Parish Council

PRESENT
Fr. Damian Cassidy, John Donnelly, Ramon Landi, Joe Sutton, Jane Landi, Cecilia Webb, Patrick Madigan, Frank Nolan, Tina Bolger and Pat Bolger.

APOLOGIES
Fr. Tom Egan, Eddie Albert, Clyde Webb, Hilary Carrasco, Brian Hunt, Jackie Reddington, David Clarke.

OPENING PRAYER
The meeting started with a prayer, and was chaired by Ramon Landi in the absence of Eddie Albert.

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 10th 2007
Minutes were agreed and signed as correct.

MATTERS ARISING
CHRISTMAS DRAW.  It had been decided by the fund raising committee to hold a Christmas Draw after all, and not combine it with the Dinner Dance.

FINANCE
The figures were presented by Pat Bolger in the absence of Brian Hunt.
The period 30th September 2006 – 30th Sept. 2007 was looked at.

Income was down, but this is expected half way between two planned giving campaigns.  Expenditure is up by £12,000, but this is almost completely explained by the rise in our Diocesan Assessment for 2007.

Recurring income figure of £56,000 at September 07 is healthy.

The bank balance has increased from £56,000 to £143,000 during the period, but as ever, we must remember that we have some serious spending plans coming up.

PRAYER AND EVANGELISATION
WEBSITE.  This is now online and we know that people are looking at it.  Eddie has given us some statistics of “hits”.  By the end of October there had been 1178 visits and individual pages had been visited 27,807 times.  From 1st - 12th November 489 people looked at 8,765 pages.

Some of the headings could be clearer.
We could have links to the Lourdes website and to other sources of interest to parishioners.
Any item would be gratefully received to be posted on the web.

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.  There will be Sunday afternoon adoration during Advent, and a poster will be put in the porch for people to sign up for half hour segments.  There must be people in the church whilst the sacrament is exposed.  The afternoon will end at 5.30 pm with Benediction.

Can we get a group to come together and organize this in future?

ADVENT MASS.  There has been a suggestion that we will ask parishioners to volunteer to hold a house mass on the Fridays of Advent.  They would invite their neighbours, rather than their friends and offer a cup of tea to follow – this would support the Cardinal’s plea for small communities to get together.

It if goes well, we will consider doing it again in Lent.

ECUMENISM
Fr. Mark, the new vicar at St. Paul’s, has been to lunch.  The Carol Service will be on Sunday 16th December at 6.30 pm followed by mince pies and mulled wine.

FUND RAISING
SEATING.  We have received a quote from Irish Seating Contractors.  They would need a year to do the work and would charge between £54 and £74 per pew depending on the wood and design used.  They will give us something to take the old benches away, so that would offset the costs a little.

Ormsby do not seem to be interested in our business.

Hayes and Finch have a bench at Hammersmith that matches our altar seating and we are waiting for a quote from them.

We are renewing the pews in order to standardise them.  The current ones are not all the same and they don’t all fit, they were not designed for this church, and were second hand when we got them.  We need something that will last.  There is no intention to reduce the number of seats available.

Could we ask people to donate a pew?

We should decorate the church first and should make a move on getting quotes etc.

SANCTUARY FLOOR.  Do we really need a carpet?  Would stone or marble be better?  Stone would show the stains.  Should we shorten the sanctuary to make more room?

We should try and get this done by the end of 2008, to commemorate the end of the Lourdes anniversary year.

STATUE.  Fr. Damian would like to see a block of colour behind the statue on the east wall.

DINNER DANCE.  105 tickets sold, 95 left.

CHRISTMAS DRAW.  Going well, £500 is first prize.

Recent events, such as the concert and the play, Kolbe’s Gift, have raised well over £1,000 for the church funds and we have also received £3,000 in private donations for the roof repairs.

Patrick Bolger brought the One Hundred Club Donations book in, (from when we were fundraising for the Hall) which should be kept in the parish, which means we need to purchase a display cabinet.  Should we hold an annual mass of thanksgiving, say around 11th February?

Whilst scaffolding is up for the roof repairs should we look for other jobs that need doing, eg. wiring?  It would be useful to have a pulley system which would help when we need to cover the statue during Holy Week.  Does the speaker system need renewing?

Windows and eaves are being painted at the moment.

PARISH HALL
Patrick Madigan queried the entry in the last minutes, so clarification was offered.

The Hall can be hired under certain conditions but rules must be respected.  If not, the next users suffer.  For example last night the doors were left open and the alarms went off during the night when the wind blew them open.  Users are not getting up at four in the morning to deal.  People tend to forget that the Hall is not a function room.

Parish groups use the hall a lot and we don’t need the funds.  Parish events go well.  

To summarise:  we should only hire to parishioners, they should be out by 10 pm and events shouldn’t clash with church matters, which has led to problems in the car park.

The Hall also needs decorating.

The cold water is not running in the gents toilet – ask Marc to look at it.

PARISH TEAM
This is always a hectic period with all the school forms to sign and the Confirmation candidates to meet.  Confirmation has been booked for May 3rd and Bishop John Arnold will be coming.

8th December – Sacrament of the Sick
17th December – Penitential services

Fr. Thomas Parayadyil will be replacing Fr. John as the Syro-Malabar chaplain and will be here on 30th November.  Hopefully he will be able to help with our masses.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS
CHILD PROTECTION.  Forms were sent out in September, but not all have been returned.  We must have 100% coverage otherwise the exercise is pointless.  People should be told that they can’t participate in parish events involving children and vulnerable adults if they don’t submit the form.  Perhaps a message could be delivered from the pulpit followed by a strongly worded letter to those who are not returning their forms, but it should come from someone on the council, preferably Eddie as Chairman, rather than from Nicky, who doesn’t feel she has the clout to approach people in this way.  The priests can’t get involved because they are “pastors” to all, including those who may offend.

On 10th November there was a meeting at Westminster of parish CP representatives to discuss the Cumberledge Report.

We are very lucky to have Nicky doing this work for the parish – there are many parishes who are not so fortunate.

It is understood that the Scout Association does their own CRB checks and therefore leaders do not need Westminster checks.

CHRISTMAS TREE.  David and Frances Clarke have decided to hang up their baubles and so we are looking for new volunteers to decorate the tree.  Perhaps the Knights of St. Columba would like to volunteer?  The Crib also needs new blood – check with Geraldine.

PARISH DIARIES.  Could these be handed out earlier than the Christmas party?

SELLING TICKETS.  Tina has offered to help.  All volunteers welcome.

Next Parish Council will be on January 28th.