audit made many concrete suggestions. The diocese suggests, among other things, that:

• We look at using an envelope system for the collection
• We improve the security of how we handle the collection after Mass
• We streamline the way we do the counting on Monday
• We make a three year plan (extended budget)
• The Finance Council look at all Letters of Employment and ensure compliance with all laws and policies
• Written policies be developed and published

In the coming weeks, the Finance Council volunteers will be working extra hard to digest the audit report, write our response and implement any improvements. We will present a much better picture of things at the Nativity Town Hall Meeting on February 15.

The Finance Council

At today's Finance Council meeting, we:

1. Reviewed the statements for October and November. For July-November 2013, total income was $61,056.43 (budget: $50,385), total expenses were $49,037.55 (budget $50,385).
   
2. Prepared a draft Letter of Agreement between St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church for the Disposition of Fr. Bob's Time and Salary. Since 2011, Nativity parish has paid 100% of the administering priest's salary, but was only entitled to a fraction of his time. The bishop's office has asked the two parishes to work out a more equitable agreement.
   
3. Reviewed the Letter of Employment for the parish secretary/office manager. Her number of hours per week has been increased.
   

The Finance Council

Dear parishioners,

There's lots of things going on! Here is an overview of this week's events at Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church:

Saturday, December 7, 2013 -

• Feast of St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church
• Pearl Harbor Day
• Red Door Yard Sale, 9:00 - 2:00
• Confessions at 4:00 p.m.
• MASS at 5:00 p.m.
• Coastal Cuisine & Wines of the World Fundraiser for SFX School - St. William's on SSI - 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, December 8, 2013 -

• Second Sunday of Advent
• Liturgical Theme: HOPE
• MASS at 10:00 a.m.
• FLETC Mass at 4:00 p.m.

Monday, December 9, 2013 -

• Solemnity of Mary's Immaculate Conception, Patronal Feast of the USA
• Office Hours 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• MASS at 7:00 p.m.
• Note: the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is transferred to Dec. 9th this year; for Catholics it is the patronal feast of the United States of America; it is not a holy day of obligation this year.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013 -

• Confirmation Preparation at 5:00 (please note new time!)
• Pastoral Council meeting? Or will this meeting be moved to Dec. 17?

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 -

• Memorial of St. Damasus
• Open Church 9:00 to 3:00
• Finance Council meeting at 9:30 a.m.
• Office Hours 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Fr. Bob's office hours, 11:00 to 2:00

Thursday, December 12, 2013 -

• Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of All the Americas
• Spanish Mass for OL Guadalupe at SFX Church, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, December 13, 2013 -

• Feast of St. Lucy
• Office Hours 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Theology for Young Catholics, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Topic: the Occult

Saturday, December 14, 2013 -

• Memorial of St. John of the Cross
• Confessions at 4:00 p.m.
• MASS at 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 15, 2013 -

• Third Sunday of Advent
• Liturgical Theme: JOY
• MASS at 10:00 a.m.
• FLETC Mass at 4:00 p.m.