Chapel-en-le-Frith Parish Pastoral Council
Parish Pastoral Council Meeting 24th November 2022
St John Fisher & St Thomas More, Chapel-en-le-Frith
Agenda
1) Opening Prayer
2) Council Constitution
3) ‘Listening Project’ – Monitoring and additional responses.
4) Marie Lawton – progress report and absence cover
5) Works at the house – update, H & S audit, porch, internal ordering, and review of the historical appointment of handyman, hours, etc
6) Involvement in civic life – report Warm house, etc.
7) AOB
Present
Fr Gerry Murphy
Don Lavery – deacon
Peter Barnes
Pat Dawson
Frank Frost
Barbara Hindley
Ann Lomas
Lucia McClean
Joan Matthews
Anne Parker
Sue Thornhill
1. The meeting started with a prayer.
2. A copy of a Parish Council Constitution, taken from a diocesan specimen is included below, with suggested amendments highlighted in red, or strikethrough to indicate deletions.
DIOCESE OF NOTTINGHAM
PARISH of Ss John Fisher & Thomas More
THE PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL CONSTITUTION
1. The Parish Pastoral Council:\ (a) The parish is to have a Parish Pastoral Council (hereafter ‘the council’), whose members assist and advise the parish priest, who is the proper pastor of the parish, in all matters concerning the life and mission of the parish, without prejudice to the function of the parish finance committee concerning the temporal goods of the parish and such other committees that the parish priest may establish on a permanent or temporary basis. (b) It is governed by the universal law, whether laid down in the Code of Canon Law or in any other law promulgated by the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops, together with these norms which have been promulgated as particular law in the Diocese of Nottingham and any other norms which may be promulgated by the Bishop of Nottingham.
2. Membership of the Council:
(a) The council shall consist of the parish priest, deacon, and no more than fifteen or twelve other members.
(b) The parish priest, by virtue of his office, presides over the council. Deliberations entered into, or decisions taken, by a meeting of the council which has not been presided over by the parish priest or which has assembled contrary to his wishes have no effect. 1
(c) Six of the members of the council are appointed by the parish priest and six are elected by parishioners at a meeting called for the purpose of holding that election; The parish priest will invite the deacon and up to 15 parishioners to be members of the council, they are appointed or elected ad triennium, but when this period has expired they may be appointed or elected for further terms of three years.
(d) Only those who possess the qualities prescribed by canon law may be appointed or elected as members. 2
(e) Each member of the council shall be in full communion with the Catholic Church and a parishioner of the Parish of Ss John Fisher & Thomas More in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
(f) Should a member cease to be a member of the council for whatever reason, the parish priest may appoint a parishioner in their place for the remainder of the triennium.
(g) Membership of the council does not lapse when the parish becomes vacant.
1 Cf. canon 536; cf. CONGREGATION FOR THE CLERGY ET AL., Instruction on Certain Questions regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest, 5 §3.
2 Cf. canon 512, §§ 1 & 3; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1650; CONGREGATION FOR THE CLERGY ET AL., Instruction on Certain Questions regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest, 15th August 1997, 5 §2.
3. Meetings of the Council:
(a) The council shall meet at least six times a year.
(b) The parish priest may delegate the chairing of meetings of the council to the deacon or to a member of the council or else provide for the election of a chair.
(c) The parish priest may invite non-members to attend and address meetings of the council, but these do not have an active or passive voice in any vote.
(d) The council shall proceed consensually, everyone has a voice and will be listened to and any votes taken are consultative rather than deliberative. The number of members for a quorum will be 6.
(h) The parish administrator shall be the clerk of the council.
(e) Minutes shall be made of each meeting, and kept in a minute book, which shall be retained to form part of the parochial archive; 3 minutes should, with the exception of matters which the parish priest has deemed to be confidential, be published put on the parish website and made available to parishioners.
(f) Any member of the parish can contact either of the secretaries to put items on the meeting agenda up to 2 weeks before the date of the meeting. The agenda will be circulated 1 week before the meeting. Every meeting agenda will include both finance and safeguarding to enable any issues to be raised and will decide the date of the next meeting.
3 Cf. canon 535, §4. 42
4. The Role of the Council:
(a) The council is to assist the parish priest in his ministry and support him in all aspects concerning the life and mission of the parish.
(b) The council is an advisory and not a deliberative body. Nevertheless, the parish priest shall consult and have regard for the opinion of the members of the council concerning the life and mission of the parish.
(c) The council shall assist the parish priest in fulfilling those obligations imposed upon him by canons 515-552 and other such universal or particular laws currently in force.
(d) The council shall give careful consideration to:
(i) the proclamation of the word of God, evangelisation, and catechesis; (ii) the celebration of the sacred liturgy and the spiritual life of the parish;
(iii) the pastoral care of Christ’s faithful, particularly those who feel estranged from the Church;
(iv) ecumenical, inter-faith, and civic relationships;
(v) the administration of the parish and its temporal goods; and
(vi) such other matters as the parish priest may refer to the council or be proposed for discussion by the council by any member of the council or parishioners.
(e) The parish finance committee is to work with the council and should be represented on it, especially in regard to fundraising activities and the repair, maintenance, and reordering of the parish churches.
5. The Parish Priest as Proper Pastor of the Parish:
(a) ‘The parish priest is the proper pastor of the parish entrusted to him. He exercises the pastoral care of the community entrusted to him under the authority of the diocesan Bishop, whose ministry of Christ he is called to share, so that for this community he may carry out the offices of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling with the cooperation of other priests or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of Christ’s faithful, in accordance with the law.’
(b) Since the pastoral care of the parish entrusted to him is vested in the parish priest, he is the juridical representative of the parish, and is to ensure that the parish is administered in accordance with canons 517-552 and its temporal goods in accordance with canons 1281-1288, together with such other laws that are in force in the Diocese of Nottingham and any relevant civil legislation currently in force in England & Wales. (c) Since the council always and only acts in an advisory capacity, it cannot in any way be held accountable for the parish priest’s actions.
These norms were adopted by the Parish Pastoral Council and approved by the parish priest, Father …………………………………………………… on …………………………………………….
In addition to the discussion about the wording of the constitution, the question of a secretary was raised. Sue Thornhill proposed that this should be shared by 2 people to make the task less onerous and ultimately easier to pass on to other PPC members in the future if more people are familiar with it. Sue Thornhill and Barbara Hindley will share the secretarial duties.
Father Gerry will chair the meetings until March next year, a new chair will be elected after Easter.
3. Synodal Listening Project – the summary of our initial reactions to the questionnaires will be our broad guide for the next year or so.
4. Marie is starting to make some progress in Hospital for which we are all very pleased. She was on the Livestream for Mass on Saturday and Father will aim to welcome her specifically to the forthcoming Saturday Mass. In her absence Helen H. will do the laundry, Ann P the shopping, and the church cleaning will be done jointly by everyone present after Mass on the 3 rd Wednesday of the month. Marie is an employee of the Parish and so is on sick leave and will continue to be paid.
5. Works at the house – A builder will be coming to address the problem of the church porch leaking, estimate £1500. He will also look at the flat roofs. A painter is starting tomorrow for an estimated 6 days of work, £1200 in the presbytery, with a carpet fitter to come once the painting is complete. Don will discuss the possibility of employing George as a self-employed handyman to do various jobs around the church. Don will establish that he has Public Liability cover and will discuss an hourly rate.
6. Involvement in civic life – Don has been involved in local Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and Remembrance Day Service and has been invited as a Catholic representative at the Community Awards. The Parish is also involved in the Warm Room initiative at the Town Hall. Contributions made by Ann Parker to Little Angels charity are acknowledged as a parish enterprise.
7. AOB - It was decided that the date for the next meeting should be set at every meeting and that this will be the last Thursday of alternate months, therefore the date of the next meeting is 26th January 2023 at 4.00 pm.
