Newsletter supplement No. 3
December 1996

SACRED HEART PARISH

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL

What is the Parish Pastoral Council?
Jesus said, "Your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60).
The primary purpose of a Catholic parish is to build the kingdom of God. Our Parish Pastoral Council is a group of parishioners working with Fr. David and Fr. Dominic to help produce growth and harmony in the parish and promote the gospel according to perceived need.

The Parish Pastoral Council grew from the seed planted at a Diocesan Conference held in Southampton in the summer of 1991.
From late 1991 until the middle of 1993 a Steering Group 'laid the road' for a Pastoral Council. The group prepared Vision and Mission Statements for the Parish and worked through development material to help it fulfil its future role. In the summer of 1993 a number of Steering Group members were joined by other parishioners to form the Parish Pastoral Council

Current members

Since 1993 there have been a number of developments within the parish, you may be familiar with some of these but others may have escaped your notice:

Ecumenical and Community
We launched our ecumenical activities in 1994 by taking a group of parishioners to the Year of the Family event at the Barbican; a special Youth Service was held followed by a social in the Lobster Pot.
The parish has regularly supported One World Week activities in our area and we are co-signatories to a Churches Together covenant in Denmead..

Charitable
Since 1993 the parish has maintained close contact with The Rowans Hospice; we have supported two Lenten projects to provide for the needs of the hospice and a number of other events have been run by a dedicated group of parishioners.
Other Lenten projects have supported Sr. Annunciata's work in Portsmouth, Cafod's work in Cambodia (who could forget the little pigs?!) and, more recently, a member of Aftermath spoke at all Masses and we held a special collection for the organisation.
The Council supported a scheme put forward by a parishioner for a parish Christmas card with donations to charity.

Sacramental and Spiritual
Since 1994 the Prayer Companion group have organised prayer sessions in Lent, Advent and at other times at the request of the Parish Pastoral Council.
In 1994 new arrangements were introduced for distribution of Communion in church.
In l 996 the council has been planning liturgical celebrations for major feasts in the calendar and reviewing parish programmes for Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Eucharist and Marriage. A prayer board was put up in church.

Formation and Education
We have advertised diocesan and national events and encouraged parishioners to attend.
We introduced an occasional newsletter so that parishioners could hear about these events and meetings.
Since 1995 a number of adult formation courses have been run, some of them in different parts of the parish. The council have also assisted with research into "Where have all the Catholics gone?".
This year we have been considering RCIA and the Alpha programme which is being used with some success in other parts of the diocese.
We held a development day at Park Place for members of the pastoral council and, just recently, four of our members attended one of the diocesan meetings on Millennium (or Jubilee) Celebrations.

Church Organisation and Buildings
We carried out a census of the parish in 1993 and introduced a registration card for new parishioners.
In 1994 a number of changes were made to the layout of the church to provide space for wheelchairs and improve signposts.
New noticeboards were erected in 1994 and we compiled a directory of parish support organisations. We have put our minutes on the noticeboard.
The Pastoral Council kept parishioners abreast of plans and arrangements for the closure of St. Richard's and made transport arrangements in the early days to help those who were affected by the change.
Since 1995 we have been 'standing on the touchline' watching developments regarding the, church site and St. Peter's School; there are still many unresolved issues and uncertainties about the future in which the pastoral council is taking an active interest.

Future
Over the next three years we will be making plans for the parish to join Catholics and other Christians world-wide in reflecting and preparing for the celebration of the great Jubilee of the year 2000.