PPC MINUTES

13 JANUARY 2010

The meeting was opened with a prayer.

PRESENT

Fr Gregory Tobin (GT), Mary Crosby (MC) (Chair), Joyce Madden (JM), Marina Johnson (MJ), Mary Elliott Smith (MES), Patrick Haughney (PH), Alan Macken (AM), Catherine Vaughan (CV), Maura Roche (MR) (Secretary), Clive Chapman (CC) (Church Student)

APOLOGIES

Rachel Byrne, Jane Wilford, Jo Garside, Krys Pietryka, Kathy Gelling, Angela Knott,

Sarah Juric

MINUTES OF DECEMBER 2009 MEETING

Accepted as a true record

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE DECEMBER MINUTES

a) Gates on Car Park – should not be necessary in light of the decision to hold the 10.30am Mass at The Becket School

b) Volunteer help for toddler group – a Mum, whose child used to attend the group, is currently helping out.

EVALUATION OF CHRISTMAS MASSES

Thanks were expressed to all who helped out at the Christmas Masses.

Masses on Christmas Eve were very well attended, with the 4.30pm Mass being particularly packed. Organisation at Communion for this Mass was very difficult and chaotic. PH suggested we set up another Communion distribution point for this Mass next time. It was suggested that next year we ask vergers and greeters be in position one hour before the busy Masses start.

EVALUATION OF OPERATION CHRISTMAS CARD

• Thanks to all who helped pack and distribute the cards
• Some packs were short of cards but some cards left over
• Use bigger envelopes next time
• Volunteer needed to update the roads list
• Variable response when parishioners asked to distribute the cards
• Quite a few packs of cards left undelivered
• Anecdotal evidence that some people attended a Mass in response to a card
• Very difficult to evaluate the public’s response to the cards
• Should we do it again next Christmas ? – response was “Yes”
• PH suggested we start the operation earlier next year and engage the help of the H.S. Celtic Sports Team to distribute cards

CAFOD LENT FAST

MC reported that CAFOD celebrates 50 years of Lent Fasts this year. This year’s Lent Fast Day is Friday 26 February but the theme for this Lent is to be “Give it up” and it is hoped that people will give money throughout Lent from their endeavours.

LENTEN PROJECT

GT outlined his proposal to move 10.30am Sunday Mass to The Becket School during Lent :

• This Mass is full every week & has the capacity for being fuller
• The Becket chapel & adjoining hall area can seat up to 1000 people in comfort
• The Becket has state of the art sound, lighting and multimedia systems.
• There is a large entrance area that would allow us to be creative in welcoming our congregation
• There is potential after Mass to have refreshments and set up other parish activities
• The nearby Drama Studio could be used by the Children’s Liturgy group
• There is plenty of car parking available at The Becket – this will solve the difficult traffic & car parking issues around the church between the Sunday Masses. It will also prevent the “road rage” that has been observed on occasion and will ease tensions with our neighbours on Victoria Road and adjoining roads.
• This is an opportunity for development and creativity in our parish community
• When the 10.30am Mass community were asked last Sunday for their reaction to the proposal, there was a large majority in favour

Potential difficulties with the proposal include

· Not everyone will be able to kneel during Mass

· There will be certain logistical problems to overcome

· People who currently walk to this Mass may not be able to walk to The Becket (but lifts could be arranged if necessary)

PARISH PASTORAL PLAN

“To encourage prayer at the beginning and end of all parish activities and at home”

• It has been established that most parish activities do incorporate prayer
• MC has renewed the Prayer Board and is trying to increase the number of prayer cards available at the bottom of the Prayer Board
• Discussion took place about the format and type of prayer in our homes
• GT suggested that home can be a holy place – powerful traditions can be established that draw out our faith and that of our children
• JM suggested that the Lent & Advent booklets encouraged prayer
• GT asked why interest in circulating the “Our Lady of the Visitation” statue amongst parishioners during the months of May & October has declined
• CC suggested we encourage parishioners of all ages to write prayers or share their favourite prayers & place them in a box at the back of church, with a view to publishing these to the parish. Discussion also took place about the use of email, web pages and Facebook in this context
• MES will have a look at the “Home is a Holy Place” DVD to see if it may be of use for the Fellowship Group
• MJ suggested that House Masses are very powerful opportunities for prayer in the home and GT offered to say a House Mass during Lent if invited and an invitation was forthcoming !

A.O.B.

JM reported that this year’s “Week of prayer for Christian Unity” will take place 18-25 January. There will be a service at The Emmanuel School on Sunday 24 January, where amongst other things there will be an opportunity for people’s testaments. JM will advertise the event in our newsletter & will set up a “prayer station” at the service, based on prayer when lighting a candle. There will be no prayer walk this year.

The meeting closed with a prayer.

Next Meeting

8pm Wednesday 10 March 2010 in the upper room of the Social Centre.