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Report on the meeting of
the Diocesan Pastoral
Council
held at
Park Place on
21 and 22 October 2005
New Members
Nina Lake (Chair - Bournemouth) welcomed new members Chris Richardson (who had
replaced Sr Mary Jo Martin as Director of Schools), Fr Jamie McGrath (New Forest),
and Jim Malia (Isle of Wight). Five members had left the Council - Sr Mary Jo,
Doreen Drake, Martin Stubbs, Peter Ryder and Helen Shepherd. Nina thanked them
for their contributions. The DPC's executive secretarial responsibilities will
be assumed by Maureen Dickson, currently providing support to Canon Paul Townsend
at Winchester.
Fair Trade (FT) Diocese — Update
John Foley of CAFOD, in a follow up to his presentation at the last DPC meeting,
reported substantial progress had been made. Following its first meeting on
18 May, the Diocesan Working Party had conducted a survey which showed that
around 40% of parishes were involved to some extent in FT activities, but few
had applied for FT status. With a little extra effort most would be eligible.
A new registration pack had been prepared which had been distributed to delegates
at the Reading Pastoral Assembly. Some 25 parishes, representing 43 of the Diocesan
churches or Mass centres, have FT status. There are another 20 parishes, representing
another 33 churches, which effectively meet the criteria. If aggregated, the
one third target required for the Diocese to be FT accredited would be met.
John asked the DPC to take the FT message back to the parishes and get as many
of them as possible to join in and sign up. John particularly wished to learn
the names of parish 'FT Champions'. The ecumenical dimension to FT is fully
recognized.
Role of the Implementation Steering Group for the Diocesan Plan
Mgr John Nelson, Chair of the newly formed Steering Group, outlined the work
of the Group. It did not have written TORs but rather had a flexible mandate
allowing it to respond in different ways according to matters being addressed.
The Steering Group, which will be supported by a Working Group under Canon Paul
Townsend, will concern itself with the broader implementation issues and consequences,
and will guide, advise and provide fresh thinking. The Working Group will work
at the day-to-day detail with Bishop Crispian retaining oversight. John stressed
the Plan is a working document; it does not represent the last word. It belongs
to all of us in the Diocese, because the ideas and insights it contains have
come from the community. This is reflected in the way the Steering Group is
pursuing the crucial issue of developing larger pastoral areas. John had written
to all Priests, Deacons, Chairs of Pastoral Councils, Headteachers, and DPC
Members seeking views on how the pastoral areas might be developed. These will
result in the Steering Group producing a discussion document in the New Year,
which will lead to firm proposals being formulated. John took on board Members'
views in a wide-ranging discussion which covered, among other things, interface
between the Steering Group and the DPC.
Diocesan Plan Outreach
Christine McGrew (Fareham) challenged members to examine in groups what 'Outreach'
meant to them in the context of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Members shared their thoughts - highlighting a Strength or an Opportunity that
could be activated straight away. Members were asked to take back to their Deaneries
and Parishes the Outreach themes they had developed in discussion. (Guidance
on 'Outreach' is included on page 20 of 'Go Out and Bear Fruit').
Input on Strategy
Bishop Crispian regarded the Pastoral Plan as one of the most important developments
during his time as Bishop of Portsmouth and he felt that this was reflected
in the views he was getting from the launches. During his address to the DPC,
the Bishop gave an overview of areas covered in the launches, of which there
were three still to be held. He spoke of a general feeling of acceptance of
what had been proposed and an enthusiasm for moving forward. He re-affirmed:
the flexibility of the Plan; the centrality of Sunday Mass as the defining celebration
of the Catholic community; the need for grass root input into shaping the new
pastoral areas; the essentiality of Priests to the celebration of the Eucharist
and in implementing the Pastoral Plan.
Lay Membership.
To preserve continuity among DPC Membership, Nina requested that those Lay Members
who are due to be replaced, remain in post till October next year. This is because
of the busy period that lay ahead, plus the fact that imminent changes to the
way Clergy are selected for the Council of Priests would impact on Clergy representation
on the DPC.
Members' Concerns.
Francis Connolly (Kennet Valley) asked whether the celebration of Holydays occurring
during weekdays should be transferred to the weekend. Bishop Crispian agreed
to take it to the Bishop's Conference again. Francis also asked about plans
for the World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. Nicky Stevens confirmed David Hill
of the Youth Ministry had matters in hand.
Dates of the next DPC Meetings (as amended)
Friday /Saturday 20th/21st January 2006,
Friday/Saturday 12th/13th May 2006,
Friday/Saturday 13th/14th October 2006
Joe Golden
DPC Minutes Secretary
28th October 2005
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