Open Meeting –
October 29, 2006

Summary and Feedback

A
special parish open meeting was held after evening Mass on Sunday October 29th
2006.

The
event was attended by over 50 diverse members of our parish community, young
and old, and all Mass centres were represented.

We heard
a report from Father Joseph, who introduced the members of the Parish Pastoral Council and each of the members shared our aspirations for serving the parish
community in this particular way.

We then
had a demonstration of the web site and invited comments on how to improve it.

For the
main part of the meeting, we divided the meeting into small groups to discuss
key issues under the broad headings of:

Youth issues;

Mass Centres;

Use of the Hall;

Communication to and from
the Parish Pastoral Council;

Encouraging involvement;

Our walk in faith.

We
wanted to make sure the discussions were constructive and we set some ground
rules to encourage everyone to make a contribution in a positive way.

After a
really open and wide-ranging time of discussion, we had a report back by a
member of each group – not a Parish Pastoral
Council member so
others would have the opportunity to speak – and all suggestions and
ideas have been collated so that Parish Pastoral
Council members can
work on outcomes on your behalf.

Some of
the issues raised were:-

How to make sure we really
communicate and collaborate – rather than just talk;

Improving our support for
young people;

Making sure everyone is
noticed and welcomed to our community;

Making the very best use of
our parish hall;

Learn from the Mass Centres;

Better promote the
opportunities to get involved;

Make sure we focus on our
walk in faith as well as all the practical aspects of church life and community.

We also
invited people to post their issues and ideas that weren’t directly
covered by the meeting on a board and these will also be analysed.

The outcomes of
these discussion groups, and the issues raised on the notice board are
summarised at the end of this report.

The
feedback from the meeting has been extremely positive - most people think it
was a great way to involve everyone without spending hours wading through
reports or complaints.  The meeting
finished at 9.15 pm to
enable everyone to get home at a reasonable hour.

The Parish Pastoral Council will be working on a plan to address the issues raised and to implement
the best ideas, and we will report back in more detail soon.  Our aim is to arrange a similar event -
perhaps early in the New Year.  We
would also like to seek your feedback on specific issues, perhaps through small
group discussions, questionnaires or just seeking your view after Mass.

If you have any questions or queries about
this event, or would like to make suggestions for the next event, please
contact Father Joseph at the Presbytery or email the Parish Pastoral Council
Secretary Donald Clarke: [email-masked].

Discussion Group Summary and Feedback
Follows:-

Parish Open Meeting – Discussion
Group Feedback

Collated
by Olive Newland - Moderator

The first section of this summary presents
the issues which each group fed back in the general discussion session at the
end of the meeting.  Each of the
groups were in agreement that I had summarised their points appropriately on
the flip chart.

The second section looks at the more
general, and certainly wide-ranging comments that were made.  This is a distillation of notes that
were handed in, post-its and comments put on the question board.  I have grouped these, not by the table
that raised the issue, but under our original set of discussion headings.

My aim in recording comments has been to
use the wording of the originator, rather than seek to tidy or rephrase.  As you’ll see, I’ve not
softened or reinterpreted.  Each
group worked differently, so some used the question board, some handed in all
their notes and others kept post-its on their table and then handed in as a
group at the end.  The distribution
of comments is not, therefore, any reflection of the level of engagement with a
topic.

There were, in addition, a number of
comments regarding our provision for and involvement of children and I’ve
grouped these as a separate heading.
The final grouping is the inevitable ‘general issues’.  Many of these are very practical and
some have already been resolved.
Issues under this heading can readily be fed back to the parish
community as action taken or planned, so that very direct and timely outcomes
from the meeting can be seen.

Group feedback

Youth
Issues:

dedicated young people’s support;

use the technology;

young people’s Pastoral Council;

evangelise.

Mass
Centres:

implications of population growth for Mass Centres;

should there be a census?

promoting social activities;

vandalism.

Use
of the Hall:

its purpose as a parish resource;

welcome to others;

practical issues;

value – outreach, community life.

Communication
to and from the PPC:

be bold;

collaboration – get talking!

growth.

Encouraging
Involvement:

promote the opportunities – use of the hall?

publicity and belonging;

individual approaches – issues around d CRB and
communication.

Our
Walk in Faith:

no straight lines – spiritual links;

plug the spiritual events;

welcome – a responsibility for all of us.

General issues and question board

Youth issues

We are Young People, not Youth!

Young people want to get involved in things
like choir and altar serving.  How
do we get the parents to keep them committed to taking part?  Are we flexible enough?

Age ranges issue – catering for all
age ranges:

pre Communion

communion

post communion and pre conformation

confirmation

post conformation

Dedicated young people’s support team
with better young people orientated advertising.  Mobile presentation kits.

If a fair percentage of young families
aren’t as religious as their parents were, the Church need to sell itself
by saying the sort of things you do, e.g. quiz night.  After you’ve got more people in
you need to carry on with them out of Church activities to keep them coming
back.

Opportunities:

Altar serving

Music group

Theatre group

KSC events

Catechetical teaching

Children’s liturgy

World Youth Day

Youth Mass

BCYS organisation

Outside help

A youth club or sponsored scout group

Large young people only fun-days

More young people led activities –
Hear By Rights levels – we should aim for the top.

Young people’s Pastoral Council
– PPC and priest training the council.

Youth evangelism project – go out and
bring them in.

www.lifeteen.com
– online community, tried and tested, ‘Lifeteen Parish’
system, helps keep young people involved with events and the website.

How do we reach young people –
through the young!

Question board – youth issues

No additional issues raised.

Mass Centres

A request for the newsletter to include the
current Mass, as per The Sunday Message.

Facilities for the disabled within the
parish.

St Joseph’s has signed a covenant with the local Anglican and Methodist Churches.  What does this mean other than a
get-together once a year?

Can we have better hymns?  St Teresa’s is great – quote
attributed to a Mile End representative.

Colchester is a garrison town.
Local soldiers are being killed in Iraq
and Afghanistan.  Why no prayers at Mass for the safety of
our people?

Can a parish census be organised?

Door to door perhaps to find out the
Catholics in Colchester?

Question board – Mass Centres

No additional questions raised.

Use of the Hall

No additional comments

Question board – Use of the Hall

Possible sort of outreach to certain
communities, what certain groups require from the hall.

Does need maintenance and needs money to
fund repairs.  Finance is important.

Hall manager needs a committee of helpers.
(Not to design a horse though!)

The hall needs refurbishing and is being
looked into, adaptable for all uses, available for playgroups.

Unasked question as to what constitutes
‘value’.  It is a parish
resource but must it:

make a profit;

break even;

rely on the parish to finance things.

Value:

outreach

income

growth as humans – morality

support.

Important that we have focussed on
community - as we have said, communicating to one another.  This is part of our identity as a group,
not just individuals.

Encouraging Involvement

Growth in discipleship.

Encouragement of the clergy.  Encouraging closer collaboration between
clergy and lay people.  Real
delegation of responsibilities to lay people.  Investigating lay people doing homilies
– canonical rule?  Who can
speak from the pulpit?

How do we get people involved in
activities, e.g. scripture group:

encouragement of clergy;

a ‘taster’ event;

reputation builds up over time.

It takes time for an activity to become
popular.

Inviting the person who is involved in the
activity to announce at the end of Mass.

What is the parish meant to be/offer to the
parishioners?  What are the
duties/responsibilities of the priest?

Question board – Encouraging Involvement

Need to survey the parish community to
understand members needs and also why they can’t or won’t attend
events other than Mass (e.g. family commitments; they are the only Catholic in
their family; they don’t understand what an event entails; they are shy.)

Promotion of voluntary groups and creating
awareness through opening the hall after 10.30 Mass and promoting one or two
groups each week.  Advertise this on
the website and in the newsletter.

More individual approaches, overseen by
co-ordinator.

Explain the issue of CRB checks and the
wider context within which they are completed.  We think this may be stopping some
people from volunteering.

We need facilities to encourage young
parents to come to anything – a babysitting service?

More involvement in the RCIA programme as a
parish or as individuals so that our faith journey could be shared with
potentials.

Encourage co-ordinators of groups to hold
at least one meeting per year to encourage new people to join and enable
existing members to give continued support and feel they belong.

Ministry of welcome:

ministry of welcome – could it be extended?  Who introduces new members of the parish,
or new neighbours to whom?
Hospitality and befriending.

welcome cards – prototypes have already been
produced.  This would give an
opportunity for new and existing parishioners to express their opinions
and needs.

ministry of Welcome – I have been doing this for years
but have had no feedback since the original meeting.

Communication to and from the PPC

Use and process of the newsletter

Pastoral plan needs simplifying.

Question board – Communication to and from the PPC

Being here this evening and finding who the
PPC members really are it strikes me
that they rarely ever go to parish functions.  If they went and mixed they would learn
a lot about people’s concerns and be able to report them to the PPC.

Hope we get proper feedback because in the past
we’ve had good meetings and discussions and no feedback.

Why did we have Catholic Parish annual
meeting 2006 and 13 characteristics leaflets?  Would have like to have more time to
study.

More frequent open meetings.  Need more time to discuss.

Our Walk in Faith

Recognition that our walk in faith
individually and communally is not a straight line but has obstacles and
deviations.  It was suggested that
to help our individual journeys each person should have at least one spiritual
companion so that a walk in faith is not a wandering alone.

Need for enthusiastic plugs from the pulpit
for events in the parish, particularly spiritual events.

We should all be proactive in welcoming new
arrivals in the parish, not just formally by a Minister of Welcome, but by
anyone.

Communication is essential in encouraging
spiritual growth.

Question board – Our Walk in Faith

I would like outside speakers to come and
give us spiritual encouragement and renewal (e.g. Lent and Easter).

Bible study group needed.

Church in the world outward looking.  As did the Apostles our walk in faith to
be guided by new needs and challenges of mission understood in the Spirit, in
the Kingdom.

There needs to be an ongoing pastoral
programme so that all have an opportunity to learn about our faith.

Issues relating to the involvement of children

Children:

manage the numbers at the children’s liturgy by splitting
into smaller groups by age band;

why not use the church hall as a nursery or pre school;

children to have liturgy during the school holidays

Christmas Mass at 3pm
for young children to get children to Church.

Children’s liturgy – how can we
reach the children apart from children’s liturgies?

Children’s
liturgy:

can we please start a children’s liturgy group for the
very young (under first Holy Communion age)?

there is still a gap in teaching the children after their first
Holy Communion and before they make their Confirmation ( Bible study,
history of our Church, Catholic world?).

can we reorganise the children’s liturgy at 10.30am?  Maybe in different age groups.  There are concerns over the numbers
in the crypt.

is 10.30am
a family Mass or is it a coincidence that there is a children’s
liturgy then?

General and Practical Issues

Improve the sound system.

Question board – General and Practical Issues

Fire risk assessment:

fire exit signs;

fire blanket;

candles at Priory
Street.

Storage in the church – fire risk
assessment

Volunteers required to help do the
gardening.

What is holding up CRB forms for the
repository and the Knights?

Repository – although there are order
forms would it be possible to have the opportunity to see their wares for those
who attend evening Masses?  Perhaps
once a month, never quarterly.

Clearer information board in the Church
porch, i.e. who to contact.

END.