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 21st February 2006 in the Holy Ghost Parish Rooms
Opening prayers led by Mike Withers
Present: Fr. Kevin Jones, Brenda Baigrie, Margaret Derlacki, Lawrence Gaffney, Angela Greenwood, Shirley Hayden, John Kavanagh, Aoife McLean, Paul Page Tickell, Martin Stubbs, Mike Withers (Chairperson) (and Sue Niblett)
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies received from Ann FitzPatrick (Vice-Chairperson), and Gerry Picozzi.
2. Minutes of previous meeting
The Minutes of the meeting of 29 November 2005 were approved and signed by
the Chairman, subject to amendments and the following corrections:
4.16.5 Liturgical Calendars - re "clocks go forward", page 3 of calendar is correct. Error is on page 10 re "clocks go back". Should read weekend of 28-29 October.
5b. CaFE - delete "Angela could be the Facilitator".
11. Diocesan Fair Trade Initiative - stalls will also run on the weekend of 18 and 19 March.
3. Matters arising from previous Minutes
4.15 Photos of PPC members - Paul is to email Aoife's photo to Mike who will then forward it onto Sue, together with the photo of Lawrence.
4. Parish Charities :
Myanma (Burma) – Father reported that Sister Ann is very happy with how the parish is trying to help and will be sending us the names and ages of the children, who are between 2 - 18 years. It is noted that no sweets are allowed in gift boxes. Father will stop off at Myanma on his way to New Zealand in October. He will take money to them and check up on how it is being spent. £1000 has already been sent from the Parish, which will be spent on the new wall. Another £500, from Our Lady's School, has been sent to the orphanages and the school has already collected another £180. Father confirmed that donations could be gift-aided as long as the donor's number is clearly marked on the envelope.5. CRB Checks - ongoing. Father Kevin to check status of Nick Reynolds. It is possible he has resigned. Gareth Heard and Paul have completed their CRB forms.
Chidamoyo - Gilly and Mike were presented with a cheque for £19,000 at a recent dinner/dance, which is enough money to rebuild the Medical Centre in one go. As much stock as possible will be bought in the U.K. and shipped out.
5b. CaFE - as Gilly and Mike are both involved in the Confirmation programme, it has been decided to defer the CaFE programme until after Confirmation is completed, around mid June. However, Mike advised that Wokingham parish are running their third CaFE session on Saturday 11 March and there are 10 places available. He circulated details around the table. Once the PPC have responded, he will offer places to the Confirmation Team and then to parishioners via the Newsletter. There is a cost, which includes meals, but it is possible that the parish could pay.
4. Parish Mission and Move Forward
The lists prepared by each PPC member had been combined into one working paper,
in turn being divided into seven distinct headings : Liturgy, Justice and
Peace, Youth, Social and Communication, Outreach, Catachesis and Mission.
This paper was circulated to all, with Father Kevin requesting that everyone
takes a quiet five minutes to read through it, give it some thought and then
write one single word against each heading that epitomises the meaning of
that heading. The papers were collected back once everybody had read out their
individual responses and they will be combined and presented at the next meeting
for ongoing discussion.
Mike read out the expanded Parish Mission Statement he had drafted, which he had previously emailed to all. Comments to be sent to Mike for redraft in time for next meeting.
Mike urged PPC to read thoroughly the LPA Discussion Document. He also encouraged everyone to try and speak with as many people as possible, in this parish and others, to get their views on the proposals. Paul has already spoken informally with other trainee Deacons and Mike has had discussions with friends at Bracknell. Father Kevin has already had a meeting with other local priests and read out the minutes of that meeting.
5. Parish Forum
It was agreed that a Parish Forum would be held on Sunday 19 March at Our
Lady's School. The purpose of the Forum will be to help parishioners understand
what the long-term implications of Larger Pastoral Areas might be and also
to explain to them what work the PPC does and what the Parish is involved
in. It would also be a good opportunity to explain the Parish Mission Statement.
Again, PPC members were asked to look again at the LPA Discussion Document
to get a complete understanding of its implications, so that everyone is better
able to discuss the matter fully with parishioners'.
Assuming the school will be available, the 11.00am Sunday Mass will be held there, followed immediately by the Forum. This will allow room for as many parishioners as possible to attend. The 9.00am Mass will be cancelled, as will Benediction at 3.00pm. The 6.00pm Vigil Mass will be held as normal. All PPC members are expected to attend the Forum and they are asked to strongly encourage all parishioners to do likewise. An announcement will be put in this week's Newsletter so that parishioners have as much notice as possible. Father Kevin will lead a steering group comprising Lawrence (Chairperson), Margaret and Angela.
Once all ideas and input from parishioners have been recorded, a parish response to the Bishop will be prepared. The deadline for the Bishop to receive our response is Friday 7 April 2006.
6. Confirmation
Katharine FitzPatrick has kindly agreed to organise and co-ordinate the programme.
The Confirmation Team will comprise Gilly, Mike, Paul, Gareth Heard and Peter
White, supported by junior catechists - Helen Carr, Sean Grimes and Fiona
Sherren. It will be a six- part programme based on "Youth Café",
with an away-day at Our Lady's School, plus rehearsal date.
The minimum age for the candidates should be 13 because of the content of some of the sessions. Applications from younger children will be considered and discussed with their parents before they are accepted onto the course. St. Joseph's Church is planning a pilgrimage to Lourdes for its Confirmation candidates which we could join and this will also be mentioned to the parents.
Parents and candidates will be given the opportunity to decide when and where they would like the Confirmation to be held. The options are : Wednesday 7 June at St. Joseph's Church, Bracknell with the Bishop, or Friday 9 June at the Immaculate Conception Church with the Vicar General. Approximately 30 candidates are expected, including those from Wellington College.
7. Social Committee
Father Kevin advised that no new members had come forward to join the Social
Committee and that most of the current members wanted to retire. He said that
the Parish should be working, praying and playing together and suggested that
the topic be raised at the Parish Forum.
8. Purchase of multi-media equipment for Pastoral Purposes
DVDs have been purchased for use on the Confirmation course and any hardware
the parish buys must be moveable and robust. Although Father Kevin has asked
Dave Robinson to keep an eye open for suitable equipment, we do need to buy
a screen, which Dave cannot source.
9. Wintershall Estate 1st and 2nd July 2006 (suggested trip)
This day trip met with a favourable response from the PPC although it is noted
that Father Kevin cannot attend on Saturday 1st July because of Baptism commitments.
It was suggested that it be announced at the Parish Forum in order to gauge
level of interest before making any firm commitments. It may be possible to
hire a coach if there is enough support.
10. Any Other Business
10.1 Retreat Day for Men - at Notre Dame School, Cobham, from 8.15am on Saturday 25 February. More details from Mike.10.2 Youth - Angela felt that the parish youth might be inspired by being given a project to 'run with'. Members of the PPC, if available, could introduce themselves sometime during the Confirmation programme, perhaps on the away-day. They could help encourage the candidates to get involved in a community project, say the Donkey Derby, or perhaps our youth might have some fresh ideas for the Social Committee.
It was suggested that, after Confirmation, the candidates might like to join in with activities at the Coffee Spot Youth Group and they should be encouraged to do so. Margaret was congratulated on her son James winning the recent Bible Quiz during only his second week with the Group. (Well done James!)
10.3 Diaconate - Paul reported that he will be ordained as Deacon on Sunday 18 June. The PCC was reminded that a reference for Paul will need to be sent to the Clergy Formation and Vocations Team before this date. The matter will be on the Agenda for the next meeting with Paul being excused from the meeting for the duration of the discussion.
10.4 Liturgy Group - Father Kevin advised that Paul, Paula Dix, Jan de Klerk, Pat
Page, Steve Whitbread and John Timpson would be joining him on the Liturgy Group. They will all meet within the next two weeks to make plans for the Easter Triduum. He reminded all that a Liturgy Group should not just be concerned with the Eucharist, but also prayer groups, bidding prayers, etc.
11. Date and time of next meeting
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 4 April at 7.30pm in the Holy Ghost Parish
rooms.
Meeting closed at 9.35pm
Closing prayers led by Mike Withers
Distribution:
Father Kevin Jones, Brenda Baigrie, Margaret Derlacki,
Ann FitzPatrick, Lawrence Gaffney, Angela Greenwood,
Shirley Hayden, John Kavanagh, Aoife McLean,
Paul Page Tickel,l Gerry Picozzi, Martin Stubbs,
Mike Withers
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