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

Draft Minutes of the meeting of the members of the PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
held on Tuesday 27 November at 7.30pm in the Sandhurst Parish Centre

Present: Father Kevin, Margaret Derlacki, George Fanning, Lawrence Gaffney (Chairman), Rita Paxton and Steve Whitbread (and Sue Niblett)

Opening Prayers

1. Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Ann FitzPatrick, Jim Nairn and Martin Stubbs.

2. Agree Previous Minutes
The Minutes of the meeting of 26 September were approved and signed by the Chairman.

3. Outstanding Actions

4. -7. Parish Helpline - list of Helpline numbers are now on church notice-boards and in Liturgical Calendar/Parish Directory and on website.

8. Gift of plant for Ted (Shirley) - a Mass for Shirley will be held at Our Lady's School on Thursday 6 March at 9.30am. Father will invite Ted and present him with a red rose shrub.

12. - 11.2 Children's Liturgy - Father has spoken to Shelagh Stirling who has offered to help with the Children's Liturgy at the Holy Ghost, when needed.

5. First Holy Communion - Laura Tudor is currently shadowing Maureen Boss, with a view to taking over as co-ordinator of the First Holy Communion programme next year. Katharine Fitzpatrick will help if needed. Laura will also be asking Alison Vincent to help.

4. Parish Pastoral Update by :

a. Liturgy - it was reported that this is well organised at the Immaculate Conception Church, with a good rota system in operation. The Children's Liturgy Group had met recently to co-ordinate their programme. It is apparent there is a need for more resources and Father agreed to buy these if given a shopping list (Action George). He will also buy the same items for the Holy Ghost Church. The office staff would be happy to do any photocopying the group needs.

Advent and Christmas - Mass times were confirmed as follows :

Penitential Service	Wednesday 19 December 8.00pm Immaculate Conception
Christmas Eve	5.30pm Children's Mass at Immaculate Conception 8.00pm Vigil Mass at Immaculate Conception 11.30pm Midnight Mass at Holy Ghost
Christmas Day	9.00am Family Mass at Immaculate Conception 11.00am Family Mass at Holy Ghost
St. Stephen's Day	10.00am Altar Servers' Mass at Immaculate Conception

The children from the Sandhurst Liturgy Group will perform a playlet during the Children's Mass on Christmas Eve.

b. Justice & Peace & CRB - it was explained that the Chidamoyo Appeal started life as an ecumenical Churches Together in Crowthorne charity and Gilly and Mike Withers continue to work hard to raise its profile within the parish. The Burma Orphanages Appeal is a more recent project that the parish has adopted. Bamenda is the official charity of the Portsmouth Diocesan.

With regard to CRB, Shelagh Stirling is still awaiting her official clearance as our parish representative. Once she has this, she will start to process clearances for all our catechists and staff who have dealings with children and vulnerable adults. Her responsibilities are also likely to include collecting the personal details of all the children and vulnerable adults who attend parish activities and events.

c. Youth - St. Michael's Church, Sandhurst, organises a Youth Club at the Coffee Spot every Tuesday evening and, currently, it has a very low membership. It was suggested that youngsters with the parish should be reminded of its existence and encouraged to attend. The Confirmation candidates would be just about the right age to benefit. Sue to find out more details. (Action Sue). Also, it was suggested that the parish should do something during Youth Sunday next year.

d. Social & Communication - the Curry Supper evening in support of the Chidamoyo Appeal was very successful and enjoyable, and the Beer and Skittles evening went down well in November. Still to come are the senior parishioners' Christmas party and the Children's Christmas party. An organ recital evening at the Holy Ghost church, sometime in the New Year, is at the planning stage, and also a celebration on St. Patrick's Night in March. On behalf of the PCC, Father thanked the Social Committee for all their wonderful work which does so much to enrich the life of the Parish.

e. Outreach - Father explained that now the renovation of the Priest's House is complete, he is free to resume his regular visits to housebound parishioners and he hopes to get to see everybody at least once a month. He reminded the PCC that the Eucharistic Ministers should be taking communion out to the sick and housebound, not just ministering in the churches. Some already do so, but others should be encouraged.

Rita asked if we could promote the services offered by the Sandhurst Day Centre to our senior parishioners. Some may not be aware that the Centre is able to collect and return them home via minibus. It is a very well run social centre, which can provide a hot meal at lunchtime. Membership fees are very reasonable. Rita will send something to the office for inclusion in Newsletter and noticeboard.(Action Rita/Sue).

f. Catechesis -
RCIA – Father advised that there is no RCIA course running in the parish this year and, currently, no potential candidates.
First Holy Communion – Maureen Boss is running the course very efficiently, as always.
Baptism Preparation – another course has just been held. These have been run on an ad hoc basis throughout the year. The Baptism team will discuss whether it might be better to have set dates in future (Action Lawrence).
Confirmation – Lawrence had written to Katharine. Father said that either Bishop Crispian or Father Tom McGrath would be asked to officiate on Confirmation Day on 6 June and that candidates would be asked for their preference when they first meet after Christmas. A venue has not yet been agreed and it is dependent upon numbers of candidates, especially if it is a joint venture with Bracknell (Action Father).
Lenten spiritual projects could include Bible Study evenings - Mike and Gilly Withers have offered to run a course on ' Exploring the Catholic Faith'.

g. Mission - nothing to report.

h. LPA - the Diocesan Pastoral Council met in October and Mike Withers attended as our South Berks LPA representative. Main topic of discussion was Stewardship and its place in the Diocesan Pastoral Plan.

5. Progress on Pastoral Initiatives - nothing to report.

6. New Pastoral Initiatives - there was much discussion on this and suggestions for future projects included - something for the Youth of the Parish ; Adult Catechesis ; Bible Study Groups ; Prayer Groups ; House Masses. Father will ask Angela Greenwood for details of her Prayer Group (Action Father). Father, Rita and Margaret agreed to meet on 18 December (since postponed) to discuss Lenten House Groups. Lawrence, George and Steve will meet together on 8 January (since postponed) to discuss Lent/Bible Study Groups.

7. Issues for this meeting :

a. PPC roles and responsibilities - these will not be delegated to individuals but be allowed to evolve and develop over time.

b. PPC Blessing and photos - Father Kevin will bless all members of the PPC during the 6.00pm Mass on Sunday 26 January.

c. Music at Saturday Vigil Mass - Father reminded everyone that at the PCC meeting on 10 July a census was taken and it was agreed that the Vigil Mass would be a quiet Mass. This decision was made partly because, at the time, there was some difficulty in finding an organist. Father said that he had had several requests for a quiet Mass and felt that it fair to meet all parishioners' needs. Those wanting music at Mass might be happier attending the Sunday morning Masses.

d. Immaculate Conception Church roof - structural inspections are ongoing.

8. Any other business

8.1 - Social gathering for PPC members and partners - will be held on Saturday
26 January from 7.30pm, either in the parish centre or in Father's house, depending upon numbers. PPC members are asked to bring a plate of food to share. Father will provide the drinks. He also hopes to take photographs of PPC members so that the photo-boards in the church porches can be updated. (Action Father).

9. Date and time of next meeting.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 22 January (since changed to Tuesday 5 Feb)
at 7.30pm in Sandhurst.

Closing Prayers

Meeting closed at 9.50pm

Distribution:
Father Kevin, Margaret Derlacki, George Fanning,
Ann FitzPatrick, Lawrence Gaffney, Jim Nairn,
Rita Paxton, Martin Stubbs, Steve Whitebread