Minutes St Francis Parish Council meeting March 14th 2023 at 19:30

Present: Mike Campbell (chair), Eva Kaltenthaler (minutes) Stephen Spooner, Father Kevin, Richard Bushell, and Richard McQuinn, Anne Shepherd, Lindsay Reynolds

Apologies: Deacon Stephen Parker, Maria Levesley, Sian Price,

Opening prayer was said by Father Kevin

Matters Arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2023 were approved with the following comments:

  • David Hughes is replacing light bulbs as they go.
  • The Baptism Team consists of Geraldine Houlton, Vicky Igoe, Richard McQuinn and Louise Garnett.

Parish website

Many of the items on the website are out of date. For example, the Dance Club no longer meets at St Francis and Little Fishes no longer takes place. Father Kevin has a list of items that need removing. He will send this to Mike who will discuss suggested revisions to the website with Alan.

Finances

The music group has now purchased the required items and they are in use. There was also a request for new vestments for altar servers for £308 from Jonathan Yewdall. This was approved by the Parish Council.

A financial report will be presented at the AGM. Some members of the Finance Committee would like to stand down. Replacement members are being sought.

Spirituality

A number of Spirituality activities have been planned:

  • A Lenten day retreat run by Deacon Stephen Parker will be held on 22 April 2023.
  • The Big Picture course starts on 21 March. Thirty one people have signed up to attend including some from other parishes. The 200 Club will pay for the books. The Parish Council thanked the 200 Club for paying for materials and the organisers of this course for all the hard work they have put into making this possible: Lindsay Reynolds, Clare Byrnes, Geraldine Houlton and Diane Rossiter.
  • A Taize evening will be held on 29 March.

Sacramental preparation

The confirmation programme will start in September. There are currently six candidates and this may go up to eight. Richard Bussell is leading this.

Pastoral Care and Community

Ann Shepherd mentioned that there have been no events scheduled over the past few months. She is in contact with the other churches. There is currently some interest in the Antioch Church and the ecumenical publication Arise. There focus is on praying for every street in Sheffield.

Justice and Peace

Stephen Spooner reported that the group have started work on the CAFOD Live Simply campaign. The group has several new members. There is currently no CAFOD representative for St Francis.

Youth Ministry

The youth group has regular meetings every month. They are planning another Youth Mass sometime over the next few months.

Other activities

The soup lunch on Ash Wednesday did not take place due to road works outside the church. It was agreed that a cake afternoon will be held after Easter. There will be a Parish Walk after Easter.

The hut in the garden has blown over in the recent bad weather. There are a lot of gardening supplies which now need to be given away. A new hut is not needed.

It was noted that some people have said they are unable to hear the notices read after Mass. It was suggested that the readers could read the notices highlighted by Father Kevin. Mike will e-mail Alan Wenham to let the readers know about this. This will begin after Easter.

We may need more Eucharistic Ministers. Mike will e-mail Kevin Exell to see if he might find enough Eucharistic Ministers from those who served in this role pre-covid.

A replacement for running the 200 Club is needed. Hopefully someone can be found soon. Ann Shepherd indicated she had someone in mind.

Note after meeting: Mike emailed Kevin Exell with suggestions for Eucharistic Ministers and thanked him for his work with the 200 club.

AGM

The next AGM will be held on 27th April at 7:30pm. All group leads to send a brief summary of activities over the past year to Eva for inclusion in the Annual Report. Mike will contact Derek Hemmingfield about presenting a financial report at the meeting. All Parish Council members were asked to bring cake. Tea and coffee will be provided.

Father Kevin read the Closing prayer.

Date of next meeting 11 May 2023 (Thursday) at 7:30pm.