Minutes of the Parish Pastoral Council Meeting
Thursday 6th December 2018
Present: Veronica, Stephen, Amy, Bron, Terry, Rebecca, Pam, Peter
5. Votive Candles location: it was strongly felt that the location of the candles posed a real danger to altar servers standing with acolytes near the lectern during the reading of the gospel. Accordingly it was decided that the votive candles stand should be returned to its original place near the statue of Our Lady.
6. Data protection: Peter holds details of parishioners’ addresses. This file is used to produce address labels for the distribution of raffle tickets. In line with GDPR, it was agreed that all those on the list should be invited to opt out if they so wished from any further communication. This would be put into effect in the New Year. It was not known what the result of Father Clement’s parish audit was.
7. Social Centre report: Bron reported that the Social Centre was doing well with lots of bookings. They had received quotations for redecorating the walls (the ceiling was judged to be in a satisfactory condition) and the work would hopefully be carried out in the February half-term. A better quality emulsion would be used, enabling the walls to be wiped without the paint coming off!
8. Finance Committee report: Paul had sent a report from the committee, which was circulated. For financial reasons it made more sense to demolish the old garage and this would be completed while we had the skip outside church. The council expressed their gratitude to the finance committee and their complete confidence in their ability to steer the parish through the financial challenges that lie ahead.
9. AOB:
11. Closing prayerfor the Pope’s intentions.
The meeting finished at 8.58pm
Circulation: Fr John, Terry Breed, Veronica Brown, Paul Carroll, Marlene Bartlett, Pam Looi, Bron Coleman, Stephen Giacchino, Amy Jarkulisz, Cath Jackson, Rebecca Jinks, Kathryn Timmons, Peter Fryer.
Thursday 6th December 2018
Present: Veronica, Stephen, Amy, Bron, Terry, Rebecca, Pam, Peter
- Opening prayer led by Peter
- Apologies: Marlene, Kathryn, Cath, Paul, Father John
- Matter Arising from last meeting
- Safe: the Finance Committee intends saving its documents “in the cloud” so we cannot share a cabinet with them. We need to find out how secure/fire-proof a safe/cabinet needs to be for storing important parish documents and sacred vessels. The current safe is not fit for purpose.
- Register of Deaths: thanks to Kathryn for proofreading. The register is now typed and ready for publication. The electronic version needs to be kept in more than one place to ensure that it is not accidentally erased.
- Parish Advent Charity: as announced this is to be “Mary’s Meals”. Publicity has already begun, masterminded by Cath.
- Dennis Hargreaves’ acknowledgement: Terry showed us a sample of what the brass plates would look like. It was agreed that the date of when the work was completed (sanctuary crucifix, bowl and book stand) would also be included on the plaque. The Friends of St. Gregory would pay for the plaques.
- Parish Retreat 2019: Peter had sent two emails (October and November) to Father Ted but had not received a reply. It was suggested that he make contact by phone instead.
- Clutter: a skip had been ordered and would be filled over the coming weekend. There had been an appeal for volunteers.
- Mass attendance – November strategy: there had been a good response – almost forty Mass cards had been returned with almost 160 names. There had been very positive feedback from parishioners. It was proposed that social media be used to publicise times of services over Christmas and perhaps additionally the card system be used to let people know about services in Lent. Peter was to send details of the Carol Service and Masses and Amy would arrange for these to be circulated via Facebook.
- Parishioners in need: there was full and detailed discussion about how best to aid parishioners who were in need. Practical steps had been taken and further action was agreed on. Wi-fi is to be installed in church on a trial basis; as well as enabling remote control of the heating system, this would facilitate the broadcasting of Mass to housebound parishioners. There are now three parishioners in Coalville Hospital; it was suggested that the First Holy Communion children could make Christmas Cards for them with the possibility of a carol-singing visit if this can be arranged.
5. Votive Candles location: it was strongly felt that the location of the candles posed a real danger to altar servers standing with acolytes near the lectern during the reading of the gospel. Accordingly it was decided that the votive candles stand should be returned to its original place near the statue of Our Lady.
6. Data protection: Peter holds details of parishioners’ addresses. This file is used to produce address labels for the distribution of raffle tickets. In line with GDPR, it was agreed that all those on the list should be invited to opt out if they so wished from any further communication. This would be put into effect in the New Year. It was not known what the result of Father Clement’s parish audit was.
7. Social Centre report: Bron reported that the Social Centre was doing well with lots of bookings. They had received quotations for redecorating the walls (the ceiling was judged to be in a satisfactory condition) and the work would hopefully be carried out in the February half-term. A better quality emulsion would be used, enabling the walls to be wiped without the paint coming off!
8. Finance Committee report: Paul had sent a report from the committee, which was circulated. For financial reasons it made more sense to demolish the old garage and this would be completed while we had the skip outside church. The council expressed their gratitude to the finance committee and their complete confidence in their ability to steer the parish through the financial challenges that lie ahead.
9. AOB:
- Eucharistic Ministers: it was suggested that, when there were three Ministers present, that all could help in order to permit full involvement of all the ministers. Currently, Father John distributes the host by himself while two ministers distribute the Precious Blood.
- Rebecca thanked the Friends for their generous sponsorship of the “pizza planning evening” before Youth Sunday and for the gifts of the Mass Books which were hugely appreciated by the youngsters and their parents. The Council expressed their gratitude to all the adult helpers for their contribution.
- The council wanted to express their thanks to Father John (in his absence) for being so supportive of the activities of the parish. His willingness to back our initiatives was much appreciated.
- Pam thanked Peter for chairing the meetings and the rest of the PPC for their hard work and dedication. She even backed this up by producing some delicious biscuits which were swiftly demolished after the meeting.
- Peter suggested that, when Mass intentions were requested, priority should be given to the sick, those recently deceased and those with a special anniversary. This was to be outlined in the newsletter. There was currently something of a backlog because of the number of Mass requests made in November.
- It is a tradition that, at this time of the year, parishioners should be thanked for all their hard work in the running of our community. Rather than this being done from the pulpit, it was agreed that this Sunday the young parishioners would do so. Peter would send Rebecca a list of those to be thanked.
11. Closing prayerfor the Pope’s intentions.
The meeting finished at 8.58pm
Circulation: Fr John, Terry Breed, Veronica Brown, Paul Carroll, Marlene Bartlett, Pam Looi, Bron Coleman, Stephen Giacchino, Amy Jarkulisz, Cath Jackson, Rebecca Jinks, Kathryn Timmons, Peter Fryer.
