PARISH OF THE SACRED HEART – PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 26th June 2014
PRESENT: Father James Walsh, Fr. Michael Griffin, Deacon Ron O’Toole, Terry McIlwee, Teresa Butler, Michael Haughton, Carol Shippey, John Bolger, Hilary Bolger, Adrian Rudman, Jayne Randall and Antonia Martinez
1. APOLOGIES: Michael Hawley, Mary Edmonds. Agnieszka Gabriel
Fr. James began the meeting with a Prayer
2. It was agreed to finish the meeting by 8.30 p.m.
3. THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING on 1st May were agreed with a couple of amendments. To add Jayne Randall and Agnieszka Gabriel to the apologies and remove word ‘but’ in first line of Pastoral Assistant’s report.
4. MATTERS ARISING
Parking at Sacred Heart – Clare spoke to Nick Sutherland after the last meeting and he had already discussed the possibility of a few of the Paston Surgery staff using the car park with the GP Practice. Teresa said that Paston Surgery was definitely not moving now so Clare will chase up the progress of the discussions with Nick. It was thought that the best place for the parking would be under the trees and that cars parked there should display a permit. A list of the car registration numbers and owners details should be kept in the Parish Office in case of nuisance alarms etc. Ian Roberts and Peter Butler have not yet met to work out costings for repairing the potholes in the car park. Clare will contact Ian and remind him.
Year of Faith – The leaflets with individual Parishioners’ ‘Faith Journey’ are now available in each church and make quite inspiring reading.
100 Years of North Walsham Celebrations 7-9th June – Hilary and Teresa had arranged a stand for the Sacred Heart Parish at this event and displayed the statue of St. Joseph which was carved by a POW. The Royal British Legion has now asked if the statue could form part of their WWI commemorations at the Atrium in September. Hilary and Teresa explained that they felt it would be sufficient to just have a photograph of the statue on display as the cost and terms of the insurance to display the statue were costly and complicated. This was agreed.
Welcome Pack for New Parishioners – As we now have confirmation that Fr. James will be our new PP we can complete the updating of the Parish Directory. Hilary will confirm the wording she would like about the Support Group and Clare will then send a copy to Fr. James for his approval before it is printed and updated on the website.
The welcome packs can then be assembled and provided for each Church
Parish Picnic – The Faith Food and Fun Committee has fixed the date for the picnic for Sunday 17th August
Photo Gallery on Website – John has uploaded all the pictures sent to him of Fr. David’s Farewell and will continue to put more pictures on the gallery whenever he is provided with them. Teresa will send him further pictures of past events once her new computer is up and running.
5. WELCOME TO FR. JAMES WALSH
Terry welcomed Fr. James to the Parish and thanked him for coming to the PPC meeting. Fr. James replied that he was very much looking forward to getting to know the Parish but he realised it would be a hard act to follow Fr. David and now Fr. Michael but he would do his best. He knew the Parish to be an extremely warm and friendly community. He would obviously miss all his friends at Parishioners at the Cathedral as he had been there for the past 13 years. Fr. James asked that we would be understanding and realise that his energy levels might not be the same as Fr. David’s as he was a little older. Fr. James said he already felt daunted by the list of meetings he’d inherited in Fr. David’s diary. All agreed that the problem of 3 Churches meant 3 of almost every meeting. Fr. James would be officially starting as our PP on the 13/14 September but would in fact be celebrating all the Holy Masses for us the weekend of the 23/24 August as Fr. Michael is away.
Fr. James would like to make a few changes in the house and form separate offices for himself and Antonia and also to have the ground floor redecorated, hopefully before he moves in September. He asked if there was a Fabric Committee in the Parish and whether the Parish already had painters and decorators available. It was explained that the Fabric Committee seemed to have been merged with the Finance Committee. Clare was asked to contact Nick Sutherland, Chair and Peter Adamson, Secretary of the Finance Committee and ask them to make contact with Fr. James as soon as possible. Fr. James also thought that the exterior of the house was due to be repainted in the near future and obviously he would like some input into the colour choices etc. Fr. James will be bringing his beehives with him from the Cathedral garden and will need a suitable site from them in the garden.
6. PARISH PASTORAL ASSISTANT REPORT
Terry explained to John that he had been unable to network on his behalf at the Council of Laity as the Bishop had cancelled the meeting. The new Lay Chaplain for HMP Bure had been appointed and was undergoing the rigorous Home Office vetting procedure at present. He would continue to run the weekly Bible Study Group at the Prison. One of the Free Church Ministers was also visiting regularly. Fr. James asked who was offering Holy Mass in the Prison at present and explained that he was very willing to do so but had no experience of Prison pastoral care and he also thought there was an upper age limit for access for ‘personnel’ visiting the prison. John will make some enquiries on his behalf.
7. PARISH PASTORAL COUNCILLORS REPORTS
St. John of the Cross – Last weekend there had been a wonderful First Holy Communion Mass for 3 little boys. Carol informed the PPC of the break-in and burglary which had happened the week Fr. David was leaving. Fortunately there had been no desecration in the church although they had tried to remove the brass crown off the tabernacle. The burglar had gained entry by a leaded window, which now needed repair. Quotes are being obtained for this and repairs will be hopefully covered by the insurance policy. The burglar stole the keys to the outer doors, including a very old key for the original chapel door. The locks have all now been changed. The shed was then burgled and a ladder and various tools were taken. The roof fund is slowly increasing and the next fund raising effort will be a Wine & Cheese Party on 12th July. One of the parishioners had asked Carol to enquire from where the funding for the roof repairs was to come and were the parishioners at St. John of the Cross responsible for raising all the money on their own? Fr. James asked what the costs were likely to be and whether a grant had been applied for from the Diocesan Fund. It was explained that the PPC members were not aware of the current progress of obtaining the quotes as the Finance Committee was handling this. It was decided that we should write and ask Nick Sutherland if he would attend the next PPC meeting and also to circulate copies of the Annual Income &Expenditure Statement which would normally have been available to parishioners at the Annual Parish Meeting which had to be cancelled this year as it was due to take place as Fr. David was leaving.
Sacred Heart – Two little girls had made their First Holy Communion last weekend and a party for the congregation followed the service. Fr. Michael had suggested that a Jesse Tree be placed in each church and there are ‘leaves’ provided on which parishioners are invited to write their hopes and aspirations for the Parish with the arrival of our new PP. The Tree will remain at the Sacred Heart for a few weeks and will then be moved to St. John of the Cross and then St. Helen’s. A sub-committee comprising Adrian, John, Jayne and Teresa will meet in early September to try and extract the ideas and thoughts written on the ‘leaves’ and present them to the PPC at the next meeting. There are quite a few ‘leaves’ in place requesting more for the youth of the parish. Terry explained that the Faith Food and Fun Days had been organised to try and meet this need as the PPC at the time were well aware that very few children in the Parish were able to attend the only Catholic Primary school, St. John’s in Norwich and indeed this problem has been made worse with the amalgamation of St. John’s and Thomas More Schools and the decrease in available places in each year group. Unfortunately the FF&F Days were not always well attended. There are various other Christian After School Clubs already running in North Walsham that the children who are not attending Catholic schools could attend if their parents so wished.
St. Helen’s – The new Cross in the Memorial Garden and the Altar kneelers had been dedicated by Fr. David just before he left the Parish. There will be a Flower Festival at St Helen’s over the weekend of the 4/5th October and a Harvest Supper on Monday 6th October.
8. PARISH CENSUS FORMS
Fr. David had re-issued these forms in each of the Churches a few months ago in order to update the Parish information for his successor. He had not had time to complete the task of checking all the details and removing forms of parishioners who had died or moved away. Teresa, Antonia and Hilary will deal with the Sacred Heart forms, Jeannie Mardon and Michael Haughton will deal with St. Helen’s forms and Clare and Carol will deal with the St. John of the Cross forms.
9. A.O.B.
Deacon Ron said the Parish should be congratulated on the very good attendance at the Corpus Christi Procession and Benediction held last Sunday afternoon at the Sacred Heart Church
10. DATE OF NEXT MEETINGS
The previously agreed dates were changed to the following:
Tuesday 23rd September 2014 7.15 for 7.30 in the Parish Room
Tuesday 25th November 2014 7.15 for 7.30 in the Parish Room
Deacon Ron then concluded the meeting with some thoughts on how ‘we should expect to hear the voice of God in unexpected places’
