Minutes of St Cuthbert’s Parish Pastoral Council
Meeting

26^th February 2015

 1. The meeting opened with prayer.

Present:  fr
Ben Earl, Cliona Kear, Gil Bolton, John Marsland, Susan Penswick, Margaret
Doyle, Marianne Fleming, Norma Brown, David Hughes, Margaret Harvey

2.
Apologies: Stephanie Brown, John Urquhart, Michael
Laing, David Crookes,

3. Minutes of
the previous meeting were accepted.

4. Matters
arising: – None

5. Reports from sub-committees/groups:

a.              Building committee report to St
Cuthbert’s Parish Pastoral Council Period ending 26^th February
2015

d.  Catholic
Society:

In the absence of a report fr Ben said that the
Sunday evening Mass is very well attended and that the Chaplaincy Choir has
really taken off with 12-16 decent singers. 
The retreat to Ampleforth went really well.  Fr Ben is the Convenor of University
Chaplains and there is a rotating roll of 15-20 Chaplains.

e. Churches Together in
Elvet & Shincliffe:

Members
of Elvet & Shincliffe Churches were encouraged to attend the Ecumenical
Service on 15^th November at St Mary’s Cathedral marking the 50^th
Anniversary of the promulgation of Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio)

St
Cuthbert’s hosted a Prayer Breakfast during the Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity on behalf of Durham Churches Together. 
On the same day, though in the evening, Elvet & Shincliffe held a
service at St Oswald’s which included a short presentation from each church on
what they treasure in their own tradition.

We
are looking to host a short series of Lenten evenings but are encountering
problems – please look out for details.

This
year’s pilgrimage to Holy Island will be on Saturday 20^th June.

f.            Justice and Peace
Committee Report

We
are continuing to collect toilet rolls and biscuits for Failed Asylum Seekers
on the first Sunday of the month. We’ve asked Ciara to put a reminder in the
bulletin in advance.

Concerns
continue about the lack of progress in getting money that we raised for
Belpahar actually to the intended recipients. 
It was suggested that alternatives be sought with the funds raised
divided between a local and an international charity. We were going to look
into the Colombia project supported by the Durham Martyrs Parish and perhaps a
prison charity.

The
Shared Harvest raised £128.77 for CAFOD.

Twinned
Toilets:  Posters and collection boxes
have been placed in each toilet.

The
collection of Toys for Prison Visitors was very sparse this year and so it was
felt that we need to increase the publicity next year. 

The
Advent collection in aid of CAFOD:  the
young people raised £476.55 (a camel, 2 goats and some chickens for the virtual
farm). A semi-permanent display about what had been achieved was produced by
Judy McLean and can be seen during Lent in the narthex.

In
addition to Lenten Family Fast Day, we decided to embark on a parish ‘Carbon
Fast’ for Lent 2015. A sheet was produced and a notice of the weekly target
will be in the bulletin each week.

The
young people were asked to do the bucket collection again and proceeds will go
towards wood-saving stoves and a greenhouse for the virtual village.

g. Liturgy & Music:

The
Liturgy & Music Group has met twice since the last PPC.

In
response to some of the issues arising from the re-timing of the Carol Service
since the advent of the year-round evening Mass, we sounded the parish out and
transferred the service to a Friday evening. 
Numbers were up but it was notable that some who we would expect to see
did not attend.  We will be evaluating
this further.  We also continue to review
the Christmas Mass times but made no amendment in 2014.

At
the 10am Mass during Advent, we prepared a composite music sheet so as to
reduce the number of separate pieces of paper which the congregation can
sometimes have to handle.  This seemed to
work well and has been repeated for Lent.

As
has been mentioned in the bulletin, the weekday recitation of the Responsorial
Psalm at Mass has been reviewed.  It has
long been the custom here at St Cuthberts for all to say the psalm together.  This is not a common practice and can lead to
issues where people cannot see a Missal. 
As such, we have now moved to the more widespread practice of repeating
a response after each verse.

The
Liturgy & Music Group has arranged a series of Stations of the Cross
services, immediately following Vespers on the Friday evenings of Lent.

Services
for Holy Week and Easter are in hand.  As
usual, we wish to emphasis the unity of the Triduum services and we are pleased
that there shall be a baptism at the Easter Vigil.

We
continue to deliberate as to how to increase the number of people on whom we
can call for the many lay ministries which support our celebration of
Mass. 

h.  Diocesan Meetings:

There have not been any meetings since the last PPC
meeting.”Forward in Hope” to next Council of Laity meeting in three weeks time.
Margaret Doyle is only on “The Council of Laity” now. 

6. Financial
Report: Deposit Account £22,400. Current Account £30,073.  The Diocese has put a moratorium on spending
so the lights cannot be done i.e. a new system. 
There is still the need to raise £25,000.  On the Quinquennial Report the stonework to
the Presbytery needs to be done which will be in the region of £40,000 and the
lighting £15,000.

7:   Parish
Retreats and Study Days – fr David

In fr David’s absence the following dates were announced:

Parish Retreat Day is 25^th April – fr John Farrell

Study Day is 30^th May – fr David Sanders from Blackfriars,
Oxford.

8.  Forward Together in Hope – fr Ben

Whilst Michael Laing is unavailable Margaret Doyle is the contact for the
Parish. There is an update on the Diocesan Website which is: www.hope.rcdhn.org.uk or contact 0191 243 3304.

9. Items from the Parish Priest: All items have been covered
above.  

10. Any other business: 
There was a question re the Church heating – why has it seemed to be
colder this winter?  Fr Ben said that
under Health and Safety regulations the door between the porch and the Narthex
does have to be left open. 

11. Date of next meeting: 28^th
May 2015 at 7.30 p.m. in the Parish Room

12.  The meeting closed with prayer.