Parish Pastoral Minutes
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
In Attendance: 9
For Parish Council: Father Showreddy, Father Eustace, Ja-Deen Johnson, Theresa Roberts, Maria Hartman, Connie Merkel, Amberlie O’Toole, Bobby Eicholtz, Steve Looney
The meeting was called to order.
Father Showreddy opened the meeting with scripture and with prayer.
A motion was made to approve the council minutes. Minutes were seconded and approved.
Pastor’s Report from Father Showreddy:
• Confirmation is tomorrow.
• This coming Friday seminarians from the archdiocese will hold a holy hour at St. Barnabas. Father Mike Keucher will be presiding. This will take the place of the first Thursday holy hour.
• Sunday there will be a Corpus Christi procession after the Sunday 11 AM Mass.
• The Feast of St. Barnabas is June 11th. Father will discuss ideas for this at the staff meeting tomorrow.
• Father shared that priests and bishops would like parishes to offer a ministry or program pertaining to miscarriage. Madison Steffel has approached Father regarding starting a ministry for those that experience infertility so he thought that these two ministries could pair together. This ministry would be focused on spirituality and praying together, not on medical needs. Participants would meet to discuss the book “Under the Laurel Tree”. The idea would be to meet for an hour in the evening every 1-2 weeks. Amberlie offered to share with other south deanery parishes to promote.
• We will have a Novena for the Sacred Heart starting tomorrow and leading up to a consecration for our country to the sacred heart of Jesus.
• Pope Leo XIV has declared this year the “Year of St. Francis” after the 800th anniversary of the passing of St. Francis of Assisi. Sites that people may visit and receive a plenary indulgence include Saints Francis and Clare in Greenwood and the chapel at Franciscan Hospital.
Principal’s Report:
Dr. Annette Jones is the new principal. Her email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to be added to communication. Her official first day is July 1, but she has been working in the background, hiring school staff.
Financial Report:
• Ja-Deen shared cash is still strong. Tithing is still a little bit ahead of budget for the year.
• Covenant Renewal submissions have slowed. We received less than anticipated, about 350. School families will still be sending theirs in since those will be required.
• We have received 269 Choice applications. About 110 more have yet to complete theirs.
Operations:
• Our parking lot is getting resurfaced. It is going quicker than anticipated. The front lot will be sealed and then they will start the striping.
• Ja-Deen asked Bobby if he saw any reason that the small drive in the back lot (where a house formerly sat) needs to be redone. Bobby didn’t see a need for it.
• Two roof projects are completely done. We will be looking at one more. Water was leaking in the principal's office.
• Doors are up in the school entrance hallway. An extra set was added. These will be fobbed and will get film installed on them. The new doors will add an extra level of security.
Open Positions:
• We have received 3 resumes from qualified applicants for the faith formation position.
• For the facilities position, 40 resumes have been received. A hiring committee has been established and interviews will be starting soon.
• Ja-Deen said Tina is asking for volunteers for hospitality for confirmation at the Cathedral tomorrow.
Faith Formation:
• Maria shared that they had a meeting on May 12th
• Tanya Pongracz’s position oversaw adult faith formation. Bridgett Mason, coordinator of Children’s faith formation, has accepted a teacher position here at the school. The new position will be a Director of Faith Formation. This person will be coordinating faith formation for children and adults.
• Religious ed. this year went well. They suggest looking at all non-school families to see if they are reaching everyone. They only had 17 participants this year in K-8.
• Maria mentioned Bridgett brought up the idea of changing the date or time, but the current families are happy with the current time.
• First Holy Communion was on May 9th and went well.
• Adult volunteers are still needed for VBS. At the time of the meeting, 85 kids had signed up to attend.
• They talked about reviving the Ministry Fair. The FF Commission feels the fair would involve all the parish so more would be needed to plan.
• It was decided that Confirmation will fall under Tina’s duties since it would be a lot for the FF Director with the Easter Vigil, First Holy Communion and VBS falling around the same time.
Outreach:
• Connie shared that the Garden Blessing was held and they partnered with Frieden’s for this, with their pastor attending.
• A Gabriel Project baby item drive was held in May. Many baby items were collected, including several bigger items.
• There will be a Christmas in July Food Pantry Drive the last weekend of July; Staple pantry items will be requested.
• Our Mission trips are coming up in June with two different weeks. Two groups will be going out west. Some individuals will do both weeks. The Prayers of the faithful will include prayers for the mission trip each week and a prayer has been included in the bulletin. Attendees of the mission have expanded beyond St. Barnabas parishioners. Family groups are now going.
• Scott from Immaculate Heart spoke with Outreach at their meeting about the Streets to Home Indy. This initiative, funded by city and philanthropic groups and companies, works to get people out of homeless camps into living spaces. Outreach is hoping to get involved and find ways to help.
• In the past 3-4 months, HOOP has seen a decrease in the number of people at the homeless camps. They only saw 32 people the last time they went out.
Men’s Club:
• Bobby shared that the Men's Club had a meeting on the last day of school.
• He proposed that Men’s Club President, Chris Hasse, attend our next meeting to speak about the proposed festival since the council had a long list of questions. Parish Council was in favor of this. Bobby asked that Chris be able to talk first at the meeting so that he can leave after his part.
• Ja-Deen approved Men’s Club to have electrical work done to run new electrical for the athletic field scoreboard that wasn’t working. A parishioner is donating services and time for this.
• Men’s Club members are working on a proposal for Marian University to seek sponsorship for the scoreboard.
• A Contractor is being sought to get the basketball goals fixed in the gym.
• The Crows nest on the field is falling apart. This will need to be repaired.
• There have been talks of building a shed to house concessions and men’s club items near the field.
Father Showreddy closed the meeting by leading us in prayer.
The next Parish Council Meeting will be 6/23 at 6:30 pm in the Hope Center. (added note after meeting adjourned, this date is in the process of being moved due to priests’ conflicts)