|
MINUTES OF THE PARISH
PASTORAL COUNCIL HELD ON 20 APRIL 2004
Summary
Present:
Fr. Vincent Gallogley, Pat
Farrington, Barry O’Halpin, Judith Carr, Paddy McEneaney, Yvonne Nielsen,
Yvonne Stausboll, Jeff Thomson, Horst Dengler, Walter Huyghe, Suzanne Woods,
Susanne Lehne and Brigid Alty.
▲up
Apologies:
Fr. John Kealy,
Greg Kaufmann, Brian O’Neill and Johny Van Der Bracht.
The meeting opened at 19.40hrs and Fr. Vincent said the opening prayer.
▲up
Matter Arising
from the March Minutes:
Web site: the man who compiled the site for St. Paul’s is Steven Hurst; he
can be contacted at steven.hurst@cec.eu.int or 02 767 0499.
Their website is www.stpaulstervuren.org and their email is
info@stpaulstervuren.org
▲up
Franciscan
Situation:
Fr. Vincent and Fr. John attended what Fr. Vincent described as a “rather
disturbing meeting” on 8/9 March in Ireland. The Franciscans announced, out
of the blue, the closure of 11 Friaries including Brussels. Every community
was to be visited within 10 days and every friar was to be notified within 3
days of this decision. As of 20 April, nothing has been heard or done. There
is a bilateral contract with the Mechelen-Brussel Archdiocese, which can
only be rescinded by mutual agreement of Cardinal Danneels and the Irish
Provincial; it should not be rescinded unilaterally and it would be
appropriate to give at least 2 years’ notice to provide a smooth transition.
The Irish Franciscans should have contacted the Bishop directly but he has
heard nothing yet.
Fr. Vincent met with several executives from both the Parish Finance and
Pastoral Councils and Lode Vermeer (who has been given pastoral supervision
of the Foreign Language Catholic Communities by the Cardinal-Archbishop),
soon after his return from Ireland. Lode Vermeer said that nothing could be
done until an official communication had been received from the Provincial,
which hasn’t yet happened.
Fr. John (who is 72 years) could possibly stay with us for another 3 years.
Fr. Vincent will be 69 next birthday, which could give him another 6 years
but after his 70th birthday, he is only willing to carry out strictly
pastoral duties. The Flemish Franciscan Provincial is very willing to
support a request to the Irish Provincial to allow both priests to stay on
here as “missionaries” until they are 75.
Fr. Vincent’s opinion is that our best way forward would be to look for a
lay parish administrator who is healthy, qualified and competent. A lay
administrator fills the same role as the parish Priest in that he has
followed a full theology and liturgy course but he is unable to fulfill the
sacramental role e.g. say Mass and perform marriages. His job would be to
find and make a rota of priests to say Masses e.g. students who would only
be available on Sundays. He would do all the administrative work within the
Parish such as the paper work that goes with marriages, attend Council
meetings etc. If he were found to be suitable for the Parish, he would have
to have a contract of e.g. 5 years and be paid around €40000 per year. He
would have to be given accommodation and if he were married, the Parish
Centre probably would not be large enough.
After a very long discussion, Fr. Vincent was asked to list his
administrative areas where other people could help out from now on. He was
quite willing to do this. It was also suggested that as soon as any more
information arrives, it should be given straight to the Parish Council
rather than wait until the next meeting.
In the mean time, and to quash any wild rumours, it was decided that the
Parishioners should be aware of the following 4 points:
a) there is no question of the Parish ceasing to exist
b) there is no question of the priests not administering the sacraments
c) Fr. John (health permitting) will be here for another 3 years
d) Fr. Vincent (health permitting) will hopefully be here until 2010.
▲up
Charities:
A great effort was made over Lent and more than €12000 was raised.
▲up
Education and
Evangelisation:
Preparations are well under way for both First Communion and Confirmation.
Judith reported that the Nuns in Ennis are unable to provide the children
with certificates this year due to the death of Sister Anne and the illness
of 2 other sisters. An urgent order has been put in to St. Paul’s,
Kensington, for blank certificates and we are hoping to have completed them
ourselves by the time the Gold Books are given back. There should be enough
Eucharistic Ministers available from parents and relatives for all 4
sacramental services.
Brian sent out a flyer before the end of term to all the Catechetics classes
requesting bottles for the bottle stall.
▲up
Christian
Service:
No report.
▲up
Worship:
Greg has sent out an email re the new rota. He has also made a personal
appeal for lectors and Eucharistic Minister to attend the “This Promise Is
For You” talks.
▲up
Parish Life:
There have been only 3 responses to the Helping Hands flyer. Suzanne will
wait and see if there are any more responses before it is published. It was
decided that it must be stressed that Helping Hands is only available for
emergencies or in cases of real need and not as e.g. a casual babysitting
service. Once Confirmation is over, Suzanne will use their noticeboard to
put up information.
▲up
Maintenance:
The overhead lighting has been erected in the car park. The uplights on the
outside of the Church have been installed and the path lights have been
repaired.
Our benefactor is willing to pay for the renovation of the sheds inside the
roadside perimeter of the grounds and work will start the week after the
Fayre. It is hoped that it will be available for Catechetics use from
September.
▲up
AOB:
Major appeals for the Fayre (13 June) will be taking place over the next
couple of weeks. In relation to tombola prizes, the priests will make a
short appeal in an effort to have a prize list that reflects the
international make up of the Parish. A contribution to the prize list from
N.American and African sponsors would be particularly welcome.
Yvonne S. said the closing prayer and the meeting closed at 21.35hrs.
|
