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Present:
Fr. Vincent
Gallogley, Fr. John Kealy, Barry O’ Halpin, Judith Carr, Paddy McEneaney, Yvonne Stausbøll, Walter
Huyghe, Suzanne Christmas and Brigid Alty.
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Apologies:
Susanne
Lehne, Brian O’Neill, Horst Dengler, Lindy Martin, Johny Van Der Bracht and Yvonne Nielsen.
Yvonne said the opening prayer and the meeting began at 19.46hrs.
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Matters
Arising from November meeting:
Overall cost for the domain name and web space should be €142 per year not per month.
Nobody has yet come forward to take the place of deputy chair of the Council.
Pat Farrington is retiring back to Ireland at the end of March 2005; we need to give him a proper send off. Fr. Vincent will be seeing them shortly so can get further details – Karen is leaving in January so something needs to be organised soon.
The November Minutes were approved.
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Lay
Administrator:
Barry is the only person to have approached Fr. Vincent and he is willing to do the course by distance learning. It is recommended that the Finance Council be approached to pay his bill.
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Fund Raising Committee:
Yvonne Nielsen and Melanie D’Sa are willing to help on this committee but Barry would like more people to volunteer. There also needs to be an agenda balance e.g. not only to ensure that we can meet day to day expenses but to have funds to cover unexpected expenditure. As a Parish, we cannot rely on just having a good Fayre and the generosity of benefactors. Everyone needs to be aware of the community aspect of the Parish i.e. giving time to help with the Fayre and other fundraising events. We need to be able to reach all the nationalities of the Parish and get them involved.
Barry would like to get this committee up and running in January and would appreciate any input.
It may be that we have to approach people directly rather than just a general announcement. It was suggested that someone talk to Malachy Vallely who was/is a fundraiser for the Irish college.
We are also looking for someone to run the Fayre and Tombola now that Peter Willis and Rick Ross are no longer involved and the sewage project is to cost more than €15000
(Johny is looking for an up- to- date quotation).
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Evangelisation
and Education:
It was decided that Evangelisation should really be with the Worship Commission and that Education would be a stand-alone commission. Susanne is very willing to report to the Council on both Worship and Evangelisation.
Greg Kaufmann is returning to the US in May so someone is needed to take over his role with the Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors.
There are to be announcements from the pulpit about the fundraising committee so Fr. Vincent and Fr. John could also announce that there are vacancies on the Council.
It was suggested that the new Chair should introduce himself to the Parish when the announcements about the fundraising committee are being done and that there should be photos of the Council at the back of the Church.
Education: the Confirmation Charity lunch was a great success and raised over €500 for the charity in Ukraine. Fr. Vincent, Fr. John and Martin attended.
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Worship:
Judith Martin had asked about music for Christmas Eve (Midnight Mass). The Folk Group will sing at the Children’s Christmas Eve Mass and at 10.00 on Christmas Day but we possibly don’t have anyone for Midnight Mass. If Stephen and Judith are not available, there is a booklet with all the well-known carols in it but it would be useful to have someone who could pick out a tune on the piano or guitar.
Fr. Vincent asked that we extend our condolences to the Martin family on the death of Stephen’s father, Joseph, who died last week.
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Parish Life:
The office received an email from a lady in Malaysia who is moving to Brussels and who would like to be involved in youth activities in the Parish. Suzanne has replied saying that the Parish would welcome her services but that at the moment our youth activities are dormant. It was suggested that she be invited to the Parish Council so that she could set out any ideas that she might have.
A young, married, Flemish Catholic man has taken on religious studies at St. John’s and is the new youth co-ordinator at All Saints and Our Lady of Mercy BUT in a much reduced capacity to Audrey Walters. He is fully qualified in catechetics from Leuven University.
Nigel Walker has left the chaplaincy at Holy Trinity and a letter of good luck has been sent by the Parish.
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Christian Service:
The Charity Sale went very well and raised over €1350. There were fewer stands than in previous years but this made for more room.
There was a discussion about the Charity collections for the next few months and Yvonne will review these and report back in January. With regards to the Cardinal’s Appeal in Lent, it was decided that more information was needed and that posters should be obtained so that we could have a specific focus. People may be inclined to give more if the appeals are for 2 different charities in Africa.
There was also a request from Charles King, who would like to know if it is possible to use the Church for a choral work based on the theme of the family. Fr. Vincent requested more details before he could make a decision and said that these things should go through the Parish Council.
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Maintenance:
Sewage: Johny is asking about prices for the work and will get lots of quotes. The Gemeente can give the names of people who have done work in the area but we don’t have to go with these.
The Parish needs the number of a plumber who could come out immediately if necessary. Brigid has a contact and she will give details to
Johny.
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AOB:
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Sarah Pennington, who is working in Jordan, would like to talk about her work there. It was suggested that she could talk to GIFT when she is here in January.
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Barry would like to do this sort of thing on a more regular basis e.g. have evening talks, with a small entrance fee, where different areas of awareness are raised.
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Changes to Parish lists: Yvonne Stausbøll is to be Charities Co-ordinator and social action is to be removed. Susan Jacobs should be the contact for St. Gilles.
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Charity Collections: it was noticed that at the 10.00 Mass, the basket was going round whilst the speaker was still speaking which didn’t seem very polite and you couldn’t here what the speaker was saying. It was decided that at this Mass, the speaker was to give a short, sharp speech and then the baskets would be passed round. At 11.30, the speaker should not continue once the baskets are going round as the choir usually plays appropriate accompanying music. An adult must accompany a child who is doing the collections.
Brigid said the closing prayer and the meeting ended at 21.55hrs.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 11 January 2005 at 19.30 hrs.
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