Report on the Diocesan Pastoral Council meeting
held at Park Place on 29th and 30th of September 2000
 

The group of fifty-three people is comprised of lay and clergy representatives from each deanery and others nominated by the bishop. The format and agenda for the September meeting were planned by a small group led by Father Paul Townsend.

The first meeting of the Diocesan Pastoral Council in April 2000 had been dominated by the issue of future pastoral care in parishes served by fewer priests. This second gathering was an "in-service" meeting which also gave members an opportunity to become better acquainted. Deanery consultations on future pastoral care, dealing with change, the role and needs of the Diocesan Pastoral Council and the role of its chairperson were addressed in a balance of small group discussions and plenary sessions. Prayer and shared liturgies were central to the conduct of this meeting.

In session one, the Council disbursed into seven small discussion groups to address the three questions -

1. What issues have arisen from the work you have done in your deaneries on the discussion questions
   from the last meeting?
2. Where do you see the energy for change?
3. Where would you see resistance to change?

Group responses were displayed on flip charts and reproduced as Appendix A (two pages) of the Minutes (but not attached to this summary)..

Session two, on the management of change, was led by Vicky Cosstick. She began by inviting individual comments on the discussions of session one and then continued by giving a presentation which touched on the relationship between change in the Church and in society, different models for change, the responsibilities of leadership and the process for effecting change. This presentation was based on the book "Leadership and the New Science" by Margaret J Wheatley.

After offering individual responses to this presentation, the group divided again to consider the following
three questions -

1. What has struck me personally from what I have heard this morning?
2. In what ways does it confirm/challenge my beliefs about experience of change?
3. What needs to change in order to move towards increasing shared responsibility and leadership in the diocese?

Group responses were displayed on flip charts and reproduced as Appendix B (one page) of the Minutes. The moving of priests from and to parishes presented as a major issue as did the understanding that the Council must have a willingness to be accountable, to engage in open dialogue, to evaluate repeatedly and to reflect more of the surrounding culture.

Session three centred on the work of the Portsmouth Diocesan Pastoral Council and expectations of the role of chairperson. In their seven small groups, members considered the following three questions -

1. What do we understand the role of the Portsmouth Diocesan Pastoral Council to be?
2. What do we need in order to fulfil our role?
3. What do we expect the role of the chair to be?

Group responses were displayed on flip charts and reproduced as Appendix C (three pages) of the Minutes.

1. Friday the 8th and Saturday the 9th of December 2001 at Park Place Pastoral Centre
2. Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th of April 2001 at Park Place Pastoral Centre
3. Saturday the 30th of June 2001 at Kiln Green
4. Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th of October 2001 at Park Place Pastoral Centre.

(Mary Ambler 13 November 2000)