Holy Ghost Crowthorne and Immaculate Conception Sandhurst
- Parish Pastoral Council -
Approved Minutes of the meeting of the
PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 17th January 2006 in the Holy Ghost Parish Rooms
Opening prayers
Present: Fr. Kevin Jones, Brenda Baigrie, Margaret Derlacki, Ann FitzPatrick (Vice-Chairperson), Lawrence Gaffney, Angela Greenwood, Shirley Hayden, Paul Page Tickell, Gerry Picozzi, Martin Stubbs, Mike Withers (Chairperson) (and Sue Niblett)
Prior to the start of the meeting, it was announced that, since the last meeting, Margaret Pearce had decided to step down from the Pastoral Council and her letter of retirement was read out. On behalf of the PPC, Father is to send a letter of thanks to Margaret. On Father's invitation, Lawrence Gaffney had agreed to fill the vacant position and he was welcomed to the meeting and introductions were made.
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies received from John Kavanagh and Aoife McLean.
2. Minutes of previous meeting
The Minutes of the meeting of 29 November 2005 were approved and signed by
the Chairman, subject to amendments to paragraph 12.5 Deaconate, to read -
"Diaconate" and change last line of paragraph to read "...........ongoing
formation and will soon be able to answer parishioners' questions on the subject"
3. Matters arising from previous Minutes
4.10 Parish Pilgrimage 2006 - progress still unknown. Ongoing enquiry.4.11 Churches Together in Sandhurst - Coffee Spot - is doing very well with good revenue compared to previous management. CTS has employed 2 fulltime paid staff at £7.50 per hour and is looking to the future with optimism.
4.15 Photos of PPC members - display boards are up but a photograph of Aoife is still awaited and Lawrence was asked to supply a photograph as soon as possible.
4.16.5 Liturgical Calendars - error on page 10 regarding date of "clocks go back". Should be 28/29 October (not the 21/22nd as printed).
5. Catechetical Co-ordinator (CC) - the Finance Committee agreed that the recruitment of a Catechetical Co-ordinator should not be considered until the Bishop's plans for the Diocese are known. An announcement will be made in the Newsletter to this effect. Plans to employ a Catechesis are also postponed.
9. Christmas Services 2006 -
Mass counts were taken at Christmas 2005 as follows :
Christmas Eve IC 5.30pm: 350, IC midnight: 154, HG midnight 194 Christmas Day IC:: 9.00am 225, HG: 11.00am 174
Total of 1097
Discussion followed as to the programme for Christmas Masses for 2006. Father Kevin suggested as follows and all agreed this was the way forward:
Christmas Eve Christmas Day Children's Mass IC — 5.30pm
'Midnight' Mass IC— 8.00pm
Midnight Mass HG —11.30pm
Family Mass IC — 9.00am Family Mass HG — 11.00am
10. Parish Information on Websites - Sue is continuing to monitor local websites containing information re the parish and advise any updates that may be necessary.
11. Diocesan Fair Trade Initiative - in support of Fairtrade Fortnight, Gerry will be running stalls at both churches after the weekend Masses on 11 and 12 March, and on 18 and 19 March. He has been given a budget of £200 to buy non-perishable Fairtrade produce to sell on and will prepare something appropriate to put into the Newsletter nearer the time. Offers of help were accepted from Shirley (6.00pm), Ann and Margaret (9.00am) and Brenda (11.00am). Our Lady's School will also be doing something to support Fairtrade but no details known at this stage.
12.1 Christmas 2005 - thanks to Aoife for playing the organ at Midnight Mass at Holy Ghost Church. Unfortunately, due to very bad weather, the CTC carol concert on Friday 2 December was over quicker than expected.
12.2 "General Instruction to the Roman Missal" - copies handed out to all. Sue to give one to John, one to Aoife and keep four spare in office. 2 copies of "Celebrating the Mass" are for John Butterworth, one for Bill Coleman and one spare.
12.6 Christmas get-together - Father was thanked for hosting the recent PPC social evening at the Holy Ghost. Shirley apologised for her absence due to a diary mix-up.
4. Parish Charities
Myanma, Burma
Father gave an update on the orphanage at Yangon, saying that they now had
enough money to build a wall around the kitchen garden. Father has mentioned
to Sister Ann that our parish might be able to send the children Christmas
gift shoeboxes. His idea is that Sister Ann gives us the names and ages of
each child. Parishioners could then draw lots for a name and supply a gift
box for that child. Anyone not getting a name could be asked to donate some
money towards shipment costs. John Grimes, who works for BA, is investigating
shipping possibilities via DHL, who have an office in Mandalay. Chris Jack,
who also works for BA and has helped with the Chidamoya project, says that
the airline will ship goods free of charge if those goods are for charitable
purposes. However, it is noted that BA do not currently fly to Mandalay, only
to Bangkok.
Chidamoya - Helen Diffenthal had organised some fundraising at Farnborough Sixth Form College that raised £200. Also, Reading Roadrunners has had Chidamoya as their charity for 2005 and raised around £10,000.
5. CRB Checks
The quarterly return needs to be returned to Deacon Nick Reynolds as soon
as possible and Shirley handed it over to Father for completion and signature.
All Eucharistic Ministers and anyone who is involved in the Children's Liturgy
Groups now have to be CRB checked. Sue to send forms out to all concerned.
Those people who have already been CRB cleared will need to supply their Certificate
number.
5a. Confirmation
The Confirmation Team will consist of Mike, Paul, Gareth Heard and Peter White.
It is hoped that two of the altar servers, Sean and Helen will also be able
to help. Much discussion followed as to who would lead the team, but left
unresolved. It was felt that six sessions for the candidates would be enough
to prepare them for Confirmation Day in June and that the format could be
similar to that of the Youth CaFE programme. Arrangements ongoing.
5b. CaFE
Mike and Gilly would like to run the next CaFE programme, to start during
Lent or immediately after Easter, and will discuss with Father how best to
proceed. Philip Owen, a St. Swithun's parishioner, is very keen to help; Shirley
has kindly agreed to take care of the refreshments; help would be available
from Paul. It was suggested that the sessions could run every Wednesday evening
at Sandhurst Parish Centre from 7.30pm for 7.45pm start, probably for six
weeks.
Mike advised that Corpus Christi parish is currently midway through its CaFE
programme and there are places available should anyone wish to attend. The
sessions are very well run and take place every Wednesday evening for the
next few weeks.
6. Parish Mission and Spiritual Direction of the Parish
Moving around the table, each PPC member read out the lists of duties they
currently undertake for the church community, adding anything that they felt
needed priority attention, with the points being raised prompting much discussion.
To move forward on this, Father Kevin and Sue will categorise and compile
the lists into a working document to be presented at the next meeting for
discussion. All members are asked to get their lists to Sue as soon as possible.
7. Any other business (this item was discussed before Item 6 at
Father's request).
7.1 Pastoral Letter "The time has come....follow me" - Father read out the Bishop's letter to the meeting. As requested by the Bishop, he will read it out at all Masses this coming weekend. The Bishop's Discussion Document is due out in February and he will need a response by 7 April.7.2 Father Kevin's proposed sabbatical - Father announced that he will be taking a Sabbatical from mid October for around seven months, when he will be working in a diocese in Christchurch, New Zealand. Father Adrian Walker, a retired priest who now lives in Maidenhead, will cover weekend Masses during his absence. Father Adrian may also celebrate two Masses during the week, probably on Tuesdays and Fridays. There is also a Burmese priest, Father Alphonse, who may be able to help with cover. He is currently awaiting clearance from his own Bishop and our Bishop Crispian. Father Kevin will inform the Finance Committee of his plans when he meets with them later this week. In the meantime and until Father has had the opportunity to inform the parishioners of his plans, he requested that the matter remain confidential.
7.3 Penitential Service - Gerry mentioned that he had tried in vain to get the times of other Penitential Services in and around the Parish. Father replied, in future, to make it more accessible, our Easter Penitential Service would be held on a Sunday afternoon at 3.00pm.
8. Date and time of next meeting
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 21 February at 7.30pm in the Holy Ghost
Parish rooms. Apologies noted from Ann.
Meeting closed at 10.00pm with the closing prayer
Distribution:
Father Kevin Jones Brenda Baigrie Margaret Derlacki
Ann FitzPatrick Lawrence Gaffney Angela Greenwood
Shirley Hayden John Kavanagh Aoife McLean
Paul Page Tickell Gerry Picozzi Martin Stubbs
Mike Withers