Minutes of Parish Pastoral Council Meeting

St. Mary’s Presbytery, Sligo. March 11^th 2009

Opening Prayer; Led by Nuala Caliendo.

Attendance:                                                   Apologies:

Canon Tom Hever.                                          Patricia McDonagh.

Tony Cunningham.                                         Fina Golden.

Nuala Caliendo.                                              Marion Roycroft

Vita Forde- Monaghan.                                  Barry McMahon.

Colette Divers.                                                Paul Keogh.

Patricia Mulligan.                                            Bill Fox.                                             

Peggy Mullen.

Dermot Collery.

Sr.Elenita Baguio PM.

Joseph Murphy.

John Martin.

Kay Horan.

Ursula Dunphy.

Fr. Pat Lombard.

As Fina Golden was unavoidable absent, Tony Cunningham chaired the meeting.

The minutes of the February meeting were read and adapted, on the proposal of Peggy Mullen and seconded by Colette Divers.

Matters arising:

Pedestrian Bridge; The appointed delegation met with Mr.Thomas Brennan and John Noone engineers for the Council, they said it was feasible, and the necessary height was there for a fly over pedestrian bridge, but it will require funding. An outline plan for moving traffic through Flynns Tce., and onto the dual carriage way is being looked at and it may be possible at that time to include the pedestrian bridge in the plan. It was suggested that we keep this issue on our agenda and continue to bring it up with the council. Fina is to write to Mr. Brennan and the Council to confirm the meeting and to again bring to their attention that it takes 15 mins to cross at the traffic lights. They also looked at the possibility of putting pedestrian lights on Temple St. opposite the Cathedral for the Summerhill students.

Team Net – Update on Programme:

They continue to work very hard, three host families are still needed. They are going to Lourdes with eight young people for Easter week, they will have a few small fund raising events to cover the cost. They are putting in place a child protection policy. The

“Edge Night” on Sun nights now has a good core group.  Retreats have taken place in the Ursuline and Summerhill Colleges. The parish hopes to put a youth officer in place after Easter so this person will have time to work with the team before they leave at end of May.

Reflection Document:

The document prepared by John Martin on parish faith development is to be called the reflection document. The sub committee has not met yet, it was hoped that they would assist with the advertising of the Lenten Mission.

Lent / Easter Celebrations:

The number of people attending daily mass this lent is increased, and there is a good attendance for the Confirmation and “Do this in Memory of Me” programmes.

The Liturgy group discussed the following at their last meeting,

• Chrism Mass will be celebrated on Wed 8^th at 7.30pm, with a short gathering in the Gilhooley hall after and we are to encourage people to attend.
• The Holy Thursday children’s mass will be incorporated into the Mass of the Last Supper.
• Good Friday ceremonies will be at 3.00pm with the passion play.

• Holy Saturday Easter vigil mass will be at the earlier hour of 9.00pm to finish at 10.30pm and as it is the central celebration of our faith – the mystery of redemption, death and resurrection- we should encourage everyone to attend.
• Passion Play practice will be on Mon and Wed evenings.
• Penitential Service on Palm Sun. at 3.30pm confessions will commence at that time, and we are asked to take this opportunity to avail of confessions as Fri and Sat. will be very busy because of the shortage of priests. We are asked to make a connection between the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus on holy week and the redemption we receive at confession.
• Palms will be blessed at all the masses on Palm Sunday.
• The faith sharing groups continues on Tuesdays with a session at 4.00pm and at 8.00pm, the 4.00pm meeting is poorly attended as most people prefer to go to adoration.
• The Way of Gentleness takes place at 8.00pm on Thur. evenings about 50 people attend.

Drug Awareness – Parish Response:

Tony told the meeting that they had a series of lectures on this subject and it is a very complex area – why people use alcohol and drugs. Everybody was in agreement that it was a huge problem for families and young people, but we were unsure how to go forward. We are all to read the Irish Bishops` Drug Initiative booklet and Nuala is to report on it to the next meeting.

Lenten Mission:

A week of prayer and reflection titled “Hope in Challenging Times” based on the writings of St Paul will take place from 29^th March to 4^th April 2009. Cardinal Sean Brady will open it by celebrating Mass at 7.00pm on 29^th and Archbishop Michael Neary will celebrate the concluding Mass at 7.00pm on Sat 4^th. The evening sessions will be at 7.30pm will include guest speakers, adoration and prayers and a mime on aspects of the life of St Paul. Specific events in the life of St Paul will be featured throughout the Cathedral.

The purpose of the Mission is to support each other in these challenging times as the first Christian communities did, to pray for our country and our leaders. To pray that people will turn back to God as they did in difficult times in the Old Testament.

It was stated that St Paul teachings are very relevant in today world as they deal with moral, ethical and Eucharistic issues, and with church doctrines. He is a teacher and we should embrace him and let him lead us into a deeper understanding of our faith.

We are to encourage as many people as possible to attend. Dermot Collery is to prepare an article for the paper. The sub committee is to take care of publicity on the local radio stations.

A.O.B.

The parish social will take place on Sat 24^th April it is hoped to have the tickets available soon.

The Bishops parish visitation will take place on the 26^th and 27^th March, the bishop will visit schools, the housebound, the convents, “Shalamar” for the homeless, and community centers. He also will meet the different parish groups in the Gilhooley Hall on Fri evening at 8.00pm, the PPC are invited to St.Mary`s for lunch with the bishop on Thur.

We are asked to look at preparing a mission statement, not longer than ten lines and looking again at our constitution. The Pro-Cathedral has their mission statement displayed in the Cathedral, we should look at this. Fina and Nuala are to investigate and report to the next meeting.

It was proposed that we the PPC should show our condemnation of the recent killings in the North.

A vote of Sympathy was expressed to the Murray family on the recent death of Bill Murray who was a former member of the PPC.

Tony Cunningham will prepare the prayer for the next meeting.

Next Meeting Wed 15^th April 2009 at 8.30pm in St Mary`s