Owen Sweeny - Chairman's Parish AGM report -19/20 May 2007
Sacramentum Caritatis
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church's Life and Mission (February 22, 2007)
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A summary report of Bishop Hine's visit to our Parish in May 2006 by Father DougDear Friends,
At this time of year there will be many children, young people - and young adults, reviewing their annual reports trying to measure the year’s achievements. Well, for a change the parish has one too, following Bishop John Hine’s visit back in May. It was very favourable indeed and I once again thank all those who helped to present the parish in a good light.
Bishop John commented on our churches and other properties, congratulating us on paying off our debts while at the same time bringing the properties back into a state of good repair (mostly). “It is evident that the parishioners are very proud of their churches,” he says. And of our school he said its great successes are largely due to its excellent leadership over the years. He wished us well in trying to find a successor to Mr McKenzie and to dealing with the huge problems that arise from falling numbers of children.
He commends our parish web-site as “a remarkable achievement, the most extensive, accessible and useful one that I have seen, and could be a model for other parish web-sites”. He says that the web-site reflects the reality of a parish that “has sought to identify the needs of parishioners, spiritual and temporal, and has developed a vast range of activities and ministries to meet these needs”. He praised the organisation of the parish community and especially the collaboration of parishioners working together with the Leadership Team. “It was very evident that individuals were not just performing tasks they had been asked to do by the parish priest, but took great pride in developing their own area of responsibility in accordance with the overall parish plan. At the AGM in particular I sensed that parishioners were giving the reports on their own areas primarily to their fellow parishioners and all were both encouraged by what they heard and encouraging of each others efforts. There was an air of well-founded pride in the achievements of their parish community.”
In the bishop’s concluding remarks he says that we can in many ways be described as a model parish! So we have much to be proud of and it is good to be affirmed every now and then, but what is most important is not what we have done but what we are going to do in the service of the Lord and in the service of each other.
God Bless
Fr Doug
St Thomas of Canterbury & St Peter, Prince of the Apostles
Phone: (01634) 232972
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