Holy Ghost Crowthorne and Immaculate Conception Sandhurst
- Parish Pastoral Council -

Draft Minutes of the meeting of the PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
held on Tuesday 16 May 2006 at 7.30pm in the Holy Ghost Parish Rooms

Opening prayers and reflection led by Mike

Present: Fr. Kevin Jones, Brenda Baigrie, Margaret Derlacki, Ann FitzPatrick, Lawrence Gaffney, Angela Greenwood, Shirley Hayden, Paul Page Tickell, Gerry Picozzi, Martin Stubbs, Mike Withers (Chairperson) (and Sue Niblett)

1. Apologies for absence
Apologies received from John and Aoife. Gerry advised that he would have to leave the meeting early.

2. Minutes of previous meeting
The Minutes of the meeting of 4 April were approved and signed by the Chairman.

3. Matters arising from previous Minutes

6. Confirmation - Mike thanked all the members of the PCC who attended the Away-Day on 6 May. Members said how very impressed they had been with the enthusiasm shown by the youngsters and the quality of the work they had done. Father thanked everybody who had worked so hard with the candidates to prepare them for Confirmation on Friday 9 June at 8.00pm in the Immaculate Conception Church. There will be a rehearsal on Wednesday evening 24 May, immediately after the Ascension Vigil Mass.

4. Parish Forum - as a follow-up from the Forum, a picnic will be held on Sunday
2 July, immediately after 11.00am Mass. Both the Mass and the picnic will be held at Our Lady's School, subject to it being available, and Brenda will enquire about this. Tea and coffee will be provided but parishioners should bring their own food to cook on the barbeque. Details to be announced in the Newsletter.

5. Mass (holiday) cover for Larger Pastoral Area - Father Kevin and Father Jim have agreed the following Mass times for holiday cover: Saturday - Wokingham 6.30pm : Sunday - Sandhurst 8.30am ; Wokingham 10.00am ; Crowthorne 11.30am.

7. Liturgy Group - Father will be meeting with the new Liturgy Group for the first time on Tuesday 30 May.

8. Churches Together in Sandhurst - Songs of Praise 15 July - Margaret will attend the meeting at St. Michael's on Thursday 8 June and represent the Parish at this event. She said that the parish would be expected to make a financial contribution and should expect an invoice in due course.

4. Diaconate
(Gerry retired from the meeting during this discussion)
Father confirmed that Paul's Diaconate had been postponed for at least 12 months because the Bishop feels that it would be unreasonable to leave Paul alone in the parish whilst Father is away on sabbatical.

This unexpected delay will give the PCC time for further reflection. Paul will also have the opportunity to spend more time, on a one-to-one basis with PCC members and also make himself known to more Crowthorne based parishioners. He will continue to be a Server and because he has already received Candidacy and Acolyte, can visit Broadmoor to take services.

Father Jim Joyce has agreed to act as mentor to Paul and Tony Cunningham from Bracknell parish will be invited to talk to the PCC about the role and duties of a Deacon, before Father leaves for New Zealand. Paul advised that he would like to take a sabbatical soon, following all his hard work and studies.

5. Parish Mission and Move Forward
Discussion continued, and is ongoing, on the structure and co-ordinators for seven main areas. Revised list is as follows :

Liturgy	Father Kevin and Paul.
Justice & Peace	Brenda (and David Rhodes and Ursula Smith?? )
Youth	Ann and Margaret
Social & Communication	Father Kevin, John, Margaret and Angela
Outreach	Shirley and Margaret
Catechesis Mike	Lawrence and Paul
Mission	Mike

It was reported that offers to help with Confirmation, visiting the sick and driving the minibus had all been received since the Parish Forum. With regard to 'Youth', the catechists will look at what can be offered to our youngsters during the years between their First Holy Communion and Confirmation? Additionally, what can be offered post-Confirmation?

The Bishop is due to announce the details of the new Larger Pastoral Areas when he meets with the clergy on 31 May. It was suggested that a social event might be arranged after that date so that all the PPCs in our LPA could meet together and get to know one another. Father said there would be 'pilot' areas to see how parishes work together. The small parishes would be called worshipping groups. He also clarified that, according to Charity Law, money given to the parish belongs to the parish, although the Diocese can deduct a levy.

6. Disability Discrimination Act audit
The recent questionnaire received from the Diocese was discussed and referred on to the Finance Committee since they would be responsible for any expenditure should remedial work be needed for the church premises. Father will ask Jim Nairn to carry out the audit.

7. Social Committee
The first meeting of the re-formed Social Committee will be on Wednesday 7 June at 7.30pm at the Holy Ghost parish rooms. Members are Ryszard Gorell, Ursula Smith, Martin Reid, John Kavanagh, Margaret Derlacki, Angela Greenwood and Lawrence Gaffney. The new committee will be asked to take over the organisation of the parish picnic scheduled for 2 July.

8. Burma (Myanma)
Father hopes to give a presentation after a Saturday Vigil Mass, date to be arranged, perhaps with Burmese food being served. Parishioners will be asked to sponsor the complete education of a child but there will also be collection boxes for more modest offerings. It was felt that the push to support the Burma project should not been seen as just about money, but also about showing solidarity.

9. Any Other Business

9.1 Churches Together in Crowthorne (CTC) - will have a stall at Crowthorne Carnival (Saturday 1 July). They will display pictures of Chidamoyo and Burma with possibly also some input from Chris Doyle.

Rev. Nick Nicholls, who has been the Baptist Minister in Crowthorne for 10 years, will be moving away soon. Unfortunately, Father is unable to attend his leaving party on 21 May. Angela advised that a gift of computer equipment is proposed and it was agreed that the parish would make a donation towards this. Bill Coleman will be asked to liaise with CTC to arrange this.

Angela advised that the new Anglican vicar for St. John's Church would be inducted on 1 August. She will replace Rev. Brian Spence who retired last year.

9.2 Churches Together in Sandhurst (CTS) - Margaret and Paul continue to represent the parish at Coffee Spot meetings and reported that the lease had been renewed until the end of December and that royalties (50%) have now to be paid. Volunteers are still heavily relied upon, and more are still needed. There are proposals to build an extension so that more functions can be accommodated.

The recent Sunday evening Ecumenical Service at the Coffee Spot, led by the Catholic Church (Anne, Margaret and Mike), had gone very well.

9.3 Crowthorne community minibus - Steve Whitbread has been welcomed as an additional volunteer driver. An increasing number of elderly and infirm parishioners need to be helped on and off the minibus and escorted into church. More helpers are needed for this.

9.4 Help for refugees - Father advised that a refugee had recently turned up at the Immaculate Conception Church and there was much uncertainty as to how to handle the situation, other than to telephone the police. Paul has leaflets from the Jesuit Refugee Service which explain what to do in the future.

9.5 Donkey Derby - starts at midday on Monday 29 May and volunteers to help should ideally contact the committee in advance, or just turn up on the day at 10.00am. The RMA military band is booked to play.
Postscript: Due to the wet conditions of the site the event has been postponed and will now be on Sunday 27th August

10. Date and time of next meeting
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 27 June at 7.30pm in the Holy Ghost parish rooms.

Meeting closed at 10.00pm

Closing prayers

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