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Our Lady of Mercy Parish – Actions Taken To-Date on Some Comments/Suggestions Made at Koffee Klatches

Koffee Katches took place on June 26, August 14, September 25, 2016, and February 5, 2017. There were 111 attendees from seven (7) ministries: Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, Lectors, Presiders at Liturgy of the Word with Children, Holy Name Society, Rosary Society, Adult Music Ministry, and parents of Children’s Choir.

Each attendee completed a survey form. Suggestions/comments from these forms were summarized, and the parish acted on some of them, as follows:

1. ON COMMUNITY BUILDING

A) Encourage parishioners to actively participate in the community

i. Organized an OLM chapter of Jersey City Together, currently with 50 members

ii. Worked with Jersey City officials to resolve a safety and quality-of-life issue affecting our parishioners in Country Village and streets adjacent to it

iii. 75 Parishioners participated in 2nd Annual Great Jersey City Clean-Up of part of Ward A, including areas surrounding our parish, from Country Village to Kennedy Boulevard

iv. On May 13, twenty five parishioners removed the dark spots and cleaned the interior walls of our church

B) Greet parishioners as they come to Church

i. Guidelines given to Liturgical ministers and Holy Name Society greeters encourage this practice

C) Home and hospital visitations by priests and extraordinary ministers of holy communion

i. Parish bulletin and web site www.olmnj.org include information on how to request this ministry

D) More choir performances outside the parish

i. Outreach to St. Ann’s Nursing Home

ii. Choir sang at the Columbia Park Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony

E) Retreats

i. Fr. Tom Iwanowski conducted Lenten day of recollection attended by 60 parishioners

ii. 108 participants completed 5 sessions of Live Christ, Share Christ program

2. MINISTERS RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING

A. Contracts (1 or 2 years) so ministers don’t feel trapped

B. Removal of uncommitted ministers

i. 34 lectors and 60 extraordinary ministers of holy communion re-committed to a 2-year term
of service

ii. Those who did not submit recommitment forms are no longer scheduled to serve

C. Multiple ministries at the same mass

i. Guidelines for lectors, extraordinary ministers of holy communion, and choir members inhibit
them from serving multiple ministries at the same mass

ii. Schedules coordinated for liturgical ministers to avoid multiple ministries at the same mass

D. Annual training sessions

i. Lectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion 6 lectors and 24 extraordinary ministers of holy communion attended training at the Newark Archdiocese center

ii. Liturgy of the Word with Children – Sr. Sandi di Massi trained 9 presiders

iii. Altar Servers – Fr. Nol Docabo trained altar servers, including 11 new altar servers installed May 21

iv. Protecting God’s Children – Two presiders at LWC renewed their certification

E. Recruit more members/ Welcome new talents

i. 17 Health care professionals organized themselves into a Wellness Ministry with Kathleen Pormento as interim chairperson. Plans underway for Health Fair and Blood Drive on July 9.

ii. Music Ministry – added 3 new members to Adult Choir during current year. Recruitment will start
again mid-August. Recruitment for Children’s Choir will begin in September

iii. Liturgy of the Word with Children – added 3 presiders and a music minister

G. Change mass schedule during summer months

i. Change in weekend mass schedule currently under discussion

H. Proceed with Bible Study

i. 18 participants and 7 facilitators currently attend Great Adventure Bible Study for 14 sessions over
10 months

3. COMMUNICATIONS

A. Need better communication within and among ministries

i. OLM Web site
Redesigned the OLM web site for better aesthetics and to adapt to mobile Assigned a special section to “market” ministries
Allowed non-parishioners to register

ii Social Media (Facebook)
Established presence but still has to take full advantage of the platform

iii. Parish Bulletin
Redesigned to make it more enticing for people to take home and read
Made available for online downloading
Added pages for color and more information

B. More personal interaction with pastor

i. Koffee Klatches are on-going – personal conversations with pastor and other ministers

ii. More fellowships planned for the rest of the faith community

C. More open communications and suggestions

i. Parish bulletin includes announcement on a drop box for suggestions and questions.
To-date only prayer requests have been received.

D. Greater financial transparencies

i. Annual Financial Report for Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2016 distributed in August 2016

ii. Pastor’s column in parish bulletin includes answers to questions about financial condition of the
parish. Only three questions submitted thus far.

4. FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE PARISH

A. Increase current church revenue

B. Reduce historical debt to the Archdiocese

i. Registered OLM on smile.amazon.com charitable giving program. OLM parishioners can direct a percent age of their purchases as donation to the parish

ii. Task Force for Fund Raising was formed with 16 members; Alton de Castro is overall coordinator.
At their second meeting, the task force brainstormed on various activities that will generate
additional revenue for current operations. Suggestions generated by Koffee Klatch surveys addressing financial issues were turned over to the Task Force for action.

iii. Effective July 1, 2016 the Archdiocese out into place a arrangement to apply a portion of rental income from Starting Points to reduce OLM historical debt. Starting Points rents the school building formerly occupied by Our Lady of Mercy Academy.


The small number of respondents does not provide a representative sample of our whole parish. We would like to hear what the “silent majority” think and feel. A parish-wide survey will be released some time this year, and we hope every one participates then.

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New Parish Office Hours

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
9 am to 3 pm
Wednesday
9 am to 12 noon
Saturday & Sunday
9 am to 1 pm

Confessions Times
Monday through Friday
9 am to 9:30 am
Saturday
4 pm to 4:30 pm

Understanding Depression. The OLM Wellness Committee invites you to view a video featuring committee members and expert guests as they discuss depression and depressive symptoms. (Click here)

Flu Vaccine Q&A with Drs. Norie and Rey Ramos

Watch “Stress: A Discussion.” A series by OLM Wellness Ministry, Episode 2 | Episode 1


WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

To help keep you all moving, the OLM Wellness Ministry will be sharing exercise videos on Wednesdays that will help guide you through some exercises that you can do at home. (Watch the second video here). If you missed the first one, it’s here.

UPLIFTuesday

Shiloh Guanlao | Tiffany Liora Velarde | JJ Ohri | Jedrik Digao | Margarette Rivera | Alexandre Lewis Cheng | Kyle Arano | (Joachim Dalloran) | Mikaela Christie Catuncan | Rafael Reyes | Ysabelle Baculod | Zachary Zulueta| Julz Balbutin | Evan and Lauren Nguyen | Bridget Benoit | Gelayne Lim | Alyssa Bacay | Emily Gocon | Justin Nguyen | Tiffany Esteban

Our Lives At This Time

Previous Posts: Alain Aldea | Rey Ramos | Lambert Pitao | Angel Juan | Michael Rivera | Bobby del Rosario | Dominic Rivera | Jayvee Dacasin | Annjo Balbutin | Julie Nguyen | John Flora | Gigi Macalintal | Tina Lanting | Regina ‘Jeng’ Matias-Villa

Care For All God’s Creation

(The following reflection was written by Cardinal Tobin. It appeared in the September 11, 2020 issue of Rejoice in the Lord. The full text is available at www.rcan.org.)

Faith Formation

Faith Alive @ Home! A guide to family worship and family faith fun! (Click here)

The OLM Mission Statement

We, the faith community of Our Lady of Mercy Parish, joyfully and humbly seek to make our Lord Jesus Christ ever more real in our lives and in the lives of all people. We enliven our Mission by a commitment to Stewardship as a Way of Life. We strive to pursue our mission by being a welcoming community that provides a home for all and celebrates life, hope and reconciliation through WORD, WORSHIP and SERVICE.

Stewardship of Treasure: November 22, 2020

Thank you so much for your generosity.
December 13 Collection = $5,162

Thank you so much for your generosity and support!

Four Ways To Support Your Parish
You can support OLM when you shop at Amazon

Mass Schedule

WE HAVE RETURNED TO OUR USUAL DAILY MASS SCHEDULE

Monday through Friday 7:00 am & 8:30 am
Saturday 8:30 am

Saturday 5:00 pm
Sunday 8:00 am, 10:00 am, 12:00 noon

OLM MASSES ARE LIVESTREAMED
Sundays at 10 am
Monday – Saturday at 8:30 am
Go to olmnj.org and click on Facebook l Livestream

Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church • 40 Sullivan Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305 • Phone: 201-434-7500