The meeting opened with a scripture reading and prayer.
Welcome and Introduction
Fr Bryan welcomed everyone and stated the purpose of the Forum was two-fold:
a) To receive the financial statement up to 31 December 2007.
b) To reflect on Fr Bryan’s first 18 months at St James’ as Priest-in-Charge.
Financial Statement
Fr Bryan thanked Mick Shea for his hard work in connection with its preparation. Mick then explained that the statement was an income and expenditure account not a profit and loss account.
Accounts showed a surplus in the running of the Parish, with income up by about 10%. Covenant income is good. An increase in expenses was shown, which is to be expected in any period following a change in management.
£4,000 was spent on electrical repairs in the church, which was largely due to the age of the building. Additionally, there were costs involved in repairs to the roof, organ tuning and organist’s fees. There has been no rolling programme of planned maintenance of the church buildings over the past few years. Plumbing, electrical work and roof repairs, were required on the Social Centre. The increased Presbytery housekeeping expenses were due to Fr Bryan having a family and they also included motoring costs.
Questions:
Are we short of funds? There is a healthy balance at present, enabling the Parish to lend some to the Diocese. This amount can be drawn on as and when it is necessary. All accounts have been submitted to the Diocese.
Why had the cost of heating and lighting decreased? Mick explained that a refund on energy charges had been received. Similarly, property insurance had shown a decrease due to a special premium. Both these savings were a direct result of skilful negotiation by Geoff Ford.
There is no Parish Council, therefore who sanctions expenditure? This is done by Fr Bryan in conjunction with Mick and Geoff, the three persons constituting Finance Committee. Cheques require a single signature at present.
Please explain the rent received for parish property. There is a flat in the Presbytery which is let to the Diocese to house visiting students, and the like. The flat was empty for some time last year, so the income is not constant from year to year.
Thanks:
Fr Bryan thanked Mick particularly for his hard work and everyone from the floor for their questions. He also thanked all parishioners for their financial contributions to the Parish.
Reflecting back and looking to the future
Fr Bryan noted that it is nearly 15 months since we took part in Archbishop Kevin’s initiative “Towards a Vision for the Future”. At St James’ we made use of this process to create a working document for our Parish and its present needs and vision for the future. However, much more work was needed to bring our part of the vision to completion.
The Archbishop’s document covered three sections:
1. Growing in Communion
2. Reaching out beyond ourselves
3. Facing the future
In responding to these, Fr Bryan stated that the centre of our worship in the Sunday and daily Mass. Mass attendance is steady. We have 1,200 to 1,400 parishioners registered, however, the average Sunday Mass count for the last 18 months is about 630.
Sacrament of Reconciliation: There has been a very encouraging response to this Sacrament when Fr Bryan holds the special days and he is available for several hours. He hoped to hold one more day in July before the holidays with possibly another Priest helping out.
Fr Bryan thanked all who minister in so many ways during the Liturgy. The new Ministry of Welcome is still developing and is much appreciated by new members of the Parish as well as those who have been attending St James’ for a long time.
Other Sacraments: Several Baptisms, Marriages and very recently Confirmations have all been celebrated.
Other examples of Growing in Communion: These include the Mass and lunch party for families celebrating the recent baptism of a child and the evening social for new parishioners.
School Masses are celebrated in church and also in different classes at the school. There were queries from the floor as to why the school Mass was not a regular feature in church at a set time. Fr Bryan explained that this was by negotiation with the school and could not necessarily be considered as a fixture in the calendar.
Any other business: The Readers’ Rota should be strictly adhered to. Some Readers were doing more than their fair share due to non-attendance of the duty Reader. There was also a problem in that often a Reader would miss their turn because the first Reader did not realise the second was present. This would not happen if both Readers went up together as instructed by Fr Bryan. He said that all Ministers are responsible for their own ministry and should arrange cover by someone else when they couldn’t attend a particular Mass. There had been a problem with the rotas but these should now be correct. There was a request that the rotas should be published further in advance so that Ministers can plan ahead. The rotas are normally published on the website slightly before the printed copies are available at church. Fr Bryan acknowledged the need for information on the Ministry of Reading, and hoped to provide this in the near future.