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The Parish Pastoral
Council (PPC)
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Purpose
The purpose of the Parish Pastoral Council is to promote the development
of the parish in all its different aspects; to work with and assist
the parish priest and his team in the practical and spiritual growth
of the parish as an inclusive community.
In discerning the needs of the parish, the
PPC develops and works towards the vision of the parish and set objectives
to be achieved. For more about what the PPC does, have a look at
the Constitution below.
Additionally, In November (2004), the PPC members met for a day, with Fr.
Carl Tranter to pray together, reflect upon its purpose and to explore a variety
of models of other PPCs. Summary
notes from this day are also available on line.
Currently, there are fourteen lay members four of whom are on the leadership
team) as well as the priests of the parish - click here to see Who's Who?
The PPC usually meets once a month to discuss the agenda prepared
by the leadership team to ensure that the ethos of the parish vision
is maintained. from March 2006, a brief summary of the meetings is
published in the bulletin and in the "News from the PPC "section on our website.
To review any of the older minutes, just click here. |
News from the PPC
August 2007 At this month’s meeting of the Parish
Pastoral Council, members discussed the following:
Youth Strategy – providing a programme to the young
people already attending Church and then widening this to reach out to
others. The Jigsaw programme for youngsters starting secondary school
has had a positive start in the Parish since it was formed a year ago.
Keeping in Touch – This was an article from the Pastoral
Review which was circulated to members in May. It described a new initiative
to involve the whole parish in reaching out to welcoming and keeping
in touch with all local Catholics. Could this be adopted by our parish?
The group felt that it would be difficult to get people to come forward
to help but one way in which people could get involved would be through
the Small Christian Communities (there are 19 of these in the Parish).
Development of the PPC –The current structure was
set up over 7 years ago with the aim to give advice to the priests.
There is a feeling that the PPC is remote from the people of the Parish
and that parishioners do not know what the group does and who the members
are. It was therefore decided to discuss this issue at the group’s meeting
in October where more time would be available.
Joanna Roche will lead the First Communion
In September a small committee will be formed to discuss the
liturgy for the year.
The next meeting of the PPC will be held at the beginning
of September.
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March 2007 New
PPC members - see the
chart further down this page
The PPC
have been heavily involved in the recent initiative to encourage parishioners
to share their talents for the good of the wider community. Members have recognised
the generous response from over 200 parishioners who have volunteered.
Each PPC member has taken responsibility for a particular ministry and will
contact those people expressing an interest therein.
The PPC has also encouraged participation
in the Parish Lenten Course "Get ready for Easter", as well as distributing information
regarding "A Holy Nation", the Diocesan course.
To help the development of small-community prayer groups, a new core group has been formed consisting of Fr Tom
Hewitt, Stan Grabecki, Tim Stevens and Mike White. The aim of this group
will be ‘to help nurture and steer the various prayer groups in our parish.’The
PPC will help design and distribute a card detailing all services over the
Easter period, this will use the same picture as the ‘Get Ready for Easter course’.
To help new parishioners, a ‘welcome
pack’ has been devised and will be sent out, and ‘welcomers’ will be asked
to make contact with newcomers and meet them if requested.
A new parishioners' lunch has been
arranged for 3rd June in the Parish Hall. All new parishioners will be invited
plus the newly baptised, and the newly married.
The Churches Together
in St Albans initiative was a great success, the people who attended
our church from other churches felt very welcome. The PPC urges all parishioners
to come to the CTSA meetings: contact Peter Berners-Lee 751094 for more details.
February 2007 The PPC membership now comprises Fr
Charles, Richard Exact, Stan Grabecki, Sara Nash, Tim Stevens (Leadership
Team), Peter Berners-Lee, Trisha Manners, Giovanna Payne, Lizzie West, Steve
Pickard, Joanna Roche, Anne Rose, Pat Williamson, Nick Yates, Fr Tom and
Fr Jerry. Espe Fuentes, Eric Harber and Sean Barry, who stepped down in January,
are greatly thanked for their contribution and advice during their terms
of office - see the chart
further down this page
November 2006 At the Parish
Pastoral Council’s recent meeting attention was focused on the social side
of our Christian Community. It was felt that there was no one for people
to contact if they were in difficulty or needed someone to speak to. People
do not always want to bother the priest. We need to reach out to people so
that if they are on their own we can be there for them. It was suggested
that the small Christian communities (SCCs) be used for this service and
also to welcome new people to the Parish. A SCC could also be asked to visit
a sick or elderly parishioner so the burden would not be entirely on the
priest. The problem though is finding out who needs visiting and where they
are.
The possibility of appointing a catechetical coordinator was discussed;
the job description and cost implications do, however, need further investigation.
Father Charles has met with members from the Eastern European Community.
As a result a Mother and Toddler group for Polish people has been created
on a Saturday morning, a language learning group has been set up and the readings
are now available each Sunday in Polish and it is hoped that soon this will
be extended to Slovakian.
The core group of the Liturgy group has met and were asked to set up mass
teams for the individual masses. In January the Parish will be running a mission
to try to get people more involved and maybe this will be a time to recruit
more people.
A strategy plan is being developed for the SCCs. The aim being to use this
as a basis for a core community (which there is still a need to create). A new Lenten
course is being designed by members of the Parish. This will be
a series of 5 separate talks in the CaFE
style. A second course
will then be held around Pentecost which will be a series of talks.
From these courses it is hoped that more Small Christian Communities would
be formed in the parish and a new energy for service and leadership will
be the fruit. The PPC were asked to pray for the success of these courses,
to approve the programme and to agree that it should be funded by the Parish.
Re Christmas leaflets: Fr Charles wants to leaflet as many people as possible
(like at Easter). These need to be prepared in bundles by the beginning of
December so that from the first weekend we can ask people to take streets
to distribute.
Mass attendance averaged during the month of October at 1,285 as compared
to 1,400 last year.
There is a new prayer house in Bedford Park Rd, where Sr Annie will lead
a six day guided prayer session in Loreto House at the beginning of advent.
May 2006 ‘We hope that you will all support the changes
that Fr. Charles has been obliged to make to the mass times. It is difficult
for us all but we simply have to be realistic. Following Fr. Manus’ move,
Frs. Charles and Jerry have been finding it increasingly difficult; in this
month alone they are committed to say 93 masses between the two of them on
top of which are the many other services to our community to which they are
committed. At the PPC meeting we urged Fr. Charles to reduce the number of
masses even further but he said that he wants to give these new mass times
a go, see how the priests cope, then review the situation at regular intervals.
Please pray for our priests and the parish at this time.' Click
here for new Mass Times and Father Charles' message of 14 May 2006
April 2006 At the PPC meeting
on Monday night there was an in-depth discussion about the organisation and
future development of our parish. It was generally felt that the workload
of the priests would have to be addressed. In the light of recent circumstances
the priests will have to cut the number of masses that they are providing.
The present mass schedule is great but it was drawn up when there were four
priests working full time in the parish. At the moment there are only
two priests. While Fr. Jerry works more than a full timetable he is coming
up to his golden jubilee and it was felt that it is not fair to put so much
pressure on someone who if he were in any other job would be retired. Fr.
Manus with Fr. Jerry have carried the load in the past year and as we known
that has taken its toll.
The recommendation from the Bishops’
Conference is that a priest does no more than 3 masses on a Sunday and one
mass on a weekday. At the present time the priests in the parish can have
two masses on a weekday and up to four masses on Sunday. At
times, our priests may have to celebrate the 8am, 9am and 10am masses. This
system leads to rushed
liturgies, no time to meet people after
mass and it becomes difficult to celebrate the mass with due preparation
and the necessary energy and attention that each celebration of the Eucharist
deserves.
All of us in the parish need to consider how best to organise mass and mass
times so that we can make our Sunday liturgies as meaningful and prayerful
as possible. We appeal to you in your thinking and praying about it and not
just to consider what is best for you or your group but what might be the
best solution for the parish as a whole. Another thing to consider is that
during holiday times there may be only one priest here to cover all the masses.
We ask for your prayers as we move to a final decision.
11 March 2006 The PPC met last week and enjoyed
its first meeting with Father Charles. At this meeting it was decided that
in future after every meeting a brief summary of what had been discussed
would be produced for the bulletin/website rather than publishing minutes.
Father Charles stated that he wanted the ‘Body of Christ’ to be central
to the Parish. One of the aims of the PPC is to help build up the community
in our Parish. With this aim in mind, a letter has gone out to all groups
in the Parish. Representatives from these groups will now be invited to come
together and discuss their work so that they can then help each other to grow
and develop. Members of the PPC will soon be contacting each group to arrange
these meetings.
It was also felt important to improve the ‘welcome’ to the church of both
new and old members. All new parishioners will be invited for a meal in May
(see back page) in order to get to know others in the Parish and a sub-committee
has been set up to improve the general welcome as people come into our Church.
4 March 2006 The PPC
has been looking at the organisation structures of the Parish. By identifying
the overarching activities within the parish community and aligning our parish
groups into them we will create a parish more able to grow in Christian spirit
and meet the challenges that are on the horizon, such as the Diocesan reorganisation.
The six proposed activity areas are:
- Liturgy & Worship
- Outreach & Evangelisation
- Formation & Teaching
- Fellowship& Community
- Charity & Service
- Finance & Administration
A suggested allocation of groups into each activity can be viewed
here or on the PPC notice board at the back of the Church. If you believe
that a group has been placed in the wrong one or are aware of groups that
have been omitted please contact Gina in the Parish office.
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PPC - The Parish Pastoral Council at St Albans and Stephens Catholic Church
Updated Sep 2007
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Constitution
(Revised and Ratified Feb 06)
Purpose
The purpose of
the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) is to promote the pastoral development
of the parish, to promote a just society and unity in the church, and to
work with, and assist, the priests in the growth of the parish as an inclusive
community.
In discerning the needs of the parish, the PPC develops and works towards
the vision of the parish and set objectives to be achieved.
Membership All adult parishioners may
volunteer to become members of the PPC. They must be committed to, or interested
in, collaborative ministry, and are prepared to attend the majority of the
12 monthly meetings. Parishioners (including previous PPC members) will be invited
to become members of the PPC by the parish priest and the leadership team
The PPC will have a minimum of 8 members and a maximum of 16, plus the priests
of the parish and the parish secretary.
Members should be willing to serve a minimum of two years.
New members will normally start at the beginning of the PPC year (January).
Cessation of Membership The normal maximum term of membership will
be five years. Reappointment may be possible after a gap of 2 years.
Notwithstanding the above rule, no more than one third of the PPC members
should leave in any one year. This is to provide continuity to the
PPC and the parish. Therefore, in some circumstances, a member may
serve for more than five years.
Members
would normally leave the PPC at the end of the year (December).
The Leadership Team shall
maintain a register of members' terms of office that shall be reviewed annually
in October.
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Council Structure There will be a leadership
team of 3 or 4 people approved by the PPC
The leadership team will meet at least one week before the monthly meeting
to discuss the PPC agenda, distribute it to the members, whilst ensuring
that the ethos of the parish vision is maintained.
Members wishing to have something put on the agenda should
inform the leadership team before the leadership monthly meeting.
A member of the PPC will be delegated at each meeting
to take minutes, distribute them to members, write letters
etc.
A quorum will consist of half of the total PPC membership.
The PPC will keep the parish informed of the council’s activities.
The PPC year commences in January and ends in December.
Specialist
Skills Extra people, with specialised skills or knowledge, may
be incorporated to assist the PPC in a specific task.
Annual Parish Meeting An annual parish meeting will be organised by the
PPC and be held in the Church hall. All parishioners are encouraged to attend
this meeting during which time the PPC will share progress on the year’s
activities.
Any proposed changes to this constitution may be submitted in writing, at
least two weeks before the meeting. The change will be incorporated
if approved by at least two thirds of the PPC membership. This constitution shall be adopted
by unanimous approval of the incumbent PPC.
February 2006
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Minutes of Previous
Meetings
2004:
Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2005:
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2006: Jan |
Feb
All the PPC minutes are available in Adobe ACROBAT pdf format.
Should you need to, you can download,
free of charge,
Adobe ACROBAT by clicking here
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© Ss Alban & Stephen
Catholic Church 2005, 2006, 2007
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