PARISH OF THE SACRED HEART – PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 10th September 2013
PRESENT: Father David, Deacon Ron, Terry McIlwee, Hilary Bolger, Michael Hawley, Teresa Butler, John Bolger, Mary Edmonds, Michael Haughton, Agnieska Gabriel
1. APOLOGIES: Andrew Clark, Jayne Randall
Fr. David then began the meeting with Prayers for the start of the Academic Year and remembering in particular all the students starting at new schools, colleges and Universities.
2. It was agreed to finish the meeting by 8.45 p.m.
3. THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING ON 20th June 2013 were agreed with a couple of amendments. St. Johns to be always referred to as St. John of the Cross. The last sentence of St. Helen’s PPC Report was not agreed and therefore deleted.
4. MATTERS ARISING
Parish Website – Terry mentioned that he had checked the accuracy of the ‘Schools’ pages now that we had the new Primary School – St. Francis of Assisi, however the website still seemed to still have a link to St. Thomas More. John will check the problem and discuss with Sam if necessary. The website does seem to load very slowly and John will also check this problem.
Parking at Sacred Heart – The cost of £20,000 for laying plastic cladding in the car park was queried and Fr. David explained the area needing attention is almost the same size as area which has plastic cladding at Hoveton and that was the price for that job which had been covered by funding from a legacy. It had been a major undertaking requiring deep digging and the laying of hard-core and then soil and grass and the cladding. The problem with the lack of parking in the Sacred Heart car park had been discussed at the Finance Committee and Angela George was going to speak to various contractors to discuss the options available and the costs involved, as these will need to be budgeted for. As the Church building is listed any work to the land surrounding would need permission from the planning authority and the Historic Churches Trust. The trees are also part of the Conservation Area. Teresa will liaise with Angela and see if she can offer any further help. St. Helen’s are also looking at extending their car parking because on Saturday evenings people are having to park on the street. The idea of having ‘parking attendants’ on Saturday evenings had been discussed but no volunteers had been forthcoming! The exit from the Aylsham Church was also flagged up as very dangerous but an application for yellow lines on the road outside the car park had been turned down a few years ago. The Disabled Parking Badges where now in place in all 3 car parks and seemed to be satisfactory.
5. YEAR OF FAITH – PARISH VISIT TO CATHEDRAL
This has been organised for Wednesday 2nd October and lists are in each Church for Parishioners to sign up for the visit. The coach fare will be paid by the Parish. Lunch has been arranged in the Narthex following Holy Mass and a Tour of the Cathedral in the morning. Clare will ask if the Library could be open for the group to visit in the afternoon before returning home.
6. PPC ELECTIONS
Andrew Clark, Mary Edmonds and Hilary Bolger have all served their 3-year terms and Terry thanked them for their help and advice. Nominations will now be asked for 4 new representatives, as Sacred Heart Parish needs 2 new representatives. A notice will be placed in the bulletin asking for nominations by the end of October to enable a ballot to take place, if necessary, and to have the new representatives in place for the next PPC meeting in November
PARISH PASTORAL ASSISTANT REPORT
Terry thanked John for a very worthwhile, well-constructed and enjoyable Reflection Day for Readers and Eucharistic Ministers, which had been held on the 7th September. About 30 people had attended.
John had now been fully vetted and accredited by the Home Office and Security Service as was able to help with the weekly Bible Study Group at HMP Bure. Deacon Andrew Eburne is leaving the Chaplaincy to go to UEA so John is hoping that the Bible Study Group will be able to continue.
8. PARISH PASTORAL COUNCILLORS REPORTS
St. John of the Cross – Michael Hawley said the proposed fund-raising concert in October had been postponed until early next year. The Parishioners were still engaged in raising money for necessary roof repairs. The Harvest Supper has been arranged for the 5th October.
Sacred Heart – Hilary and Teresa had had an informal ‘Forum’ with Parishioners at Sacred Heart and various matters had been raised like repairing the Henry vacuum and buying extension flexes for the cleaners. As their Fairtrade stall is in the Hall rather than the back of the Church they asked if Fr. David could announce it each month particularly for the visitors benefit. Fr. David is trying to keep more social notices to a minimum at the end of Mass so it was agreed they would investigate using an A-frame board outside the Church advertising the Fairtrade Stall in the Church Hall. The Children’s Liturgy Group has plenty of leaders but they really do need to encourage some more helpers to join the group. The Group would like a board for the children’s work in the Hall; this will be discussed with Annabel. A few people found the extra sheets in the Bulletin with the day’s Hymns rather confusing. This will be discussed at the Liturgy Group on Friday as it had been a trial as others had complained they were unable to read the hymn numbers from the back of the church. It was suggested that a more formal quarterly Forum needed to be set up at Sacred Heart along similar lines to those at St. Helen’s and St. John on the Cross as a lot of ‘problems’ can then be dealt with by parishioners who attend the Forum.
St. Helen’s – Two co-ordinators, Doreen Crouch and Mary Brook have taken on the organising of the Harvest Supper, which will be held on the 7th October. Terry expressed the PPC’s thanks to Frances Dickerson for her hard work co-ordinating the previous Harvest Suppers over the last few years.
9. A.O.B.
Fr. David showed us the new leaflet that had been produced by the Finance Committee explaining about Gift Aiding and leaving a Legacy to the Parish. Most of the repairs to our Churches and the funding for the Parish Hall had all been made possible by generous legacies. The leaflet will be distributed this weekend with a ‘book mark’ follow-up leaflet in about 3 weeks time. Fr. David expressed his thanks to Peter Adamson for producing the leaflet and to Nick Sutherland for the correct legal wording to be used in a Will to ensure that any Legacy would be directly for the benefit of our Parish.
Fr. David explained that unfortunately the visit of Fr. Rajat from our twin Parish of Svay Sisophon in Cambodia had been cancelled as Fr. Rajat’s visa application had been turned down by the UK Border Agency. Fr. Rajat was due to arrive this week for a couple of weeks and was to spend time here in the Parish and then in Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds. Fr. Rajat will reapply for a Visa to try and come in November. The Parish will probably have to be actively involved with this application and agree to stand surety for him, as the UK Border Agency regulations are extremely involved. Fr. David explained there were similar problems with one of the Seminarians, Alfonso-Jude who is a Pilipino, he has started at Oscott but will have to return to the Philippines at the end of the month and try and apply for a Visa to study here, but this may take several months and require funding support from Oscott Seminary
10. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 26th November 2013 7.15 for 7.30 in the Parish Hall or Presbytery depending on the Hall use.
Deacon Ron then concluded the meeting with a reading by Simone Weil who had a great devotion to the Holy Eucharist.
