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

Choir loft balustrade.  Details for fixing the balustrade extension have been drawn up and the architect is getting costs for the work. Works carried out since the last PPC. Making good to the plaster in the porch was completed just before Christmas and decoration is due to start week commencing 9th March. The lights in the church have all been re-lamped and one faulty fitting had to be replaced. Trace heating has been installed in a problematic section of gutter to prevent, in bad weather, a build-up of ice resulting in water seeping/pouring into the church. The installation of the shower to the first floor bathroom is almost complete. The ground floor kitchen has been cleaned but some areas were not satisfactory.  After much negotiation the contractor returned on Tuesday 24th February to finish the job.   Proposed work. Porch and narthex.  Next stage is to design the cupboards and obtain prices. The church roof. The high wind over winter has taken its toll on the church roof resulting in some repair being required (more scaffolding), work is planned to begin on Monday 2nd March and will last about one week weather permitting. Decorations There is a considerable amount of making good to decoration which as noted above is to begin week commencing 9th March. Other maintenance continues as and when required. Gil Bolton Chair Building Committee. b.                     St. Cuthbert’s Fundraising Committee Report to PPC period ending 26th February 2015 Events since the last PPC Durham Ghost walk:  David and Pauline Butler led two groups on this walk which took place on Tuesday 28th October and raised £250.00. A quiz night hosted by Liz and Martin Donbavand was held on Saturday 22nd November at St Oswald’s Institute and raised £270.00. Parish dinner organised by Angela and Mike Galloway was held on 21st January at the Seven Stars Shincliffe.raising a total of £300.00 pounds. Tea towels. Angela Galloway had tea towels made up with designs depicting prominent features of the church. Initial sales of towels realised £700.00 Greetings cards organised by fr Ben, went on sale before Christmas and together with tea towels are on continuous sale. Initial sales of cards raised??? Book Sale.  Andy and Margaret Doyle held a book sale on 14th February which realised approximately £500.00. Proposed fund raising events, Miners’ Gala 11th July Summer garden party with BBQ 28th June Christmas raffle (local businesses to be approached for prizes) ideas please? Hamper? Lumier is to take place in November, if there is an installation close to St Cuthbert’s we will serve refreshments which did very well at the last event. Re-naming At the last Fund Raising Committee Meeting it was decided that “Stonework Project” should be renamed “Restoration Fund”.  This has come about due the continual work needing to be carried out on the church and presbytery to keep it maintained. c.Organisation of Fund Raising Committee. The committee needs more people to sit on it and help organise events particularly to promote events, sell tickets or to take on an event attending to some or even all the detail. Gil Bolton Chair Fundraising Committee

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.