Summary of the Meeting of the Pastoral Council
of Our Lady Help of Christians, Rickmansworth
28th September 2015
Present:
Fr Shaun Church (FS) - President
Fr Mark Walker (FM)
Samantha Benson (SB) - Chair
Louise Leahy (LL)
Sharon Blayney (SBY)
Dave Pione (DP)
Richard Dumughn (RD)
Maud Cutting (MC)
Michael Curtin (MCN) – Secretary
apologies:
Neil Hilary (NH)
Welcome and Opening Prayer
·FS opened the meeting with a prayer.
Minutes of the Last Meetings
·The minutes of the last Ordinary PPC meeting, held on 19.05.15, were approved by all those present.
Matters Arising from the Last Meetings
·A brief progress report was given by MCN on the research so far carried out on the ‘Memorial Stone’ for the Parish Garden of Rest. Full findings with approximate costings to follow at next meeting.
Parish Priest’s Report
·Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help – The details of the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help (3rd to 11th October) have been publicised in the Parish Newsletters and on the website. Each evening should last about 45 minutes and include tea and coffee during which there will be opportunity for members of all three parishes to mix and meet the guest speakers.
·Pilgrimage to Sicily – 30 people are booked on the pilgrimage with Fr Shaun in October.
FS intends there to be a Parish Pilgrimage every year alternating between dates within school terms and school holidays. He already has ideas for future destinations!
·Advent- Two events are planned for the three parishes over the Advent season:
- Priest, Prophet and King - a six-week, DVD-based course by Fr Robert Barron. Beginning in mid-November and taking place as both an afternoon and an evening session. The evening session will be hosted by the Faith Matters group.
- As last year, three Thought-provoking films for Advent to be screened in Our Lady Help of Christians hall.
·Christmas - The arrangements for Masses will follow the same pattern as last year, but since Christmas falls on a Friday this year there will NO vigil Masses on Saturday evening (Boxing Day). Masses on Sunday 27th December will be at the usual times.
Chair’s Report
·Meeting of the Three PPC Chairs –
SB outlined the discussions which had taken place at the above meeting which covered the following areas:
- Our Lady’s – Progress with the installation of the pipe organ and the appointment of the Youth Worker (see below).
- St John’s, Mill End – The success of the pre-Mass exposition of the Blessed Sacrament; the enthusiasm for the re-ordering of the church; and the intention to hold an Advent Workshop for children based upon the popularity of the Good Friday Workshop.
- St John Fisher – The presentation (from St John’s Mill End, and OLHC) of a new Holy Water sprinkler to the parish to mark their 60th anniversary; and the proposed building work which will necessitate the closure of the chapel for a period in early 2016. (FS said that he would like to see Chorleywood parishioners who are Readers and Ministers of Holy Communion invited to exercise their ministries at Our Lady’s (and St John’s, Mill End), if they wished, during the time St John Fisher is closed.
Priorities for Development
·The Prayer Life of the Parish –
- Morning Prayer continues to be faithfully attended by a very small group of parishioners. Further promotion will take place in the Newsletter. RD will ask regular participants if they would like to sit in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to avoid disturbance from parishioners arriving for Mass.
- Saturday Morning Mass and Holy Hour numbers have fallen recently but may vary with seasonal changes in the Church’s year.
- Monday Rosary following 9:30 Mass will be promoted again via the Newsletter, but restricted to the Marian months of May and October only.
- Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help (see above).
- Ideas for future developments:
- Contemplative Prayer (Lectio Divina) group - (RD)
- Small Group Prayer - (FM) based upon Diocesan Seasonal Booklets
- School of Prayer - (FS) a week of guided prayer in groups around the Parish.
- Ecumenical Prayer – (FS) ideas sharing from Rickmansworth/Mill End Clergy Fraternal Group.
·Youth Provision –
FS reported that the three working parties had met together in July 2015, reported back and decided to advertise for a Youth Worker to be employed for 20 hours per week. The Parish Youth Worker will work initially within Our Lady’s and St John’s, Mill End, but may in future extend to include St John Fisher. As well as time for planning and compiling resources, the appointed person should be a regular presence at the Sunday Masses in both parishes.
The focus of their work should be with two groups of young people (Years 7-9 and Years 10+) meeting with them on alternate weeks, as well as a monthly meeting with young adults. The Youth Worker would also be involved in the Parishes’ Confirmation Programme. Interviews were to be held in early October and it is hoped that they will be in post in November.
·Outreach to those in Need –
The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) group, under its new president, Maureen Fields, is being re-launched under the title of the Chess Valley Conference, covering all three parishes. It is hoped that following the re-launch, the core group of the SVP will expand, possibly working closely with the Justice and Peace Group and later establishing a Youth SVP group. FS recognised the need to resource the group adequately probably via an annual collection as well as the contents of the parish ‘poor boxes.’
Pipe Organ
The pipe organ is under construction in Slovenia and is due to be installed in the first week in November. The initial clearing work in the organ loft is already complete and tiered flooring installed. There had been a very successful open meeting with Dr John Rowntree for parishioners to learn about the organ and ask questions. Fundraising is ongoing (£1028 from donation envelopes so far and a parish quiz night planned for 7th November). Fr Shaun had also written to the family of one of the main benefactors, who left a legacy in their will, informing them that the legacy was being used for this purpose. He reported that the news was very well received by the benefactor’s family. The organ will be formally blessed and played for the first time at a liturgical celebration at the 11 o’clock Mass on Sunday 22nd November.
The PPC members supported Fr Shaun’s suggestion to remodel part of the shelving in the repository (currently used as a lending library) to allow for new storage cupboards to be built for choir sheet music and the Folk Group music stands and instruments. The library books would be reorganized and sited elsewhere in the repository area. The piano is to be retained near its present position although surrounding furniture will need to be moved. The existing electronic organ has been valued and it is intended to offer it to St John’s Parish, Mill End if both Parish Finance Committees are agreeable.
Any Other Business
·Car park congestion (SBY) – Parishioners have expressed concern about the congestion in the car park after the 11 o’clock Mass due to guests arriving for the following Baptisms. It was agreed to move the start of the Baptism services to 12:45pm in future bookings and to email families to request that guests do not arrive before 12:30pm.
·RCIA – RD explained that the RCIA group begins 29th September with three participants.
·Scripture Group (SBY) – There has been a request for a scripture group. FS wondered if this could be linked with the Faith Matters group. He also revealed plans to run a course of DVD based sessions called ‘Bible Timeline’ in the New Year.
·Last meeting for this PPC – Fr Shaun reminded PPC members that at the next meeting time will be given for the non-clergy members to discuss in private about which four of them will step down in anticipation of the Pastoral Council Elections at the AGM next February.
Date of Next Meeting
·The date of the next full meeting was set as Monday 11th January at 7:30pm.