Minutes of Meeting
St Gabriel’s Church
Meeting of the Pastoral Parish Council
Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday, 19 April 2017 in the Side Chapel Room, St Gabriel’s Church.
In attendance:
Fr Jim Smith (FJS) / Robin Currie (RMC) / Elaine Anderson (EA)Tulio Filogonio (TF) / Mary Cormack (MC)
Gill Barber (GB) / Jane Scott (JS)
Craig Thomson (CRT) / Victoria McDonald (VM).
AGENDA ITEMS
- Welcome and Opening Prayer led by Fr. Jim.
- Apologies were received from Gerry Houston(GH)and Karen Blair (KJB)
3. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES
Minutes proposed by - Mary Cormack (MC)
Seconded by - Elaine Anderson (EA)
4.OPEN AGENDA ITEMS FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES
Church Signage (outdoors)
Gill has confirmed that church signage is underway and we hope to have a date for the signage to be in situ very soon.
Action: On going/Gill Barber (GB)
Hall Refurbishment Update.
Father Jim updated the group on the hall progress.
The hall refurbishment is now underway and the approx completion date for all works is the end of July.
The group discussed the proposal to have a week of events to celebrate the completion of the works, and also to have an official opening when refurbishments are complete.
Ideas will be sought to confirm:
- Event calendar
- Who would officiate the opening e.g. eldest member of the parish
Action: on going/Fr. Jim (FJS)
Cluster Meeting Update
Fr. Jim provided an update about the final cluster parish meetings held in St Gabriel’s on Thursday 16th February 2017 (Vibrancy in parishes).
As all three meetings are now complete there is an exercise underway (led by Jim Fraser) to collate the outputs from all three meetings and prepare a document to be sent to the Arch Bishop.
Action: on going/ Fr. Jim (FJS)
Name Tag Sunday
Consensus was that the name tag Sunday activities were a great success.
As there has been positive feedback to the event it was agreed that this should be an annual event.
Action: Closed Karen Blair (KB)
WC Upgrade
Craig advised that he had looked at options for the toilets to be upgraded but no decision had been made as yet. Mary suggested that as there is a finite amount of space that can be utilised it may be advisable to convert the existing two toilets into one, enabling easier access for disabled parishioners and those who require baby changing facilities.
Fr. Jim to speak to the builders undertaking the hall refurbishment to ascertain if this is a piece of work that they could undertake and costings for the upgrades.
ACTION: On going: Craig Thomson(CRT)/Fr. Jim (FJS)
Primary School 50th Anniversary
Tulio informed us that the school are in the process of raising money for an outdoor stage in the playground area.
The members discussed ideas to assist in the fundraising and Tulio suggested they we hand out envelopes at mass for any donations. These donations can then be collated by the parish council members and presented to the school.
Action: On going/Tulio Filogonio (TF)
LENTEN PREPARATION SERIES – DO YOU LOVE ME? –Adult Faith Group
‘Do You Love Me?’ is the recommended book of the Archdiocese for Lent 2017. The Adult Faith Development Group is offering six evenings over the next six weeks on Thursdays from 7 to 8.30pm including a break for refreshments. A sign-up sheet will be available at the back of the church on the table. ALL ARE WELCOME.
SESSION 1 – SEARCHING – Thurs 2nd MARCH
SESSION 2 – RECOGNISING _ Thurs 9th MARCH
SESSION 3 – EXPERIENCING – Thurs 16th MARCH
SESSION 4 - CONVERSING – Thurs 23rd MARCH
SESSION 5 – FOLLOWING – Thurs 30th MARCH
SESSION 6 – CHOOSING – Thurs 6th APRIL
Action: On going/Robin Currie (RMC)
Parish Website Pages
Tulio updated the group on the progress of the parish website. There have been approximately 1300 visitors to the website with very positive feedback on the content of the revamped site.
Tulio has advised that any future updates/amends to the website should be passed to him for actioning.
ACTION: On going/ Tulio Filogonio (TF)
Church Cleaning SOS
It has been brought to our attention that there is a serious lack of available volunteers to undertake the weekly cleaning of the church.
There has been some interest from a small number of parishioners to make up a secondary team of volunteers. Gill and Mary will speak to the volunteers and look to pull a rota together to take the pressure off those who have been undertaking this task for many years.
Action: On going/ Mary Cormack (MC) /Gill Barber (GB)
5. NEW BUSINESS OF THE PARISH COUNCIL
Anointing of the Sick Mass
It was discussed by the group how we can support those who have been involved in the organisation of the anointing of the sick masses. Robin will speak to Sr.Francis re future masses and how the parish council can give assistance.
Action: On going/Robin Currie (RMC)
Open Church Day
Robin advised that the church will be open all afternoon on Corpus Christie for exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. A sheet will be placed at the back of the church to enable people to sign up to specific times during the afternoon.
Action: On going/Robin Currie (RMC)
RCIA
Robin advised that we have two people are starting the RCIA programme this year and he has asked that all members keep advise if there is anyone else they are aware of that wishing to be part of this group
Action: On going/Robin Currie (RMC)
Church Grounds
Elaine advised that the church grounds work will be supported by a number of people who are undertaking Community Service.
This will support in the painting of railing etc and should be a great help to those involved in the upkeep of the grounds on a regular basis
Action: On going/Elaine Anderson (EA)
New Wheelchair
It was discussed in the group that a new wheelchair was necessary for use in the church, to be used when required.
Gill will look at costings for a new chair and advise Fr.Jim
Action: On going/Gill Barbour (GB)
Children’s Liturgy Signage
Victoria advised that there are a number of interruptions to the Children’s Liturgy as partitions need access through the area used for Children’s Liturgy to the toilets during mass. It has been agreed that a sign will be put up during Children’s Liturgy asking that the door half way up the church is used for access to the toilets to minimise interruptions.
Action: On going/Victoria McDonald (VM)
Transition Booklets
Fr.Jim advised the group that there has been a book written by Hazel from the youth ministry at the Church of Scotland, to assist in the transition between primary school and secondary school. It was agreed in the group that funding would be sought to assist with this project.
Action: on going/ Fr. Jim (FJS)
6. Adjournment
AOCB: a) Tulio thanked Robin for all his hard work over Holy Week, it ensured that everything went smoothly and everyone agreed that his support for our visiting priest was invaluable
b) Craig advised that Tranent have issued a Brexit statement and he will cascade to all members for discussion at the next meeting
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the PPC approved for:
Wednesday 14th June
Closing Prayer: Father Jim Smith
All PPC meetings take place in the side chapel room at 7.30pm after Mass.
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Pastoral Parish Council
Minutes of Meeting