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Report of the Diocesan Pastoral Council (DPC)
held at Park Place, on Friday/Saturday 8/9 October2004
New Members
The Chair, Nina Lake (Bournemouth) introduced new DPC members: Liz
Stevens (Alton, replacing Francis Williamson), Colin Warburg
(Southampton, replacing Dave Field), Andrew Williston (Jersey; Jean Le
Breuilly will become ex officio Member), Fr James McGrath (New Forest),
Fr Eddie Richer (Alton) and Fr John Cooke (Basingstoke).
Fair Trade
Diocese
Sue Cooper and Maria Malson, both from CAFOD, gave a presentation on the
benefits that Fair Trade confers on the first line producer. Instancing
the cocoa bean farmer, Fair Trade means that whilst the price of cocoa
can, and often does, fall, the farmer will have a guaranteed fair price
for his crop, under long term contracts. With this money he can provide
for his family the things that we take for granted in this country. He
can also look ahead to the future with confidence. Some of the money can
also go to help local community projects. It is estimated the benefits
of Fair Trade currently reach some 800,000 people. The call for a just
wage has been part of Catholic social thought for a long time and much
progress has been achieved by Christian churches in promoting this
initiative as a constructive means of helping under privileged people.
Many parishes in the Portsmouth Diocese already run Fair Trade stalls
and serve Fair Trade tea, coffee and other fairly traded products. The
question is whether our Diocese should, like say Hexham and Newcastle,
become a 'Fair Trade Diocese'. Such a move would give the Diocese a
visible and tangible commitment to promoting the justice of fairly
traded goods - thereby contributing substantially to the welfare of the
first line producer in often impoverished countries. The DPC were
supportive of the Fair Trade movement but felt that any decision to
become a Fair Trade Diocese should originate with Parishes. Council
Members were therefore asked to take this back to the Deaneries and
gauge the weight of grass root approval.
The Diocesan
Plan
Fr Paul Townsend, Head of the Pastoral Assembly Working Group, updated
Members on the excellent progress achieved so far. The Introductory
Sessions in particular had been very well attended and feedback had been
very fruitful. Fr Paul stressed that he wanted inputs from every corner
of the Diocese - all are welcomed and taken note of. There is an
abundance of promotional material available, and is on line:
www.portsmouth-dio.org.uk. Council Members contributed to a think-in on
the overall process so far, commenting on what was going well and what
is proving vexatious. There was much good reported on: attendances,
energy, schools' involvement, structures being in place, good materials,
people being eager and ready for change and so on. On the other hand:
patchiness of response, too much being done in such a short time,
difficulties of engaging those who just want to go to Mass,
unengaged/resistance etc. The timeline remains tight. Feedback to the WG
will continue to the end November, at which point it will be collated
and the response fleshed out and developed. Nicky Stevens, Head of
Pastoral Formation and member of the WG, advised that 532 places have
been made available by Reading University for next year's Assembly. DPC
Members will have the breakdown on allocations. As Fr Paul said: much
has been done, but there is much still to do.
Ecumenism
Joy Ellis outlined the history of ecumenism in this country, pointing
out that in her lifetime the ecumenical climate had undergone a
considerable reversal - from the condemnations of Pius XI and Pius XII
to a spirit of embrace by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
Ecumenism has been the subject of many high level documents and
declarations reinforcing the Vatican Council's ecumenical message - two
notable ones being the Swanwick (Derbyshire) declaration of 1987 which
'declared our churches must move from co-operation to commitment to each
other in search for unity', and the Lund (Switzerland) declaration which
said that 'churches should act together in all matters except those in
which deep differences compel them to act differently'. The Catholic
Church now recognises the Baptism of many other Christian churches,
signifying we are all united in the one Christ, but reception of the
Eucharist remains something of a barrier. Joy questioned why, with all
the effort expended in moving towards unity, ecumenism remains something
of a side issue. She reflected that it was going to take a considerable
upheaval in many people to achieve this deep spiritual conversion.
Dates of Future DPC Meetings
28th and 29th January 2005
13th and 14th May 2005
21st and 22nd October 2005
Joe Golden DPC Minutes Secretary
21 October 2004 |
