Role of the Regional Council
The Council is responsible for coordinating the development of pastoral plans and then overseeing and guiding the implementation of approved pastoral plans.  More specifically, the Council:

• Provides a coordinating infrastructure for facilitating/guiding implementation of the pastoral plan
• Provides support for each other’s programs and reinforces “collaborative” thinking throughout all of the parishes and faith communities
• Coordinates a continuous planning process for the parishes/faith communities in the Chemung-Schuyler planning group
• Reviews other major issues for any further initiatives or recommendations that should be considered
• Facilitates frequent and thorough communication and collaboration among the parishes/faith communities
• Creates a mindset for collaboration by supporting and learning from collaborative undertakings.

Member Communities
The Chemung-Schuyler Regional Council is composed of representatives from the following communities:

• Blessed Sacrament Parish with worship sites at:
  • St. Patrick’s, Elmira
  • Sts. Peter and Paul, Elmira
• Christ the Redeemer Parish with worship sites at:
  • Our Lady of Lourdes, Elmira
  • St. Casimir, Elmira
  • St. Charles Borromeo, Elmira Heights
• St. Mary’s Southside, Elmira
• St. Mary Our Mother, Horseheads
• Schuyler Catholic Community with worship sites at:
  • St. Mary of the Lake, Watkins Glen
  • St. Benedict, Odessa
• If the need warrants, slots for other Catholic faith based groups can be added if approved by the consensus of the standing members of the council.

Council Membership
The Regional Council is composed of the following:

• The Pastor/Pastoral Administrator of each parish or cluster in the planning group
• One representative from each individual worship site or parish (as appropriate), preferably a pastoral council member
• A representative from Holy Family Schools, ex-officio
• The planning group liaison, ex-officio

Representatives are selected by the Pastor/Pastoral Administrator with input from the appropriate Parish Pastoral Council and parish staff members.

Terms are three years and staggered so that Council membership rotates.  Any vacancies are filled by the appropriate Pastor/Pastoral Administrator.

Officers
The Regional Council has two officers, a chairperson and a vice chairperson, both lay people, who are selected at the last meeting of the spring for the coming year.

The chairperson is responsible for:

• Organizing and coordinating the agenda and processes of the Council
• Chairing and facilitating the meetings of the Council
• Encouraging members and committees of the Council to fulfill their specific responsibilities and delegations
• Establishing an ongoing process of evaluation of the Council’s effectiveness
• Maintaining communication with the Diocese through the planning group liaison
• Ensuring communication of council proceedings, as appropriate, to parish leadership, staff, and membership.

The vice chairperson presides over the Council in the absence of the chairperson and accepts responsibilities which the chairperson delegates.

Someone will be assigned to take minutes for each meeting of the Council.  The chair will send minutes to Regional Council members and to the liaison from the Catholic schools

Meetings
The Regional Council will meet a minimum of four times per year.  Its annual meeting calendar will be determined prior to the fall of each year.  Responsibilities for opening prayer and taking/disseminating minutes will be rotated among the members.

Amendments
This charter can be amended by consensus of the membership of the Regional Council.

The Catholic Church sees marriage as a sacrament and holds it in high regard.  Marriage is a sacred event and a lifelong commitment.  For this reason the Catholic Church requires marriage preparation.  In each diocese and even each parish the requirements and expectations can be a little different so it is important that you check with the parish where you would like to get married as soon as you decide to get married.  The guidelines for marriage in the Diocese of Rochester can be found on the diocesan website under “Living and Learning Your Faith” in the Sacraments section.

Generally speaking the requirements consist of a Pre-Cana Retreat, FOCCUS questionnaire, and meeting with the priest, deacon, or a parish staff member.  None of this is meant to be a test to determine if you should be “allowed” to marry.  All of the preparation is meant to help you prepare for a lifelong commitment.  This means you should be talking to each other about important issues.  It does not necessarily mean you agree on everything.  For instance, you should have an idea of how many children you would like to have but not necessarily an exact number.  But you should know if your future spouse wants a couple of children or several children.

Most of the marriage preparation work will be done at the parish where you will be married or live.  The one exception may be the Pre-Cana Retreat.  Not every parish hosts its own retreat.  If you live in our area (Chemung and Schuyler Counties) there are generally three retreat opportunities.  Typically, there are two in Elmira (one in the Fall and one in the late Winter/early Spring) and the Schuyler Catholic Community hosts one each year.  You can also make your retreat at another parish and present the certificate of completion to your wedding presider.  The diocese maintains a list of upcoming retreats at http://www.dor.org/ec/documents/ParishBasedMP1010.pdf

There is one last important thing to consider.  If you have been married before and do not already have an annulment you need to contact your parish immediately.  Depending on the circumstances of your previous marriage it can anywhere from a month for a ‘Declaration of Lack of Form’ to over a year for an ‘Annulment’.  So it is important that you begin this process as soon as possible.  If you were married before, you cannot marry in the Catholic Church without first obtaining the declaration of lack of form or an annulment.

For Further Reading

Marriage Guidelines for the Diocese of Rochester

“Pre-Cana:  Marriage Preparation”.  Renewal of Faith, September 27, 2009.  Available online at http://www.renewaloffaith.org/ls/marriage/precana.htm.

“The Sacrament of Marriage”.    At Renewal of Faith, September 27, 2009.  Available online at http://www.renewaloffaith.org/ls/marriage/marriage.htm.

“Annulment FAQ’s” Diocese of Rochester.  Available online at http://www.dor.org/tribunal/faq.htm.

People don’t come to church for a variety of reasons.  Some have never been to church so they don’t understand anything about church.  Some were taken by their parents to church when they were little but as soon as they were allowed to choose for themselves they stopped going.  Others go to church for a while but then lives get busy and getting to church becomes more difficult so they come less and less often till they don’t come at all.  Some stop coming because of a bad experience with the church.  Others stop coming because they feel let down by God.

Yet, for many of these people, the seed of faith remains alive in their hearts.  The strongest evidence for this is that in most churches attendance rises tremendously at Christmas and Easter.  Christmas and Easter help make us aware of God.  Throughout the year God is with us yet we might only be aware of God’s presence at Christmas and Easter.

God doesn’t fit the secular mentality of “What’s in it for me?”  For these people life can be all about materialism, owning a nice home, nice cars, and lots of things.  Yet, even if we have all these things we still have not found fulfillment.  God calls us to care about others and to know the Lord.

What brings you happiness?  Do you feel something is missing in your life? 

Some parts of secular society are beginning to realize that “it isn’t all about me” and they want to work to help others.  Helping others can help us find happiness because it is something we are meant to do.

Yet, even that is not enough.  We are created in God’s image and thus are naturally drawn to God.  We cannot find true fulfillment without God.

Where do you stand in this?  If you have read this far we suspect you realize that there has to be something more to life than what you know now?  So what now?

How about coming to church?  Sunday Masses (see Mass Schedule) are offered at several times including Sunday night at 5 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church in Elmira. 

Does the thought of coming to church seem intimidating? 

The first thing to realize is that no matter what your story is you are welcome in our churches.  Yet, even if you feel welcome it can still difficult to feel like you get something out of coming to church if you don’t understand what is going on.

There are two different cases to look at.  First are those who have never been to a Catholic Church and secondly are those of you who went to church years ago but it all seems so foreign now.

For those who have never been to a Catholic Church but are now interested we have had for a number of years a process called RCIA, which stands for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, to help you learn the beliefs of the Catholic Church.  Generally, RCIA begins in September with weekly group sessions to learn about the church and our practices.  The group meets until Easter.  There is no obligation at the beginning to become Catholic but if you carry the process to completion you will be baptized or received into the Church at Easter.

The second category is those of you who used to come to church but for whatever reason stopped going but now you are ready to return.  Yet, when you return you might feel like you don’t understand what is going on in church.  In fact this is the reason that many people stop coming; lack of understanding.  There has been no formal process to welcome back Catholics who haven’t been coming.  All you have to do is come.  If you are aware of serious sins in your past you should go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (aka Confession).  Of course, that too can be an intimidating experience.  Be honest with the priest and they will help you through the Confession.

You could call the parish office and ask to meet with a priest or a staff member about coming back to church.  Some parishes, like St. Mary’s Southside, are beginning to offer evening gatherings for those who have been away from the church to welcome them back and to answer your questions.

We hope you will join us soon at one of our churches (check out our parish links).  May God grant you a prayerful and compassionate heart.

Peace.

• Those who were never baptized
• Those who were baptized in another Christian Denomination who now wish to become Catholic
• Those who were baptized Catholic but then never attended religion classes

Each parish can be a little different but generally RCIA begins meeting in September and meets weekly until Easter.  We tend to call them RCIA classes but it is not meant to be a traditional classroom with weekly quizzes and a final.  The purpose of RCIA is to instruct the people in the basic beliefs of the Catholic faith.  The classes are done in small groups and part of the gift of the process can be sharing with others in the group as you go through the process together.  Generally, people who begin RCIA have had some exposure to the Catholic Church but it starts with the assumption that the people do not know much about the Catholic faith.  Throughout the year topics like the Communion of Saints, how the church is organized, the Bible, Mary, and the Sacraments are covered.  RCIA does NOT teach you everything you should know about the Catholic Church and its beliefs in God.  It does provide a solid foundation of what it means to be Catholic.  

Because RCIA begins with the idea that the person does not know much about the Catholic Church there is no obligation to continue the process to Easter.  While most people do choose to continue the process and to be received into the Church at Easter you are free to stop so don’t be afraid to start.

As one goes through the RCIA process there are various “rites” such as the Rite of Acceptance, the Rite of Election, and, of course, the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  By “rites” we mean a short series of prayers, perhaps a reading from scripture, often done at Mass, for the participants.

The Rite of Acceptance is an acceptance that one has begun to learn about the Catholic faith and wishes to continue to learn.  The Rite of Election is a further profession of faith as one nears the Easter Vigil and begins to deepen in faith and to practice that faith.

At the Easter Vigil, the person is then baptized (if not already baptized), received into the church, confirmed, and receives their first Communion in the Catholic Church.  These Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Communion (Eucharist) are the Sacraments of Initiation.

This may sound complicated but it really is fairly simple and you don’t have to know about all the steps to begin with.  Each parish will have an RCIA Coordinator who will walk with you through the process of becoming Catholic.  All you need to begin is a desire to discover God and deepen your relationship with Jesus.

One final note – The process is called the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.  We would be remiss if we did not speak about children becoming Catholic.  If a child is under seven years of age, they would receive the Sacrament of Baptism and begin religion class at the normal age (If they are five or six years old there may need to be some catch-up instruction).  If the child is over the age of seven, they would enter the Rite of Christian Initiation for Children (RCIC) and receive age appropriate religious instruction over the same period from September to Easter.  The process is basically the same as for adults but done in an age appropriate way.  After Easter, the child would begin attending the regular parish religion classes in their regular school grade.

So if you, or someone you know, is interested in becoming Catholic, we encourage you to find your local parish and contact the RCIA Coordinator to learn more about becoming Catholic.