Minutes of Parish Meeting
Saturday 18th July
The meeting opened with a brief experience, led by Fr Lister, of the synodal spiritual conversations, listening together to the scriptures and the Holy Spirit by listening attentively to each other, which have been taking place between the two Sunday masses at various times over the last year or so.
Fr Chris Update – Fr Chris’ cancer treatment has been successful, and his consultant is very pleased with the progress. However, Fr Chris is still suffering with the side effects of the treatment and, through discussions with the Archbishop, he has made the decision to resign from the post of Director for the Permanent Diaconate: this will allow him to focus his remaining energy on his parish responsibilities.
Mission and Outreach – The parish has had a number of people joining the Church since the beginning of the year: 2 at Easter, 5 at Pentecost, 3 at other time; we also have some people enquiring at present. This is a sign of a living Parish. There is a group of young people from the Parish who meet regularly in a local pub to discuss theology and Church matter: they call themselves, ‘The Young Theologians’. We have several other outreach projects in Church: CAFOD, Foodbank support, bereavement team. Through these connections with the local community our community is growing. We must always remember we are a missionary community.
Holy Communion under both forms – We have now recruited more Eucharistic Ministers and are now in the position to offer Holy Communion under both forms. This will mean 1 extra minister is required at Mass on Sunday. Thanks to all who help with this ministry.
Web Site Report
Thanks to Michael Douglas for his support in keeping things up to date. Thanks also to Joel, who has been particularly busy the last few months as we have had a few technical problems concerning contacts which he has managed to correct for us.
Site Visits – the site now gets on average 1150 site views a month. Last time it was reported it was around 850 a month, so an increase of nearly 200 views a month. This shows that the web page is a trusted source of information for people. The news page continues to be the most popular page followed by the Events Calendar, then individual news items. It is hoped to continue to have two new news items each week: it’s either a feast or a famine with articles depending on the time of year. If you have anything of interest either from a parish point of view or a local community point of view that you wish to share, please get in touch. Thanks to all who do send articles for the web site: it is very much appreciated.
Advent/ Lent Prayer Resources
Advent – Prayer resources were used by approximately 10 people, you may think a small number of people but if one person uses them it’s worthwhile.
Lent – Resources more widely used, in excess of 20 people on average over the 6 weeks of Lent which is a positive for the Parish.
Contacts - The site page continues to be a place of contact for parishioners and non-parishioners alike. On average 5 contacts a week come in via the web site: anything from information on Sacramental programmes to requests for Baptismal certificates from 20 years ago. Thanks to Antonia who manages and responds to all these requests. Again, this shows that the web page is reaching out to the local community and giving them the opportunity to contact us.
Developments - Coming soon, some general prayer resources which will stay in place until Advent; the resources are nearly ready and they will be going live in the next few weeks. A notice will go in the bulletin when they are live.
Streaming – Since we have started live streaming, we have had 10,001 views of 5 minutes to 1 hour. In May we had 712 view of 5 minutes to 1 hour. Last month we had 505 views of 5 minutes to 1 hour. Funerals are very often streamed and offer a chance for those who cannot be present in Church an opportunity to be present virtually. Normally around 20 people view funeral services. Fr Gerry’s funeral was viewed by 110 people. We have also had views from over 100 different countries.
Finally a big thank you to all those who support the web site either by contributing or by viewing it, it makes it all worthwhile.
Making Ends Meet – A full financial report was given to the meeting
The buildings committee have made a significant contribution to the recent quinquennial report from the Diocese. There were a number of inaccuracies in the report: Bill Hardaker has given his time to carry out his own survey and is now in negotiation with the diocese concerning the scheme of work that needs to be completed. Our thanks also to John Walker, who has kindly given his time to decorating the two porches in the church.
Pastoral Development Strategy – We are now at the first major consultation stage of the strategy. The three Sefton Deaneries are the pilot for the strategy and things are moving at a slow pace. There are three ways people can make a contribution to the consultation.
Personal contribution – Follow the instructions on the Strategy Document and make your own personal contribution
Group Contribution – Members of the working group will be working with any group they are involved with to gain feedback from the group; this will then be included in the strategy feedback.
Parish Meeting – It is hoped to have a dedicated Parish meeting to reflect on the proposals and allow opportunity for feedback.
Fr Chris drew attention to the need to look at Deanery boundaries in greater depth and discussed looking at which ‘families of Parishes’ will work best together. There is also a need to increase the amount of laity involvement in ministries and outreach.
CAFOD – Live Simply Update – We have now completed all the tasks that we submitted in the original plan. A big thank you to all those who have been involved in the delivery and supported the activities. The next step is to put the Parish forward for assessment and hopefully we will become successful in our bid to become a ‘Live Simply’ Parish. This is not the end of the process: we need to sustain and continue the work within the Parish.
Lourdes at Home Mass - All invitations are now distributed and all arrangements are in order. Refreshments are in The Venue after Mass. There is still a need for a few more ‘Welcomers’ for the Church and the Venue. So far 45 people have responded positively to the invitation.
If anyone wants to send a petition to Lourdes forms will be in the Church porches over the weekend and early next week. Fr Des will take them to Lourdes on behalf of the Parish.
The Venue - the kitchen work has not been completed yet: the ‘Save our Kitchen ‘ money will be retained by the parish until the work is completed.
There have been a few complaints concerning the noise from the ‘The Venue’: these have been referred to the estate agent managing the lease and the Diocesan solicitors.
The meeting concluded with a prayer.