The minutes of the Parish AGM, which took place on 5th May, are now available. You can also read the minutes of recent meetings of the Parish Pastoral Council.
All posts by Margaret Doyle
Reading Group
The Parish Reading Group will be meeting at 8.00pm on Monday 6 June to discuss Noreena Hertz, The Lonely Century. We’ll be meeting face to face at Orchard House (after meeting on Zoom for the last 2 years).
New members are always welcome, from the parish and the Chaplaincy communities. Contact Margaret Harvey: email margaretharvey@uwclub.net or phone 0191 3840080, if you would like to join the group.
Lay Dominicans
The next meeting of our local group of Lay Dominicans will be on Sunday 15th May at 2:30pm when we will be talking about some of our Northern Saints. The meeting will be hosted on Zoom and if you would like to join our Zoom meeting, or to learn more about the Lay Dominicans, then contact Andy Doyle (andydoyle1066@sky.com or 0798 543 4185).
Online Events
- Gospel Reflection & Coffee Morning; join us at 10.30am on Saturday mornings to reflect on the readings for this Sunday’s Mass. The reflection will last about 50 minutes and, after a 10-minute break, our social coffee morning will start around 11.30am. You’re welcome to join us for the whole two hours, but you’re also welcome to leave after the Gospel Reflection, or join us for social time at 11.30am.
- Morning Prayer of the Church; Monday-Friday at 8.00am, in church and on Zoom.
Both these events take place on Zoom; for the login details, see the St Cuthbert’s Parish Community Facebook group, or email margaretdoyle1066@sky.com
Synod 2021-23: Report from Lay Pastoral Forum
Parish Annual General Meeting
This year’s AGM will take place on Thursday 5th May at 7.30pm in the parish room. The meeting is open to everyone – please do come along to hear reports about everything that’s been happening in the parish in the last 12 months, and to let us know your opinions on what we are doing and your ideas for our parish community. The AGM will also include elections for the Parish Pastoral Council. We haven’t had elections for the last 2 years because of the COVID disruption and we’re always keen to get new people involved, so please do consider standing for the PPC – there are 3 posts.
You can also attend the AGM via Zoom – email margaretdoyle1066@sky.com for login details.
If you have any agenda items for the AGM, please contact the secretary, Susan Penswick. If you’d like to talk about what being on the PPC involves, contact the chair, Helen Schofield. Susan and Helen can be contacted via the parish office at office@stcuthberts-durham.org.uk
Parish Reading Group
Did you know that the parish has a Reading Group? Over the years we’ve read fiction and non-fiction, from Helene Hanff’s ’84 Charing Cross Road’ and Jodi Picoult’s ‘Small Great Things’ to Michael Sandel’s ‘The Tyranny of Merit’ and Derek Scally’s ‘The Best Catholics in the World’..
New members are always welcome, from the parish and the Chaplaincy communities.
The group is currently meeting on Zoom, and our next meeting is on Monday 25 April at 8pm, when we’ll be discussing ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf. Contact Margaret Harvey: email margaretharvey@uwclub.net or phone 0191 3840080, if you would like to join the group.
Covid -19 Precautions
Following new guidance from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, our practice for Mass and worship will be as follows:
- Hand sanitiser will be available for you to use as you enter and leave the church.
- Social distancing is no longer necessary. We can operate at our normal capacity, without the need to book before attending Mass.
- You are encouraged to wear a face covering during the celebration of Mass.
- Holy Communion will be distributed to the faithful under one kind only (i.e. the Sacred Host).
- Those who distribute Holy Communion should wear a face covering and sanitise their hands before doing so.
- We can sing, and there is a general encouragement to wear face coverings while singing.
The bishops are encouraging all Catholics to be fully vaccinated, including receiving a booster vaccination when available, as the best way of protecting one another. If you are showing any symptoms of Covid-19, you should stay at home and not come to church. If you have any concerns about Covid safety, please speak to Fr Andrew.
Synod 2021-23: Finchale Partnership Summary
Thank you to everyone who has taken part in our discussions as part of the Synod process. Our discussions have now been included in a summary for the Partnership, and the summary has been submitted to the Diocese, where it will be used, together with contributions from other Partnerships and Diocesan groups, as the Bishop prepares his report forour Diocese.
You can read the Partnership summary by following the link below, and the Diocesan document will also be published when it is submitted in April.
Finchale Partnership: PDG minutes
The minutes of February’s meeting of the Partnership Development Group (PDG) are now available.
Lenten Day of Reflection
Lay Dominicans North East invite you to A LENTEN DAY OF REFLECTION, PRAYER AND STUDY, on Saturday 19 March, 11am to 3:30pm, here at St Cuthbert’s.
The day will include Mass, Stations of the Cross, Quiet Prayer and talks on the theme of “St Dominic and the Cross”. A buffet lunch will be available.
There is no charge for the day but, to manage numbers for COVID and catering purposes, please book by contacting Andy Doyle at andydoyle1066@sky.com or 0798 543 4185.
Pray for the people of Ukraine
Synod 2021-23: Join the Conversation
Last weekend, Partnerships across the Diocese sent people to join Bishop Robert for a morning of prayer, talking and listening, and to feedback on what they have heard during the last few months of our Diocesan Synod process. There was a lot of energy in the room, a joyful atmosphere, and people described “an overwhelming feeling of the Holy Spirit at work”; “It has been uplifting and inspiring..”; “So many people with so many really good things to talk about..”; “Coming along today has been a real joy.”
Bishop Robert said, “We’ve had a very fruitful morning… we go forward trusting each other, and with a confidence in the joy and power of the Gospel”.
If you’ve not been part of the conversation yet, there is one more opportunity at 7 pm on Wednesday 23rd February. There will be an online gathering where you can join in to add your voice to the Synod. To register and Join the Conversation, visit https://diocesehn.org.uk/news/synod-join-the-conversation/
Synod Update
In our Partnership
Notes from the Partnership meeting of 2 February are now available.
In the Diocese
Our Diocesan synod process has been moving ahead over the last couple of months, and we are now starting to collate the responses from all the diocesan groups and parishes. This is how it will work:
- On Saturday, February 12th, representatives from all the partnerships will gather with the Bishop, and together, they will reflect on the input and the process so far.
- Following this meeting, the partnerships are asked to finalise their responses by February 22nd and to pass these to their respective Episcopal Area meetings.
- The Lay Pastoral Forum, which includes representatives of all the Partnership and lay groups in the diocese will compile all the responses received into a submission to the Bishop in early March.
- The Bishop will then consider this, plus the responses from the Clergy, Caritas, and other Diocesan groups and produce his final submission by April 8th
- At each stage, copies of the various submissions will be made available.
Have you joined the conversation? If you’ve not yet taken the opportunity to make a contribution to the synod process, there is still time to do so. Contact Margaret Doyle (margaretdoyle1066@sky,com) to feed into our parish and partnership response. Alternatively, you can email a contribution to synod@diocesehn.org.
Information about the Synod and notes from our parish meetings are available here:
For a Synodal Church: Final Meetings
Pope Francis has invited us all to take part in a process of discussion and listening about how we are journeying together in the church. The Finchale Partnership will be contributing to the views of the Diocese, and the whole church, leading to the Synod of Bishops in October 2023.
To help us bring together the views of the Partnership you are invited to a meeting where you will be able to hear about the discussions in each of our parishes, and you’ll have the chance to share your own views too. This will help us to prepare the summary we need to send to the Diocese.
The meeting will be at 7.00pm on Thursday 3 February. Due to the current COVID situation we will be meeting on Zoom and the joining details are available in your parish Facebook Group or from margaretdoyle1066@sky.com. If you aren’t able to attend an on-line meeting you can still contribute your views, by getting in touch with Margaret Doyle.
Parish Reading Group
The parish has a Reading Group which discusses all sorts of literature (not just theology, nor only Christian writing). All members of the parish are welcome to join, including undergraduates and postgraduates. The group is currently meeting on Zoom.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 25 January at 8pm, when we will be discussing Margaret Forster’s biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Contact Margaret Harvey: email margaretharvey@uwclub.net or phone 0191 3840080, if you would like to join the group.
Lay Dominican Group
Our local group of Lay Dominicans meets on Zoom at 2.30pm this Sunday January 16th and will include an informal reflection on “St. Thomas Aquinas – the Man”. If you would like to join our Zoom meeting or to learn more about the Lay Dominicans then contact Andy Doyle (andydoyle1066@sky.com or 0798 543 4185).
Finchale Partnership: Minutes
Changes to On-line Events over Christmas
Over the Christmas period we’ll be taking a break from our regular on-line events.
There will be no Gospel Reflection and Coffee morning on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. We’ll be starting again on Saturday 8th January.
We’ll also be taking a break from Lauds on Zoom on weekday mornings. We won’t be meeting from Monday 20th December over the Christmas period. Lauds will start again on Monday 10th January.
Film Night
We were hoping to hold a Christmas film night on Tuesday 21 December, watching ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’. Unfortunately this event is now cancelled.
We have received the latest guidance from the Bishop about restrictions to keep us all safe in the light of the latest position with COVID. Although there are no changes to our use of the church for Mass and other services, we are asked to cancel events in the parish room. The guidance will be reviewed in January.