Minutes of the Thirty Second Parish Pastoral Council
Held on Monday 5th December at 7.30pm
Present: David Walsh, Father William Davern, Michael Brennan, John Sharpe, Theresa Kenefick, Michael Tripp, Jan Madden, Richard Davieson, John Turner,
Apologies: Chris Sibthorp, Liam Kirby (Patrizia Wakefield), Paul Killoughery (Carlos De Souza), David Thorn
1. Opening Prayer David Walsh
2. Matters Arising from Last Meeting
Fr Micael’s farwell went very well, on 4th December, with over two hundred people attending a reception in the Canon Christall Hall.
Carlos de Souza reports, by e-mail, that the fire alarm testing is in hand with the Premises Parish Group. Arrangements for a Risk Analysis Inspection (£350 - £400) have been suggested to Fr Bill, Michael Tripp will now take this proposal to the Finance Group for final approval for it to go ahead.
John Turner and Michael Tripp will liaise with regard to the best way of raising money from the Parish for new hymn books.
- Other Business
Parking at the 6.00 pm Sunday Mass is becoming more of a problem, the barrier at the end of the Car Park will therefore be lifted at this Mass on a trial basis.
- "Planning Parishes for 2010"
The above proposal from the Diocese was discussed at length. As a result the statement below was sent to the Diocese.
The Bishop will be leading a meeting for representatives from all parishes in the Diocese on 14th January 2006 in Crawley. It is intended that there will be two representatives from St Joseph’s at this meeting, this will then be followed by a wider discussion in our Parish.
Following the meeting of St. Joseph’s (Epsom) Parish Pastoral Council on Monday 5th December 2005, I have listed below the main points to come from the meeting. We hope that these will be of use in the wider discussion across the Diocese.
David Walsh
(Chair of Parish Pastoral Council)
- Whilst the Parish Pastoral Council have discussed the issues, we would have valued the opportunity to have involved more people from the Parish. We now hope to do this after the 14th Jan. meeting in Crawley.
- We are broadly in agreement with the proposals as they affect Epsom, but would be comfortable if St. Joseph’s was clustered with a larger group of Parishes (for example Ewell, Banstead, Ashtead and Tadworth). As the largest Parish in the Deanery, with a good new flexible building, we are ready to do our part on helping the whole Deanery.
- We note that the proposal has three priests suggested for the Epsom / Ewell cluster, but at the present time there are only two priests for these two Parishes
- It must be noted that a loss of masses for a Parish will almost certainly lead to a drop in numbers attending over a weekend, this will have a knock on effect both financially and in terms of building community. At St Joseph’s, if we go from four masses to three, this would mean "losing" a mass which regularly attracts between 100 and 150 people.
- As a Parish we have just moved our Church closer to our School, which has had an extremely positive influence on Parish life. we are nervous of any move that dilutes the benefits we have gained.
- An alternative to "losing" a mass might be for the laity to run a Eucharistic Service to fulfil the Sunday obligation. In what circumstances would this arrangement be acceptable to fulfil the Sunday obligation ? The Eucharistic Service could "rotate" across the four masses, in this way both revenue and community would be, to a certain extent, safeguarded. This arrangement would mean that parishioners would have three masses and one Eucharistic Service over a four week cycle, for a particular time over a weekend. With a significant lack of priests in the future, the Church in the UK may have to think radically like this if it is going to continue to serve its people.
- What good practice is there elsewhere in the UK, outside A and B ?
- As well as mass times there are a host of other issues which have to be considered if Parishes are going to be combined, such as pastoral care, care of the sick, links with schools and hospitals, sacramental programmes, financial arrangements etc.