Note of the Meeting of the Pastoral Council
of Our Lady Help of Christians, Rickmansworth
25th September 2017
Present:
Fr Shaun Church – President
Fr Damian Ryan – Assistant Priest
Anke Vos - Parish Youth Worker
Paul Forrest
Adrian Ramsden
Angela Steele - (Chair)
Jane Riddleston
Steph MacGillivray
Teresa Dinsey - Secretary
Paul Burke
Matters Arising from the Last Meeting
· Refurbishment of Halls
The church and hall have now been given a Grade 2 listed status. The Grade 2 listing on the hall is being challenged. The revised plan is to redecorate the church this autumn and to do the work on the halls next summer. Fr Shaun had written to all parishioners explaining the situation and providing details of the various works to be included in the redecoration. While the work is being carried out, it is hoped that we will still be able to use the church on Sundays but we may need to vacate it during the week. Fr Shaun stressed that this is a redecoration project and not a re-ordering project.
· Memorial Stones
The stones are being imported from India. Every effort is being made to contact the families of all those whose ashes are buried in the Garden of Rest. Information for the layout of the names needs to be supplied before the stones can be shipped. It is hoped the memorial stones can be installed fairly early in the New Year. The cost of the stones has been more than covered by donations. Surplus donations will be used to re-turf the garden lawn and improve the general planting. The suggestion was made that individuals be listed by date of death, with the appropriate year being inscribed above each group. Fr Shaun said that he would look into this. Fr Shaun also mentioned that it is now Diocesan policy that ashes may only be interred in zinc-lined wooden caskets.
1. Parish Priest’s Report
· Parish Pilgrimages - At the end of May there was a six day pilgrimage to Northumbria attended by about 20 people. On 24th July there was a very enjoyable day pilgrimage to Canterbury where more than 50 people attended. It is hoped that there will be a day pilgrimage to Stoner in 2018. 22 people have signed up for the Spring Half Term 2018 walking pilgrimage to Santiago, via the Portuguese coastal route.
· Music afternoon - There was a music afternoon for the musicians and instrumentalists of the three parishes on 22nd July at St John’s Mill End. The theme this year was the music of Taize and it is hoped this will be an annual event but with a different theme each year.
· Day of Recollection - Held last Saturday. The numbers were down compared to the previous day of recollection. In future these days will be open to all parishioners who exercise any ministry in the parishes.
· Assistant Priest - Fr Mark moved from the parish in August and has now taken up his new post as Diocesan Youth Chaplain. Fr Damian Ryan is now Assistant Priest to the three parishes and is settling in well.
2. Chair’s Report
On 4th September there was a meeting with the Three Chairs of the PPCs. The following was shared:
Rickmansworth
Updates were shared on the memorial stones, the church redecoration, the youth ministry and Sunday brunch, and the meeting of the health and safety reps from each of the three parishes.
Chorleywood
Chorleywood is currently trying to establish a Children’s Liturgy at the 9.00am Mass.
A talk by Scott Albrecht from the Catholic Worker Farm was well received. In discussion it was suggested that Scott be invited to come and speak again at the Rickmansworth Masses, as it has been some years since the last one. Fr Shaun said he would contact Scott about this.
Mill End
After all the work on the reordering of the church things have been fairly quiet at St John’s this past year. There is still some more work that Fr Shaun wishes to do to the church but this probably won’t happen until late 2018.
There are plans for a series of Advent prayer evenings for the three parishes. A guided prayer week leading up to Pentecost 2018 is being considered. Fr Shaun will be trying to find some parishioners willing to plan, organise and lead this.
There were two representatives from each parish who attend the funeral of Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor at Westminster Cathedral. The Chair reported that she had attended and that it was an amazing day and she was honoured to be there.
7. Youth Ministry Report
Anke Vos stated that the main focus and reason for her working with young people is to help them realise that God loves them and wants their lives to be transformed. Youth groups have been set up and Anke is helping other people to build relationships with our young people. Anke said she does not want the work to be just youth focused, i.e. not an annual youth Mass, but would like the young people to be involved with day to day things.
8. Mass and Celebration for Fr Mark
Mass on Friday 29th September at 7.30pm with a celebration in the hall afterwards. Fr Shaun proposed that the gift for Fr Mark be presented by the Chair of the PPC at the end of Mass. There have been lots of people signing up with offers of bringing plates of food for the party.
9. Feedback from the joint meeting of the three pastoral Councils
It was agreed that the meeting in July had gone very well and it was described as enjoyable and useful to discuss key issues common to all three parishes. It is hoped that this will be an annual event.
10. CAFOD Connect2 project Ethiopia
Fr Shaun said that he has spoken to the CAFOD Connect2 team about establishing a link with Sebeya in Ethiopia, as agreed we would do at the Three PPCs Meeting. The connection will be made with the whole community and not just the Catholic community. It is hoped that we will have a speaker from CAFOD over the weekends 28/29 October and/or 4/5 November to let us know about how Connect2 works. Fr Shaun said he would like to have a parish representative in each parish as a link person. Steph MacGillivray volunteered to be the Our Lady’s rep. Fr Damian will act as co-ordinator. Fr Shaun said that at some future point we may want to undertake some fundraising to support a project in Sebeya.
11. AOB
It was agreed that the Website needed some updating and Fr Shaun agreed to look at this.
Anke asked if there could be a bike shed or rack installed in the parish grounds. Fr Shaun said he would look into this.
The Chair mentioned that the memorial book in the glass cabinet is looking rather “dog eared”. Fr Shaun said that he would ask Kerry to renew some pages.
13. Date of next meeting
Monday 11th December 2017 7.30pm