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Present:
Fr.
Vincent Gallogley, Barry O’Halpin, Judith Carr, Ferran Tarradellas, Yvonne
Nielsen, Suzanne Christmas, Brigid Alty, Susanne Lehne, Walter Huyghe, Lindy
Martin and Yvonne Stausbøll.
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Apologies:
Pat
Farrington, Horst Dengler, Paddy McEneaney, Fr. John Kealy, Johny Van Der
Bracht and Brian O’Neill.
The meeting opened at 19.45 with a visit to the new classroom and Brigid
said the opening prayer.
Web site:
Ferran
gave a presentation about and demonstration of the new website. Details can
be found as an attachment at the end of these minutes.
Barry thanked Ferran for all the work that he has done over the last few
months.
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Matters
Arising from June 22 meeting:
Franciscan situation: although we have been granted permission to keep our
priests, in the long term there are no priests available. We will have a
maximum of 5 years to sort out our future. Ideally, what we would need is
someone who is under 60 and fit and healthy. We may be able to get priests
who are doing their studies here but they won’t want to do the
administration. So we need to start a search for a lay administrator now and
at the next council meeting we need to discuss how to go about this.
Fr. Philip has been invited to discuss Sunday liturgy without a priest; he
will be delivering this to clergy from all over Belgium and the Aachen
diocese.
Fr. Vincent’s needs re admin: his most pressing need is for filing and
dealing with his emails. Suzanne has started to put some of his things in
order and Yvonne S. has been through some of the paper work but it needs a
concerted effort. Yvonne N and Lori Urbanec volunteered to do this. He would
also like his books to be put in order i.e. some sort of library system but
this can wait a bit longer.
His other pressing need is for sacristans, especially for the 6pm Mass. It
can take Fr. Vincent up to an hour and a half to get ready if there has been
a wedding or baptism as he has to turn the chairs around, get the money bags
ready, prepare the wine & hosts and make sure there are matches. He would
like to have a few trained sacristans who could arrive between 5 and 5.30
and do this preparation for him.
The June 22 Minutes were approved.
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Charity:
Lori Urbanec
gave a short talk about the work of Miles Jesu, part of the Epiphany Medical
Missions. They provide basic health care to the most needy in the world.
Yvonne has also received requests for Beslan, Darfur, the Pretoria baby
therapy clinic and Ittre prison.
It was suggested that information about how to donate to the Beslan and
Darfur causes should be put in Words as the major charities would be
involved with these and that the October charity collection, on October
9/10, would be for Miles Jesu.
Lindy is going to put an article about the Knights barbecue for Fr. Max in
the next Parish Life. ACTION: Lindy.
The Charity Fayre will take place on 28 November.
The Little Sister of the Poor are having the September charity slot; they
will not be talking at the 10.00 Mass and they have been asked to keep it
brief at the other 2 Masses. Jessie’s cooking demonstration in aid of the
Little Sisters was very successful and she will be holding another one with
the date to be advised.
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Evangelisation
and Education:
Brian has the list of dates
for all the Catechtics classes and dates of First Communion (April 24/May1),
Reconciliation (March 20) and Confirmation (May 15). First Communion may
change if neither teacher is available on May 1.
A group of actors are coming on Oct 3 to present the Gospel to the children
at 10.00 Mass
There is going to be an important Mission held in Brussels around All Saints
in 2006. Our Parish needs to send 2 representatives (aged under 40!) to
attend occasional planning meetings and the first one will be on 28
September at the Centre Boetendael in Brussels. A similar International
Congress has been held in Vienna and was very successful.
Furniture: 8 new desks will be needed for the new classrooms. Brian will
order these (they may be needed for the Meet ‘n’ Greet). 50 folding chairs
will also be coming from Leuven; these should not be used by the younger
children.
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Worship:
Susanne is organising a children’s Liturgy of the Word which will take place
monthly. During the 10.00 Mass, the younger members of the Parish and their
families will be invited to the Hall to take part in the liturgy through
symbols and prayers. They will go to the Church around the Sanctus so that
the celebrant can pause and welcome them in. Susanne will need some help so
she will ask for teenage volunteers. She is also going to contact Jill
Raymont, from St.Paul’s, about resources.
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Parish Life:
Helping Hands: is being used but not necessarily in the way that we want it.
Parishioners should be reminded that it is really for emergency use only and
not for ongoing situations.
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Meet ‘n’ Greet:
Details have gone into the Happenings column in the Bulletin so will
hopefully reach potential parishioners.
The Knights are providing burgers, hotdogs, beer, relishes etc. They will
clean and set up on the Saturday and will clear away on the Sunday. Walter
will provide a lamb and Fr. Vincent, the wine. Existing parishioners are
asked to bring salads and desserts on the day. There will also be tea,
coffee, soft drinks and cakes.
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Amnesty
International:
Amnesty are having a major campaign about violence against women. They have
contacted the Parish re providing facilities for 100/200 people and they
need a sound system for their presentations. It was decided that St.
Anthony’s was not really big enough and we would have to turn them down on
this occasion.
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Maintenance:
The sheds
were emptied on Monday and it was discovered that they were not built on
proper foundations. The pillar that was moving was taken down and the back
wall will have to be reinforced. We will need a Builders Certificate to give
us proof that the structure is sound and that our insurance will still be
valid. Johny believes that that we will be issued with a warranty which will
guarantee the building work for 10 years. Jeff Thomson needs to look at our
insurance re the new building.
ACTION: Jeff.
New lights
will be put in and the wiring and heating pipes will be between the concrete
and the stone floor. Johny will also look into having a day/night counter
for the electricity. The rooms should be ready by September.
The “sand
pit” between ourselves and next door is being filled in this week. The dead
poplar tree has been taken down and the tree by the sheds will be removed in
September.
It was
suggested that a crossing should be marked out so that the children can move
safely between the new rooms and the rest of the Parish centre.
A microphone
and lead has gone missing since the Fayre. It is not known whether someone
has borrowed it or whether it has been taken.
Lock on the
Sacristy door: the feeling of the meeting was that the Sacristy lock needs
to be changed and the “tongue plate” realigned so the door can be locked;
this is because of the things that are now kept in there but we will check
with Fr. Vincent and see how he feels about this.
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Meet ‘n’ Greet:
The date has
been set and Lindy will check with the Knights about the arrangements.
ACTION: Lindy.
There will be appeals for food in WORDS from existing parishioners on the 3
Sundays before (August 22 & 29 and Sept 5).
ACTION:
Angela.
Barry will
also see if he can have an article in the Bulletin about the Parish before
Registration and Meet ‘n’ Greet so that the new member states can be
welcomed and invited to come along.
ACTION:
Barry.
Lindy would
like the names and addresses of all new parishioners in the past year so
that they can receive a special invitation from Fr. Vincent.
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AOB:
The NSA are
holding their Welcome Fair on Friday 10 September and we need a US citizen
to man our stall as Fr. Vincent is unable to attend. The latest addition of
Parish Life should be available to potential parishioners but the contacts
list on the back needs to be updated. Judith volunteered to do this before
Friday and she will email it out so that whoever is going (Kendra Kaufmann?)
can copy it before they go.
We still have an urgent need for musicians at 10.00 Mass.
The next meeting will on Tuesday 12 October at 19.30.
Advance warning: the AGM will be on Tuesday 9 November so start preparing
your reports now ( no more than 1 side of A4 please) and the December
meeting will be on Tuesday 7 December.
Susanne said the closing prayer and the meeting ended at 22.15
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