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St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church - Ansdell | |
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Minutes of meeting held on 3rd August at 7.30pm
Present: C. Woods (Chair) A. Cawthorne, A. Jones, C. Moore, P. Crean.. F.Dronsfield, J. Pomfret, Fr. Harry, M. Johnson.
In Attendance Fr. Peter Foulkes
Apologies R. Page, W, Kruszynska,A. Waters, B. Cawthorne, P. Drake
Fr. Harry opened the meeting with a prayer.
Liturgy Day
C. Woods welcomed Fr. Foulkes who had come to the meeting to plan for the Liturgy
Day on the 10th September (10am – 4pm. In the hall)
The possible topics for the day formulated at the 4th May meeting were discussed
It was decided not to end the day with a Mass but that a suitable liturgy would
be devised. Fr Peter suggested the evening prayer of the church; it was agreed
that he will devise a suitable ending for the day.
The group explained to Fr Peter how the current liturgy was working in the parish
and mentioned some of our concerns.
The weekend Masses have 3 separate congregations. and are very different.
People sometimes have to perform two ministries at Mass, this is especially
true at the 5.05pm Mass. The difficulties of recruiting new people were discussed.
The reconciliation services are not as successful as we hoped.
There is concern that planning has been reactive rather than proactive, we always
seem surprised by the approach of different liturgical seasons.
Fr Peter suggested we could have an annual plan, so that for example we always
discussed Advent at the September meeting.
He asked how many groups were involved in liturgy and therefore would be targeted
for the liturgy day.
It was decided to target Readers and Eucharistic Ministers Children’s Liturgy
group. The Choir, Bell Ringers, Altar Servers, Banner Makers, Flower Arrangers,
Welcomers and Collectors.
Fr. Harry then gave his overview of the liturgy during his first year in the
parish.
He felt that although the standard of Readers, Choir, Eucharistic ministers,
Bell Ringers, and Servers was high, it would be good to get more of the congregation
involved.
He felt that the liturgy at Mass was basically good, although we can always
improve
He had been impressed by the children’s liturgy, .at this point C,Woods
informed the group 2 new catechists were joining the group in September.
He felt the Sacramental programs needed looking at.
First Communion preparation had gone well and Fr Harry was grateful for the
hard work of the catechists, but communication with the parish about when the
programme was starting and what it involved could be improved.
Confirmation There had been no candidates for confirmation this year and we
did not have a plan or catechists for a program for next year.
Baptism There is no formal programme for infant and children’s, baptism
and no community involvement. One baptism had taken place at the 9.30 mass and
everyone had felt this had been a very positive event for the family and the
parish, and should be encouraged for future baptisms.
There is no formal marriage preparation course in the parish.
Youth involvement through the schools should be encouraged. He described Masses
at both St Peters and St Bedes, which he had celebrated, which had been devised
by the children, and in which they had taken part, as readers, servers etc,
and he would like to see this spread to the Parish. It is planned to have St
Peters school devise the liturgy for one Sunday Mass around next half term in
the first instance.
C. Woods suggested that perhaps one Sunday Mass per month could be devised in
this way with young people doing the readings.
Fr Harry also mentioned holding special masses with the Youth Club in the future.
Everyone felt this was a positive development.
Seasonal Devotions had been good especially Easter. Some discussion took place
as to how to keep the planning for these fresh.
Special devotions such as Taize had been good but not well attended again communication
about what we were doing needed to be improved.
Eucharistic Ministers involvement with the Sick and housebound had impressed
him in the last year.
Fr Foulkes then made some suggestions about possible strategies for the day
He will give an overview of the Mass and explain the role of various ministries.
He mentioned the new guidelines for the celebration of the Mass and suggested
that as a group we might wish to acquire the relevant books especially “With
Hearts and Minds “and go through it.
The importance of silence within the Mass was discussed and the appropriate
timing of explanations and the homily.
He will also talk about some of the seasonal liturgies.
He will need a flip chart and a notebook computer and power point projector,
which we will provide.
He will want to do some work in groups so we will need to arrange the hall accordingly.
Fr Peter will e-mail C.Woods to finalise arrangements.
C.Woods thanked Fr Peter for his attendance at the meeting and for his agreeing
to lead the liturgy day.
It was decided to provide a soup and sandwich lunch and appropriate beverages.
We will approach our target audience directly as well as with notices in the
bulletin.
Mass for the Sick and housebound
A short discussion took place about this event planned for Wednesday31st August.
This will be finalised at the next meeting.
Date of next meeting 24th August at 7.30pm.
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