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Present:
Fr.
Vincent Gallogley, Fr. John Kealy, Barry O’Halpin, Judith Carr, Suzanne
Woods, Horst Dengler, Yvonne Nielsen, Yvonne Stausbøll, Brian O’Neill and
Walter Huyghe
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Apologies:
Pat Farrington, Susanne
Lehne, Paddy McEneaney, Brigid Alty and Johny Van Der Bracht.
The meeting opened at 19.55hrs and Suzanne said the opening prayer.
There were no matters arising from the April minutes so they were passed.
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Fayre:
The Tombola tickets have been given out during the past 2 weeks but there
are still about 280 envelopes to be posted. Volunteers are now need for the
stalls. The Confirmation children will help with the games along with Martin
Whelan. Someone is needed to supervise and run the Bric-a brac stall
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Franciscan Situation:
There have been no further developments. The Provincial and Vicar-Provincial
will be here on June 16 and it should be possible for members of both the
Finance and Parish Councils to meet them for an hour that evening. Fr. John
has the impression that things will not be happening as quickly as was first
thought.
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Education and
Evangelisation:
First Communion has taken place and was a great success.
Confirmation takes place on 29 & 30 May for 51 children. Last weekend, they
had their final all day retreat in the Parish Centre. There is to be a
review of the pre-Confirmation and Confirmation programmes in June.
Next year’s First Communion will take place on the last weekend of April and
the first weekend of May to avoid the long Ascension weekend.
The sheds should be ready to use as classrooms by September.
It was suggested that the CAFÉ group could be advertised more widely within
the Parish and that people should know that they are able to drop in if they
are free and not feel that they have to commit to every Sunday. Elaine
Cozzone will be taking over from Barry in September and they will probably
be using the David Wells tapes again. It was felt that there should be a
group for parents, especially of First Communion children, who are not
regular Mass attenders, to help pass on the faith. Also, it would be good to
have a discussion group at about 10.00, along the lines of the one run by
Joe Selling. Brian will contact William Desmond in Leuven. ACTION: Brian.
Fr. Vincent would like more people to know about the RCIA group that meets
on Sundays at 9.00. This is mainly for unbaptised people who are searching
for meaning in life and who are interested in finding out about Jesus,
Christianity and the Catholic Church, but also for lapsed or inactive
christians who want to take a fresh look at what they have fallen away from.
Masses over Ascension: Wednesday (Vigil) at 20.00 and Thursday at 10.00.
Also in Rue le Corrège at 19.15.
The Promises course is looking successful so far, with about 40 people
attending. The remaining dates are May 12, May 26 and a weekend retreat at
La Foresta on 4 & 5 June.
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Christian Service:
Chris de Fortis has asked for a food drive for the SVP on the weekend of
22/23 May. It was felt by the Council that it would be better to do this
after the Fayre as the Fayre Committee is going to be asking for donations
of bottles, cakes etc for the stalls. Yvonne will contact Chris to find out
if there was a specific reason for the weekend in May; if not, she will
suggest an alternative date. ACTION: Yvonne.
There will be a Fayre meeting on May 24. From now on, there will be appeals
both from the altar and in WORDS asking for donations.
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Worship:
See above re Promises.
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Parish Life:
Helping Hands: Suzanne put a note in last week’s WORDS to emphasize that
this was for emergencies only. She now has 10 volunteers and most of the
areas are covered.
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Maintenance:
Electrics: all the electric lighting is now completed i.e. pathway, Church,
parking area and security lighting around the building. The cut-out problem
(and no pathway lighting) in the Church has now been resolved. The power
cable to the pathway lighting had been hit and cut in two when the new
fencing was installed along the stream. This was also the reason why it had
taken so long to discover the problem.
Gardening: the new hedge and edge trimmer has now arrived. An estimate on
how much it will cost to fill up the sandpit (in conjunction with our
neighbour) should be arriving shortly from Steenacher. The treecutter
working on the neighbour’s land has cut down our dead poplar for free but
may charge for its removal.
Fayre: Johny hopes to be free on June 5 to help with the ground clear-up
arrangements.
Fr. Vincent also reported that we have a new electrician. The security
lights need to be on automatic and when Johny is available, the electrician
will come back and finish this job off.
AOB:
Fr. Pat Power will be here during Fr.Vincent’s absence from 22 June to 14
July.
Atlantic Bridge, a Dutch organisation that brings American Christians into
contact with European Christians, has asked if they can use our Church on
July 18 as part of their gospel singing tour. Fr. Vincent gave his
permission as he knows they are in contact with the youth leaders from other
Churches.
We will have a desperate need for musicians at the 10.00 Mass from September
as Stephen and Jane Blake are returning to the UK very shortly. Our
appreciation must be shown to them and to Rick Ross, who is also leaving the
Parish, in a formal way very soon.
Brian said the closing prayer and the meeting concluded at 21.15hrs.
The next meeting will be held on June 8 at 19.30. |
