Apologies (none)
1 / Father Wojciech opened proceedings with a prayer.
2 / The minutes of the previous meeting were proposed by Margaret and seconded by Father Wojciech
3 / Matters Arising
Bees
Tommy has emailed and then phoned Kelman about the bees. They agreed to meet up and talk about this.
Neighbourhood Centre
The committee has decided to seek more estimates for the work to repair the wall. It is highly unlikely that any work will be done before spring.
The cost for the work will be split with the church.
Cottage
As yet nothing has been done here. Father Wojciech told us that there was a new person in charge of buildings. We are not allowed to undertake any work without the permission from the Archdiocese.
Work to clear up the area outside the cottage will not be started before spring/summer.
Sacramental Preparation
We have arranged dates for the rites leading up to the reception of the sacraments. We also now have created a basic structure or procedure for preparation of children in Halyrude and those who attend other schools.
Sacramental Celebrations
First Confession will take place on 25th April at 2pm.
First Communion will take place on Sunday 25th May.
Confirmationwill be administered by Archbishop Cushley on Sunday 7th May at 12 noon. The decision has yet to be made as to whether this will effect normal Sunday Mass times in St Joseph’s or St James.
Christmas Services
St James – 9pm Christmas Eve
St Joseph – Midnight on Christmas Eve IN POLISH
St Joseph – 9:30 Christmas morning
St James – 11:30 Christmas morning
Parish Pilgrimage
Various possible destinations were discussed:
Iona
Wigtown
Nunraw
Lindisfarne
Kinnoull
This pilgrimage could become part of our future pathway to change.
Now that Cluster Meetings have started, they should continue and not end on completion of the pilgrimage. / Keep this on the Agenda for the next meeting
4 / Bibleworld
This will not now take place.
Instead, during the week for Christian Unity there will be an event in St Andrew’s Leckie Church from 6pm 20th January to 6pm on 21st January. We have been asked if we could provide volunteers to cover certain slots during this period.
An outline of this information will be put in the Newsletter along with details of how to volunteer.
5 / Cluster Meetings
2nd Meeting – 17th January 2017 in St Joseph’s for the Borders Cluster
We will have a shorter meeting to prepare for this ourselves after Mass on Sunday 15th January
3rd Meeting – will take place in Melrose on 21st February / Tommy
1st Cluster Meeting which took place in Galashiels was very well attended by parishioners from St Joseph and St James.
Father Jeremy Milne said he would send out a minute of the main points raised. Richard Leeson said he was willing to work with Father Milne in doing this. If Father Milne was too busy to do this sooner rather than later, Richard said he would drive down to collect the information and to create a record of the meeting.
Tommy met with Richard Leeson and David Bon. They will give an update to the parish at Masses on 7th/8th January.
2 people from each parish were to be chosen, we thought, to take matters forward once the three official Cluster meetings had ended. We were not entirely clear what their role would be but we hoped they would be responsible for coordinating information and keeping us informed
6 / Finance
Claire spoke to the report submitted to the meeting (see separate sheet). We discussed what we might need to create a Finance council. We need additional members. / Keep on Agenda for next meeting
7 / AOB
Safeguarding
Rosemary has finally managed to complete her training and has started to do some new parish checks.
Training will be made available in the Parish. Anyone who has not previously attended any training will have to be there.
This is compulsory. Anyone who has completed training might not have to attend.
8 / Date of Next Meeting
It was decided that our main effort over the next few weeks/months should be given to supporting the Cluster meetings.
Tommy will suggest a few dates for a possible Parish Council meeting and we will choose what suits most people.
9 / The meeting ended just before 9pm and we all went home.
FINANCE UPDATE – December 2016
INCOME & EXPENDIURE TO DATE
Income = £ 53,870.30
Expenditure = £ 40,210.67
Surplus = £ 13,659.63
(Surplus includes the two year Gift Aid Claims = £ 8,726.36 + Business Stream refund = £ 981.61)
The end of year accounts to be sent to the Archdiocese by February will give a clearer picture of our situation when all the cheques have cleared and the other payments are finalised. (e.g. Diocesan Assessment remainder)
Parish Finance Council.
A recent communication from the Archbishop mentions the requirement for every parish to have a finance council to help the parish priest in the administration of the parish. He asks this to be reviewed and any necessary steps to establish this be taken in the first half of 2017. This council should meet at least twice a year.