PARISH OF THE SACRED HEART – PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on TUESDAY 5th MAY 2015
PRESENT: Father James Walsh, Deacon Ron O’Toole, Terry McIlwee, John Bolger, Hilary Bolger, Adrian Rudman, Carol Shippey, Mary Edmonds, Chris Falla, Michael Haughton and Agnieszka Gabriel
- APOLOGIES: Teresa Butler, Jayne Randall
Fr. James began the meeting with Prayer
It was agreed to finish the meeting by 8.45 p.m.
- MINUTES OF THE MEETING of the 17th February 2015 were approved.
4. MATTERS ARISING
St. John of the Cross Roof Repairs – The repairs to the roof have been done and scaffolding removed. The internal painting now needs to be done.
New Organ for Sacred Heart, North Walsham – Fr. James said £8000 had already been raised and he was awaiting approval from the Diocese for disposal of the old organ and the siting of the speakers in the Church
Parish Directory and Welcome Pack – The trifold ‘Welcome to the Parish’ leaflet has been printed and will now be distributed to each Church. Six welcome packs will be in each Sacristy for the PPC members to give to new parishioners when they undertake a ‘welcome to the Parish visit’ The packs will contain a Parish Directory, Photo sheet of PPC members, Brief History of the Parish, a Legacy Leaflet, a Parish Census form, a STO form for ‘planned giving’ and a Gift Aid Form.
Wheelchair Access to Sacred Heart, North Walsham – This is still causing problems for wheelchair users trying to navigate over the shingle to the ramp. Fr. James will follow up what progress has been made to provide the necessary hard standing beside the ramp since the matter was discussed at the last Finance Committee. It may well be necessary to involve the planning authorities in order not to contravene the listed building status of the Church.
- NEW EVANGELISATION
The ‘Stations of the Cross’ devotion written by Tony Crouch is now available on the Parish Website. Terry said the he had attended most of the very interesting Newman Lectures at the UEA Chaplaincy. The ‘New Evangelisation’ team will continue to provide helpful material for parishioners as they had done in Advent and Lent. We had taken part in the ‘Forty Hours of Devotion’ in each of the Churches at the end of April. Deacon Ron said the Bible Study Group was continuing to watch and study Robert Baron’s CDs on ‘Catholicism’. Rebecca Bretherton, a member of the New Evangelisation Working Party, is running a study day at Poringland on 27th June and John Bolger will represent our PPC. Rev. John Morill is the Chair of the Diocesan Commission for New Evangelisation and Fr. Sean Connelly who is coming to speak to the Parish at the Annual Meeting is also a member of the Commission. Terry shared information he had downloaded from the Bishops Conference website entitled ‘Proclaim 15’ which involved about 3 sessions of Parish learning together. Fr. James will look at the information and decide if it would be useful for our Parish. He was assured that previous learning together days were well attended particularly if held on a Monday when the Over 60s were already meeting in the Hall
6. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
This will be held on Monday 18th May at 7 p.m. Fr. James will encourage parishioners to attend over the next couple of weeks and advertise the meeting in the Bulletin. Terry confirmed that Fr. Sean Connelly has agreed to come and speak about his role as part of the New Evangelisation Team. The meeting will start with the supper and followed by the annual reports from Terry as PPC Chair, followed by Fr. James and then Nick Sutherland as Finance Committee Chair. Fr. Sean will then deliver his talk. Hilary asked if there should be reports from the Over 60s and the Parish Support Group. Terry thought a written report; with copies available on each table would be a good idea. St. John of the Cross parishioners will provide the Main Course and Carol and Chris will discuss this with them at the forum this weekend and Mary will ask St. Helen’s parishioners to provide the Desserts. Fr. James will provide some wine and soft drinks. PPC members will be on hand from 18.00 to help set up the hall for the meeting.
- S.V.P CONFERENCE IN THE PARISH
Adrian explained that the Cromer & Sheringham SVP had been very involved over the past few years in raising money to help the Food Bank. Both he and Michael McMahon were trustees of the Food Bank and clients coming to the Food Bank were often in need of practical help e.g. money for power and clothing etc. The SVP has been able to help and have raised about £7,5000. He has been asked to help when the clients live in our Parish area as Cromer SVP covers a very large area from as far as Wells and Walsingham to Stalham and the members are not that young anymore. The Cromer SVP has been able to use Canaan House in North Walsham over this winter to house 13 homeless people who have now all been found accommodation. This year the SVP have the use of Canaan House for the whole year. Adrian, Rob and Clare have been to some of the weekly meetings at Sheringham and so far have helped several people in our Parish area with house moves and visiting. Adrian is asking if it would be a good idea to have an SVP Conference in North Walsham to cover particularly North Walsham and Hoveton as Aylsham people’s needs are quite well covered by the ACT. Deacon Ron said he had been involved since 1954 with the SVP and felt that its purpose was to enhance and strengthen the spiritual life of members by living out the gospel, and being a member was a vocation. Hilary said that our Parish Support Group fulfilled quite a few needs for our parishioners such as bereavement counselling, accompanying people to the DSS, helping with AA applications, but obviously they were unable to help with any financial needs. Fr. James questioned whether the Parish had the resources to support an SVP Conference and the fundraising that would be necessary. Adrian explained that Cromer and Sheringham Parish have an annual parish collection for the SVP and they also receive a grant from St. Edmunds Fund. He will continue to attend the weekly meeting at Sheringham and try and help them with people who are from our Parish in particular. Fr. James thought the best way forward would be to ask people at the Annual Meeting for their thoughts on the matter and make a decision at the next PPC meeting.
- PARISH PASTORAL ASSISTANT REPORT
John will now co-ordinate and keep up to date the list of sick and housebound parishioners for the Sacred Heart community. Fr. James has up to date lists for St. Helens and St. John of the Cross and these are updated accordingly. He thought it would be a good idea for all the Eucharistic ministers in the Parish to meet together to discuss their roles and share ideas about visiting the sick and housebound. Michael asked if it would be possible to have a small fund available in each community for the purpose of occasionally sending a small gift to long-term sick and housebound parishioners in addition to the cards, which are already available. Fr. James agreed to a sum of £50 per community.
John was still unsure of his future role, which Fr. James agreed was difficult to identify precisely
- PARISH PASTORAL COUNCILLORS REPORTS
Sacred Heart – The Lenten Lunch Talk given by Deacon Ron had been well received. North Walsham Churches Together are working to become more ‘Dementia’ friendly and Fr. James is on the committee.
St. John of the Cross – The Women’s World Day of Prayer had been very well attended and so had the Lenten Lunch. The Cambodian Mass held last month, had been attended by people from various other parishes in the Diocese who also had links with Cambodian Parishes. There were 3 Priests and 1 Deacon celebrating the Mass. During Christian Aid Week (11-23 May) St John of the Cross parishioners will be manning a stall of fancy goods at the Monday Sale and also hosting a Coffee Morning in the Church on Friday 15th May. There will be a Forum this Sunday morning and the internal painting of the Church is on the Agenda. Carol asked if St. John of the Cross would also be able to have a new organ at sometime in the future and Fr. James said it was on the plans in due course.
St. Helen’s – Shortly to have a Forum meeting.
Polish Community – Agnieska said she had nothing particularly to report except to say that the Polish community numbers were shrinking as people moved away with their new jobs.
- A.O.B.
Carol said that the ‘Ignite Diocesan Youth Festival’ had been held in Swaffham over the Bank Holiday weekend and had been attended by about 200 Youth. Several Youth had walked 9 miles to join the Diocesan Pilgrimage at Walsingham on Bank Holiday Monday. Fr. James agreed that the Diocesan Youth Festival was now attracting good numbers each year having started a few years back with only a few Youth attending.
Fr. James asked whether the PCC had finished discussing and acting on ideas on the ‘Hopes and Aspirations Tree’ as he felt it would probably be brought up at the Parish Meeting. John said the main recurring theme was the wish to remain as one community. The ‘Hopes and Aspirations Tree’ will be on the Agenda again for the next PCC meeting.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETINGS
Annual Parish Meeting – Monday 18th May 2015 – 7 p.m. in the Parish Hall
Tuesday 7th July 2015 7.15 for 7.30 in the Parish Room
Tuesday 22nd September 7.15 for 7.30 in the Parish Room
Deacon Ron then concluded the meeting by reading Psalm 4
