PARISH OF THE SACRED HEART – PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 22nd November 2012
PRESENT: Father David, Terry McIlwee, Andrew Clark, Mary Edmonds, John Bolger, Hilary Bolger, Michael Haughton, Teresa Butler,
Jenny Evans & Jayne Randall,
1. APOLOGIES: Aneta Dziedzik, Michael Hawley, and Deacon Ron O’Toole
Fr. David began the meeting by reminding us that today was the Feast of the Martyrdom of St. Cecelia the Patroness of Music and he told us about her martyrdom. He then read from Hosea and we prayed particularly for the recently deceased in the Parish, Theresa McKillop, Evelyn Andrews and Barbara Cornish.
2. It was agreed to finish the meeting by 9 p.m.
3. Terry welcomed the new PPC members, Jenny Evans and Teresa Butler for Sacred Heart, and Jayne Randall for St. John’s.
4. ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR
Terry McIlwee was proposed as Chair by Mary Edmunds and seconded by Michael Haughton and was then voted in unanimously
Michael Haughton was proposed as Vice Chair by Mary Edmunds and seconded by Teresa Butler
Hilary Bolger was proposed as Vice Chair by Teresa Butler and seconded by Andrew Clark.
Hilary was duly voted in as Vice Chair by 5 votes
5. THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING ON 6TH SEPTEMBER 2012 were agreed with one amendment – the Parish Support Group had received 2 referrals.
6. MATTERS ARISING
Parish Support Group – Hilary reported they had received 4 referrals. The Support Group still needed to be publicised by word of mouth and in the bulletin. All sorts of help was available from Bereavement Counselling to helping with sorting housing needs. There was a group of volunteers ready and willing to be involved. Teresa had conducted a further training session for the volunteers a couple of weeks ago and they were due to have another session from Fiona Hunter of the CAB in the New Year. Hilary wondered if the Parish Support Group details could be more prominent on the front of the bulletin. Fr. David suggested she discussed this with Antonia. The Support Group will have better publicity once the website goes live.
Parish Website – John hoped that people had been able to look at the website link circulated to them. The website is ready to go live with the first pages which will be the Welcome page, Mass Times and Bulletin. There were many tabs on the front of the website and these would be hidden initially until the information was complete. Sam Meyer is in contact with David Stowell about transferring over the Domain name. Fr. David asked how one would be able to search for the website and John assured him it would appear under several headings e.g. Catholic Churches and on the Diocesan website. John meets Sam weekly and suggested others who will be allowed administration access might like to come and have some training on Weds 28th November. At present this would be Katie Maidment for Cambodia. Antonia Martinez as Parish Secretary, Clare Hardie as PPC Secretary and John Bolger. There will be a page for information on the history of each church. Mary Edmunds agreed to ask Nick Walmesley for any information about St. Helens. There will be Links to CAFOD, the Diocesan Website, The Year of Faith and Sacred Space which is the Irish Jesuits’ Daily Prayer website. John said it had been suggested that no email addresses or phone numbers should appear on the Parish Directory pages but the enquirer would be directed to look for the details in the up-to-date hard copy of the Parish Directory in each church. Fr. David will need an email address on the website as will Antonia as Parish Secretary.
Children’s Liturgy – Fr. David said that Paula had drawn up a rota for the new team at the Sacred Heart with different people leading a session about 1 week in 6. The sessions were running well and the number of children attending was increasing each week. There would be the usual Children’s Party after the Carol Service on the 23rd December and the children may well do a Nativity Play during the Carol Service.
Parish Profile – Everyone had now read the reports from each Church which were as expected. The Finance Committee was due to meet this week and increasing parishioners awareness of Gift Aiding was on the Agenda. They would also be putting together some information about leaving Legacies to the Parish. The Diocese is in the process of appointing a Communications Officer so when that appointment has been made discussions about Parish Communications Officers can be addressed.
7. THE YEAR OF FAITH
This was discussed at the Council of Laity last week and the Cathedral and Parishes gave reports of various planned events. There is a list of the various resources we have in each church in the bulletin and Fr. Mark Hakeson is in the process of writing a précis of the 4 encyclicals of Vatican II for the new Diocesan website which we will be able to use on our own website in due course.
The Cathedral is planning a 2-Day Festival in late April more details later.
We have already had a couple of sessions led by John Bolger, the second was last week, the Feast of Christ the King, on Vatican II and the Laity, which was incorporated into the Faith, Fun and Food Day. Deacon Ron is continuing to lead sessions on Catholicism a Journey to the Heart of Faith with the Bible Group and the Pilgrimage to Rome next September is becoming well booked up. Other suggestions are for “Quiet Times” in each of the Churches and Andrew suggested we might like to say the Angelus each Sunday before Holy Mass during Advent.
Clare has done some initial research into a trip to see ‘The Life of Christ’ at Wintershall next June and it was decided to arrange the trip for Saturday 29th June, as this would allow more parishioners to attend rather than a weekday performance. If 50 Parishioners were able to attend the costs would be £15 per ticket for the play and approx. £15 each for the coach. Clare will print out flyers to gain the level of interest.
Hilary had enquired about obtaining the Year of Faith leaflet in other languages and it was agreed that a few leaflets in Polish would useful.
Fr. David recommended looking at the booklets produced by the CTS relating to the Year of Faith and suggested as a start we try and read “Porta Fidei” We do need to get our events into the local papers like The Bridge in Wroxham. Early next year we will plan a Parish Trip to attend Mass in our Deanery Chapel in the Cathedral followed by a Tour of the Cathedral and lunch in the Cafe
8. REPORT FROM PARISH PASTORAL ASSISTANT
John had nothing further to report as all had been covered under previous items.
9. PARISH PASTORAL COUNCILLORS REPORTS
Terry explained that this item on the Agenda was to enable any Councillor to discuss something particularly relevant to their Church. Christian Unity Week will be before the next PPC meeting in January. All agreed January is not the best time to try and hold evening events and these are often not well attended. Churches Together have already fixed the dates for the various services during the week of the 18th-25th January. We have representatives from each of our Churches on the Churches Together Committees, Pauline Andrews and Fr. David for Aylsham, Patricia Newton and Fr. David for Hoveton, Adrian Rudman and Betty and Tony Dady and Fr. David for North Walsham. The main service this year will be in the Salvation Army Citadel at 3 p.m. both in Aylsham and North Walsham and at 4 p.m. at St. Mary’s in Wroxham. Other events for Christian Unity are being planned for the summer.
10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Terry explained that AOB should really be anything urgent that had been signalled in advance.
11. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 29th January 2013 7.15 p.m. for 7.30 in either the Parish Room or the Presbytery depending on the users of the Hall that evening
Fr. David then concluded the meeting with a prayer
