Holy Ghost Crowthorne and Immaculate Conception Sandhurst
- Parish Pastoral Council -
Minutes of the meeting of the PARISH PASTORAL
COUNCIL
held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 29th November 2005 in the Holy Ghost Parish Rooms
RC PARISH OF CROWTHORNE AND SANDHURST
Minutes of the meeting of the PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
held on Tuesday 29 November 2005 at 7.30pm in the Holy Ghost Parish Rooms
Opening prayers
Present: Fr. Kevin Jones, Brenda Baigrie, Margaret Derlacki, Ann FitzPatrick, Angela Greenwood, Shirley Hayden, Aoife McLean, Paul Page Tickell, Margaret Pearce, Gerry Picozzi, Mike Withers (Chairperson) (and Sue Niblett)
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies received from John Kavanagh and Martin Stubbs.
2. Election of Vice Chairperson
Ann FitzPatrick was unanimously elected as Vice Chairperson.
3. Minutes of previous meeting
The Minutes of the meeting of 27 September 2005 were approved and signed by
the Chairman, subject to the following amendments :
3.11 (AOB) Churches Together in Crowthorne to read
: "the monthly Sunday services at Pinehurst,
Home for the Elderly,
initiated and most frequently led by the Methodists are ongoing.
They start at 6.45pm.
David has provided a Catholic presence for some months and Mike
has offered to
help when it is our turn to lead, as have several other members of the PPC
and Parish."
7. Parish Mission and Spiritual Direction of
the Parish - second paragraph to read:
"Prompted
by a request from Father Kevin, Martin recounted a recent conversation
he had had with
an Australian Bishop he had met at Farnborough Abbey. They were
talking about
the problems currently being experienced within our parishes and the
Bishop said that
his aim in his diocese in Australia was to have a priest for every parish.
He explained that it
was difficult, with some parishes having to be combined, but it had been
done and it was working
well. The Bishop said that the idea of closing things down is so
negative, once a parish
is closed it proves very difficult to reopen it. In the Diocese
they pray for vocations
at every Mass and they do have priests. Their Seminaries now
have more students
than for some time in the past.
4. Matters arising from previous Minutes
5. First Holy Communion - after consulting
with the parents at a recent meeting it was
agreed that First Holy Communion
would be held at the Immaculate Conception Church next year.
There are currently 26 candidates.
9. Go Out and Bear Fruit - 40 parishioners travelled on the coach to Maidenhead to hear the Bishop launch the Diocesan Pastoral Plan on 13 October. It was estimated that there were around 500 people attending in total, the majority of them from Maidenhead. Wokingham parishioners had attended the event in Reading.
10. Parish Pilgrimage 2006 - progress unknown. Father will speak with Social Committee and Rupert Page to determine current situation.
11. Churches Together in Sandhurst
Coffee Spot - organisers are still desperately appealing for volunteers.
So far, from this Parish, Margaret Derlacki, Stella Mary FitzPatrick and Rebecca
and Paul Page Tickell have all helped out.
Joint Youth Group - has now started at the Coffee Spot and runs every Tuesday evening from 7.00 - 9.00pm. Some concern was expressed that our young people will not be able to attend Mass should they join weekends away with St. Michael's Church youth.
Joint Services - Father Kevin said that although it is too late to organise for this year, in future years it may be possible to host the Nine Carols and Lessons Service in the Immaculate Conception Church during the week immediately after Christmas.
15. Photos of PPC members - are now ready to be displayed in church porches. Sue to organise.
16.5 Liturgical Calendars - these are now ready and will be distributed immediately after Christmas. Thanks to Martin for organising these again this year, via St. Michael's Abbey.
5. Catechetical Coordinator (CC)
Six parishioners had responded to the announcement in the Newsletter that
the parish was considering employing a CC, all seeking assurance that the
Parish could afford to do so. Father Kevin said that until it is known what
changes are to be made across the Diocese in the coming year, following the
announcement of the Bishop's pastoral plan, it would not be prudent to employ
a CC at this stage. He suggested that consideration should be given to employing
just a Catechesis to co-ordinate the children's liturgy, First Holy Communion
and Confirmation. He would discuss both issues with the Finance Committee
at its next meeting.
6. Confirmation
The Bishop will be celebrating Confirmation on Wednesday 7 June 2006 at St.
Joseph's Church in Bracknell, although it has not yet been decided if our
candidates wish to join that group. The Confirmation leaders will meet in
mid January to finalise the details of the programme and present this to the
parents and candidates at a meeting to be scheduled for the end of January.
It will then be the decision of the parents and candidates as to where they
would like to be Confirmed. A weekend retreat may be included in the Confirmation
programme with the possibility of using Our Lady's School minibus.
7. Parish Mission and Spiritual Direction of the Parish
It was agreed that the workshops led by Lesley King had been very productive
and helpful. The Parish Mission Statement has been agreed as "Under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit and centred on the gospel of Jesus Christ, we
seek to build community by loving God and our neighbour." A lengthy discussion
followed as to what Lesley had been encouraging the PPC to do and how best
to do it. It was felt important that, to move forward, each member of the
PPC must first learn what his/her colleagues are already doing for the Parish.
In this respect, each member of the PPC is asked to prepare a list of what
he/she does within the church community and then add 5 more subjects which
they consider to be important for the Parish at this time. They are asked
to bring their list to the next PPC meeting with a brief explanation of each
point. This should help the PPC to move forward by categorising what needs
to be done and by whom. People can then be delegated to specific tasks and
be responsible for building a team of helpers around them. The aim is for
a total of 12 items to be identified as needing immediate action.
8. Parish Charities
Mike was pleased to report that Chidamoyo is very well supported locally with
committed monthly covenanted donations coming in from parishoners. The annual
return has been submitted to the Charities Commission for 2004/05.
A reply is still awaited from the Jesuit Missions.
Father Kevin reported that he visited three orphanages in Mandalay, plus St.
Joseph's Parish in Yangon, and they are desperate for help. The people understand
that education is the key to escaping from poverty but they are too poor to
send their children to school. They need money for education but also practical
help from builders and other tradesmen. Father Kevin will prepare a presentation
for the Parish in the New Year.
9. Christmas Services 2006
Father Kevin explained that the programme for next year's Christmas Masses
may have to change if Father Delaney is no longer able to help. His suggested
that the Masses might be as follows :
Immaculate Conception Church
Christmas Eve Children's Mass 5.30pm
Midnight Mass 8.30pm
Christmas Day Family Mass 9.00am
Holy Ghost Church
Christmas Eve Midnight Mass 11.30pm
Christmas Day Family Mass 11.00am
Mass counts will be taken at this year's Midnight Masses.
10. Parish Information on Websites
Parish information is out of date on several local websites. Sue to do a google
search on both churches to find websites involved and make necessary updates.
It was also advised that the parish website will be in 'simple mode' (that
is just showing basic parish information) around 18 December because Martin
is away, although the times of the Christmas Masses will be listed.
11. Diocesan Fair Trade Initiative
The Parish has now joined the Fairtrade initiative and copies of our Certificate
of Registration are displayed at both churches. We are committed to using
Fairtrade tea and coffee at all future church meetings and to using or promoting
other Fairtrade products whenever possible. Fairtrade Fortnight will run from
6-19 March 2006 and Gerry will be running a stall during that time selling
a wide range of products. Shirley and Margaret kindly agreed to help with
this. Gerry will also attend the Diocesan Fairtrade Conference in Reading
on 4 February.
12. Any other business
12.1 Christmas 2005 - Aoife will be playing the organ at Midnight
Mass at Holy Ghost Church this year because David Greenwood is away. It was
suggested that members of the PPC might like to be greeters at the Christmas
Masses.
CTC will be holding a carol concert on Friday 2 December between 7.00 - 8.00pm outside the Baptist Church and another on Saturday 17 December at 10.00am outside Somerfield, for one hour. Sue to publicise in Newsletter.
12.2 General Instruction to the Roman Missal - Mike is holding Father Kevin's copy of this and has ordered another 15.
12.3 Sandhurst Civic Service of Remembrance - Mike had represented the Parish at this service. He has since received a letter of thanks to himself and the Parish from Councillor Diana Pidgeon.
12.4 CTC - has plans to hire a youth representative to go into local secondary schools to teach Christianity. It may be possible for CTS to 'share' this individual.
12.5 Deaconate - Paul thanked Ann for the Deaconate item in the Christmas edition of the Parish Magazine. He will be receiving Candidacy from the Cardinal, at Wonnersh, on Sunday 4 December at 1.00pm. The PPC was reminded that it needs to prepare a reference for Paul by July 2006. Paul indicated that he would be pleased to give a presentation on the Deaconate to the PPC is they so wished, with guidance notes for ongoing formation. Meanwhile, Shiela Isted, Rita Paxton, Mike and Gilly Withers, Dave Robinson and Rosemary Smith have all been helping Paul with his ongoing formation and are able to answer parishioners' questions on the subject.
12.6 Christmas get-together - there will be a social evening for all members of the PPC, together with their partners, on Friday 6 January in the Holy Ghost parish rooms from 7.30pm. Father Kevin will supply the wine but everybody is asked to bring a plate of food to share.
13. Date and time of next meeting
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 17 January at 7.30pm in the Holy Ghost
Parish rooms.
Meeting closed at 9.33pm.
Closing prayer
Distribution:
Father Kevin Jones Brenda Baigrie Margaret Derlacki
Ann FitzPatrick Angela Greenwood Shirley Hayden
John Kavanagh Aoife McLean Paul Page Tickell
Margaret Pearce Gerry Picozzi Martin Stubbs
Mike Withers