No. 5 Bukit Batok East Avenue 2

Church of St. Mary of the Angels

No. 5 Bukit Batok East Avenue 2

Singapore 659918

MINUTES OF TOWNHALL MEETING

Place:Gubbio

Date:18 April2017

Time:8.12pm to 10.19pm

Present:

(Parish Team)

Friar Clifford AugustineFriar Jason Richard Sister Geraldine Ee Ryan Colond Agatha Cheong Joshua Teoh

Hazel BalhetchetJoan Smith

Julie TeoBenjamin Lee

(Christian Communities Committee)

Dominic SavioPujianto Cemerlang

Daisy De La CruzNerissa Agustin

Agnes PoeyJohn Kennedy

John LeePhilip Chuah

Cora Lee LouAnish Varghese

(Liturgical Committee)

Raymund ThamYu Shun Yuen

Keith YeoSigit Gunawan

Terri Lin

(Laity Formation Committee)

Carol SeowKaren Chng

Nicholas ChanCharles Chan

David LowSarah Janine Poon

Clasandra Hum

(Outreach and Parish Life)

Federica Di PascaleRose Lek Jeffrey Huan Dwi Sari Dewi

Katherine LowGina G Cambalon

Grace NgTan Li-Cheng

Agenda:Part I: Opening Prayer

Part II: Meeting Proper

A] Parish Pastoral Issues

B] Schedule of Next Townhall Meeting

C] Adjournment and Concluding Prayer

Part I: Opening Prayer

Fr Clifford opened the meeting with a prayer and an Easter song “Now The Green Blade Rises”. Shortly, he asked the Townhall how the Easter celebration has been for us.

Just before the meeting proper, Steven Poon from Charis addressed the Townhall on an upcoming humanitarian forum and fair held in June. A publicity newsletter was also handed out to the members to spread the world of the upcoming forum.

Part II: Meeting Proper

The previous minutes were passed by John Lee and seconded by Gerard Tan.

Anish from the Malayalam community was introduced to the Townhall.

A] Parish Pastoral Issues

1) Young AdultsPastoral Scene

Updates/Concerns/Plans
Movie Night
-Generally, the evening went well. There were icebreakers before the movie. However, there was little time to touch on the spiritual aspects of the movie as the night was getting late.
-The feedback from the attendees was to have more of such young adult gathering.
-About 80% of the attendees were from existing ministries.
Next step forward
-The original plan of Gerard and the team was to have 7 such events throughout the whole year. After which, the core group of people who come regularly will be asked to form a young adult group on their own. The whole idea was to begin more interest-based for the new faces.
-Some of the participants of that evening were new and may not be ready to join a young adult group just yet. Some interest-based activities might help to assimilate them better into the young adult scene eventually.
-A follow up is needed after each event.
Fr Jason’s Direction for Young Adults
-Fr Jason is the new Youth and Young Adult Spiritual Director.
-He has begunto meet up with various existing young adult groups.
-Some existing young adults mentioned to Fr Jason that they do not wish to keep attending interest-based activities.
-So far, he has met up with Loveworks. He will soon get in touch with Reached, Dunamis and Emmaus soon.
-Fr Jason plans to form just 1 young adult ministry. This group will be the face of SMOTA’s young adult scene. Formation and events will be organized to help garner more young adults. Eventually, the parish hopes to also get them involved in the liturgy as well. The targeted age group is 18 to 32 years old.
Fr Justin’s Input
-Landings, a ‘Returning Catholics’ platform is one that aims to targets the young to return to church. Some churches possess this programme for strayed Catholics to return.
-Perhaps the eventual young adults ministry may act as the evangelisation wing of the parish to bring the lost sheep back.
7pm Eucharistic Family
-From current discussions between Fr Jason and some present young adults, it is the eventual plan for young adults to hopefully be a part of the 7pm liturgy.
-They are excited to also bring in non-existing members to be a part of this bigger plan.
Conclusion
-Fr Jason and Gerard will work together by complementing the two plansfor the young adult scene.
-Fr Jason will work with the current nominally-involved young adultswhile Gerard and his team will catch the fresh faces and to assimilate them into the scene.

2) Pastoral Care Situation

Updates/Concerns/Plans
Caregivers’ Support Group
-The parish hopes to reach out to domestic helpers or caregivers of the parish.
-There is little outreach to these individuals.
-Majority of domestic helpers are Filipinos.
-There is also difficulty in outreach due to their rigid caregiving schedules.
-Sr Geraldine recently met three caregivers who have been in Singapore for 3-4 years but only started attending mass on Easter Sunday. She suggested if it is possible for Couples For Christ (CFC) to produce a contact card whom these domestic workers may contact on behalf of the parish.
-If the parish does not engage them, they will flock to the malls with their friends.
-For example, the FMM sisters in Holland Road has something running for domestic workers to engage in.
Edwin’s Input
-Edwin from CFC is trying to get in touch with the caregivers. He has already spoken to some of them.
-Most caregivers only devote an hour for Sunday mass and the rest of the day with their friends. Sometimes, they go for outings in the day before heading for evening mass.
Townhall Feedback
-Will other language groups collaborate with this idea?
-Could a parish letter possibly be issued or an announcement published on the bulletin to the parishioners so as to reach to domestic helpers.
-Not all domestic helpers will go to lucky plaza as it is might be costly. Some might prefer alternative programmes to engage them. For instance, baking in Gubbio, etc.
-John Kennedy’s wife is currently helping a domestic helper with English. This is a great effort but how does the parish’s concerted effort come into play? Should we start providing English course to migrants perhaps?
-Also, should the parish come up with programmes for migrants, the parish might need to consider accommodating friends of our domestic workers who may not be Catholics? This is becausenon-Catholic migrants might be keen to learn a new skill as well. The Townhall sees this as an opportunity to evangelise and to reach out to all of God’s people.
Conclusion
-Edwin will update us on a possible programme for these domestic workers in the next meeting.

3) Parish Easter Plan

Updates/Concerns/Plans
Theme
-The 2017 Easter Theme is ‘Christ revealed in us’.
-There is a social work/mission element to this theme.
-As a parish, how are we engaging the poor? How are we reaching out to the marginalized?
-The parish hopes to focus on being a parish that reveals Christ through our social arms.
Townhall suggestions
-To be a witness of Christ, we can give talks or hold community events to help parishioners see their roles beyond a church-goer.
-To encourage people to go beyond their functional ministry role. Ministries can either suggest a social project on their own or the Townhall can curatea list of social projects for ministries to get involved.
-Engage NCCs as Christ is first revealed in the homes. NCC members may go to the homes to visit the sick or home-bound of the neighbourhood.
-The P3 cohort will be engaged in a social project under theircatechism programme.
-There is little communication between the parish and the migrants.Perhaps we can organize some activities for them so that they may also interact beyond their racial groups.
-Children can get involved by helping them to think of the helpers in their homes.
-Young couples can be challenged to be a sacrament to others beyond themselves through possible migrant projects.
Conclusion
-This will be further discussed in the next Townhall.

4) Announcements

Updates/Concerns/Plans
1. 22 April 2017 (Sat, 8pm at Gubbio)
There will be a talk for all men. Brother Colin Wee will be the speaker for the evening.The seminar is called ‘Season of Man’s Life’ and is open to all men (no age limit set). Hazelfrom Gubbio was asked to cater for 30 persons.

5) Action Plan

Updates/Concerns/Plans
i)Gerard’s team and Fr Jason to continue with their young adult plans.
ii)Edwin to update the Townhall on a migrant programme next meeting.

B] Schedule of Next Townhall Meeting

The next meeting will be 2 May, 8pm at Gubbio.

C] Adjournment and Concluding Prayer

The meeting ended at 10.19pm with the Compline led by Fr Esmond and Fr Jason.

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