The Parish of Our Lady, Star of the Sea - Weymouth and Portland
An account of the meeting of the Parish Pastoral Council, Finance Committee and Parish Group Representatives with The Right Reverend Christopher Budd, Bishop of Plymouth held at St Joseph's Hall, on Saturday 22th January 2011 at 3.00pm.
Persons Present: Bishop Christopher Budd, Father Stephen, P. Toohey, M. Wilkins, G. Nixon, Sister Maria, J. Logan, M. Grove, H. Kemmis Betty, J. Chandler, J. Alway, G. Carey, J. O'Brien, W. Westlake, J. Jenkins, M. Hodges, H.J. Fannon, J. Newington, C. Breward, J. Boichot, A. Schwok, A. Watkins and A. Hall.
1. Opening prayer: The meeting was opened with a prayer.
2. Welcome to Bishop Christopher:
My Lord Bishop we welcome you, in your Silver Jubilee year, on your first official visit to the relatively newly formed Parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea Weymouth.
In my research into Parochial and Diocesan history I discovered what you and others here may already know, namely, that you are the third longest serving Bishop in Plymouth since the creation of the diocese in 1850 following the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy. Your immediate predecessor was bishop for 30 years, and Bishop William Vaughan who was ordained a bishop at the age of 48 was in post for 47 years! Only two of your predecessors retired from the Plymouth Diocese, three died in office, one became Archbishop of Westminster and another Archbishop of Birmingham.
It is now 176 years since the first church in our parish was opened in 1835, a mere 6 years after the passing of The Roman Catholic Relief Act (1829). The "mission" had been established in Weymouth in 1820. The Parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea Weymouth has a long history.
We welcome the opportunity to talk to you about the things that we have been doing and those that we hope we will achieve. Representatives of all the non-liturgical groups are here as are members of the Fabrics and Finance committee and the Parish Pastoral Council. We will welcome your advice and guidance.
3. Apologies: M. Wilkins, R. Malyk, R. Bruce and J. Smithson.
4. Fr Stephen's report on the Parish:
I arrived in the parish of St. Augustine's on the 1st August 2007 with the instructions to begin the process of the amalgamation of the parishes of St. Augustine's, Our Lady and St. Andrew's, Portland and St. Joseph's into one new parish for Weymouth and Portland and to take up the existing project of endeavouring to put the new parish into one building for worship. At the time the idea of building a new church, presbytery and hall in Weymouth was being considered but this eventually had to be abandoned.
Since then the three named parishes have been amalgamated into one new parish under the title of Our Lady Star of the Sea. Our Lady and St. Andrew's church which was already closed has now been sold and the new parish is currently making us of St. Augustine's church and St. Joseph's church.
Due to the fact that St. Augustine's church is too small to hold the whole worshipping community with only one priest and due to the fact that there is no other land available nor sufficient money to purchase land and to build a new church, it was decided to use the St. Joseph's site for a new church. However Historic Churches along with the English Heritage decided to list St. Joseph's church and so it could not be demolished. Finally it was decided that the only way available was to reorder, refurbish and extend St. Joseph's church and the work to carry this out we expect to commence immediately after Easter this year whilst at the same time building a two storey parish hall. It is hoped that all this work will be completed by Christmas 2011.
The amalgamation of the three parishes has not been easy and there are some who feel unhappy about the amalgamation. There are also those who are unhappy with the eventual closing of St. Augustine's church because of its long history. I hope that the eventual housing of the whole parish community in one building will go some way to ease the tensions and hurt brought about by amalgamation but I recognise that healing will take some considerable time.
The parish is very active as you will hear in a moment from the various representatives here and I truly believe that as time goes on we will be able to build much more on the back of what already exists. There is a great need for evangelisation in the parish and for trying seriously to bring home many of those who have fallen away from the parish especially among the younger families. This will be the main thrust of the parish when we are finally housed together in one place. Meanwhile this year will be a tough year with many problems to be solved.
5. Report of the Parish Pastoral Council:
The first Meeting of the Parish Pastoral Council for the Parishes of Weymouth and Portland took place on Wednesday 10 October 2007. At that meeting officers were elected and decisions were taken on voting, the venue for subsequent meetings and the publishing of names and photographs. It was confirmed that we still had no decision on the site for the new Church.
Parishioners were invited to comment on the amalgamation of the Parishes and the proposed new church. The majority of replies accepted the inevitable amalgamation but concern was expressed by several about the loss of the existing Church buildings. Eventually it became clear that we are going to have to continue to use St Joseph's church, albeit adapted. In the intervening three years parishioners have also been consulted about the name of the Parish and Mass times. The title Our Lady Star of the Sea had the support of a significant majority.
The Parish Pastoral Council has been kept up to date on the discussions of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, the Deanery forum and matters concerning the Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults. We have also been advised on initiatives such Home is A Holy Place. We have seen the establishment of the Big Breakfast for the men and introduced the Christmas Party for the housebound and we hope that both of these ventures will become regular events. With the potential sale of the presbytery on Portland we said goodbye to Sr Maria Cooke as the Pastoral Assistant for Portland and we have welcomed a representative of the Convent of Mercy to the Council.
In May 2010 in accordance with our constitution four members of the Council stood down and all Parishioners were informed of the need for nominations, and that voting would take place at the AGM on 11 May. The new Parish Pastoral Council with its 4 new members first met on 15 June.
We hope that over the coming months we will begin to come to grips with the concept of Stewardship and this will henceforth inform all that we seek to do in the Parish. During the next year we will have to deal with the upheaval caused by the temporary closure of St Joseph's and, when it the Church reopens, issues to do with the numbers at individual masses and our perennial parking problem. Sadly this may impact on the Parish numbers and income.
6. Report of the Finance Committee:
Preamble:
The Committee comprises 5 lay persons and the Parish Priest and operates within the Diocesan guidelines. The Committee includes the Treasurer, Cashier and Gift Aid Coordinator.
The Committee meets four times per year - January, April, September and November and dates for meetings are set a year in advance. Additionally, a Budget Meeting takes place in March to set the budget for the ensuing year.
At Meetings, the finances of the parish are reviewed using the budget statement on a rolling basis, the bank statements, pending expenditure and explanations given as required.
We operate the recommended OPAS System for accounting.
Current situation:
By really stinting and cutting out all non-essential work and obeying the instructions of the Trustees, a surplus of £17k has been helpful in the future planned works shortly to be undertaken.
Sale of Portland property netted £193,939.35 - but £50k was lost due to listing of the property!
The Future:
In 2003 attempts were started to build a new church for the unification of the parishes in Weymouth & Portland. After a great deal of work it was realised that the Parish could not support such a project. Now in 2011 and many tens of thousands of pounds poorer, we hope to alter the St. Joseph's Church and build a new hall. The spend on the Church modifications will be £600k and on the Hall new-build £600k.
7. Reports from Parish groups:
During the last year members of the Parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea have carried out 179 ship visits in Weymouth and Portland on behalf of the Apostleship of the Sea. Among the ships visited was the SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE, the Saga Cruise liner, which has recently been in the news for being chased by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.
In addition hospital visits have been made by seamen transferred to Dorchester Hospital by helicopter and lifeboat from ships in the English Channel. This included arranging the repatriation of a Russian Seaman to VLADIVOSTOK discharged from hospital with broken ribs and finding Turkish interpreters for a Turkish Seaman undergoing a coronary bypass in Dorchester Hospital.
Assistance was given to the 12 crew of the gas carrier ATLAS STAR which was anchored in Portland Harbour for six weeks whilst the crew took out a maritime lien for three months back pay. During this time the UK Border Agency would not permit any of the crew to go ashore even though 6 of them were EEC Nationals. However the Good News is that the ship has now been sold and is under new management and the original crew have been paid and have returned home.
The year ended with Father Stephen celebrating mass onboard the cable vessel WAVE SENTINEL in Portland Port on New Year's Eve. Crew members from 3 ships in the port attended.
Mark Kemmis Betty
Association for the Propagation of the Faith
I volunteered for the post of APF/ Mill Hill local secretary for the Parish of St Joseph's in Weymouth in February 2003. I inherited one promoter who collected from six parishioners and eleven other Red Box holders who I was collecting from. I was, therefore, Local Secretary and Promoter.
Following a recruitment drive in 2008, I acquired another three promoters with several more participating members.
As you know, the three separate Weymouth Parishes of Portland, St Augustine's and St Joseph's amalgamated to become Our Lady Star of the Sea and there was a requirement for one overall Local Secretary to take charge. At a subsequent meeting, I was "gently" coerced by the other two Local secretaries into taking on the post of the new, bigger, single Parish.
My new role commenced in 2009. I now have ten promoters (including myself). The total number of Red Box holders is seventy nine.
In 2009 this Parish was the third highest contributor to the APF out of all the Parishes of the Diocese. The figure was £2,644.
I don't yet have the 2010 figures for the Diocese, but this Parish collected £1,787. This is approximately £800 down on the 2009 figure. Must be the recession.
My promoters and individual Red Box holders are wonderful people and extremely generous and it is a pleasure to serve them, the Parish and the APF.
Roly Malyk
Brownies - 2ND WEYMOUTH (ST AUGUSTINES) BROWNIE PACK
This Brownie Pack moved to St Augustine's Church Hall in 1992 following the closure of the College of the Sacred Hearts, where it had run successfully since 1946. I took over from Joan Heslop in 1995 and sadly have to step down as Brown Owl this coming April as I have reached that certain age when we are deemed to be irresponsible! Hopefully my daughter, Kate will be taking over the pack, so we are keeping it in the family. Joan and I will be continuing to assist together with a new Guider who has recently joined us, a young teacher at St. Andrews school.
We are also extremely lucky to have two wonderful Young Leaders, Katherine Moore and Eleanor Lane, both of whom were Brownies with us, as was my daughter, and have progressed through Guiding.
We currently have twenty girls in the Pack and another two starting after Easter. Sadly very few Catholic children at the moment as most of our girls come from Radipole or St. Johns schools. Being in a multi faith organisation we welcome girls of all races and creeds, but as we are in essence a Church pack we would welcome a few more catholic children.
As I am sure you are aware Guiding gives girls a sense of belonging, teaching them love and respect for others but also giving each and every one the confidence to grow into responsible and caring young women. Team work is vital and a sense of community and the needs of those less fortunate throughout the world motivate the girls in their fund raising efforts.
Last year as a result of collecting twenty pence pieces in Smartie tubes and two fashion shows, one for the girls and one for their mothers and friends raised and amazing £750 in one term. This was given to the Melcombe Regis Rotary Club to purchase Shelterboxes. Every year our parents donate items for two food hampers which are raffled at the Church Christmas Fayre for One World.
Every year we go on Pack Holiday and for a week become a close knit family, working and playing together. The girls help with the washing up, preparation of meals, making their beds and a bit of cleaning usually to the accompaniment of a great deal of chatter, laughter and singing. We do a number of crafts, games and outdoor challenges and always have a day out - this year we shall be going to Poulton's Park. The girls return home with a fistful of badges, tired, a bit grubby round the edges but stilling singing!
We have just completed a year of celebrations for the Guiding Centenary and many badges have been awarded on a variety of topics. On 20th October Weymouth and Portland Guiding culminated the year with a fantastic event held at the Nothe Fort, attended by over 500 members aged from five upwards. We had a huge camp fire and the Parade Ground resounded with songs from all over the world. At 20.10 on the 20th day of the tenth month 2010, everyone in Guiding throughout the world made their promise. A truly memorable occasion.
Guiding moves forward now with renewed vigour into our second century and is still as popular as ever.
Catenian Association Circle 193 (Weymouth)
Weymouth Catenian Association Circle 193 is part of the worldwide fraternal brotherhood of Catholic Gentlemen, and our motto is "Strengthening Family and Friendship through faith". In the United Kingdom it is divided into Provinces of which we are in province 11. The circle has members from the parish of Weymouth and has brothers as far east as Wareham and Wool. Additionally we are the mother circle to the Axminster brothers. We have recently celebrated our 50th (Golden) Anniversary with the Grand President of the Association Vernon De Cruz being the principle guest. We hold our meetings on the second Monday of each month at the Hotel Prince Regent followed by dinner there. Often Brothers of other circles are in attendance and we are very much a fraternal association.
The aims of the association are varied and wide so to go through them all would take too long. We fulfil the aims in the following manner. All meetings are opened and closed with prayers for deceased and sick members, vocations to the church and all those in need throughout the world are remembered. We remember our brothers both past and recently deceased nationally, via a roll call of names and circle attended. With Masses being said for the repose of the souls of our brothers locally.
We have embarked on a recruitment drive by:
- Giving pulpit presentations at Wool, Wareham and Weymouth churches
- Raised our profile through opening some of our social events to parishioners, notably the singing Priests concerts at Bournemouth Pavilion, and a night at the Dogs in Poole Stadium
- More active participation at the Church Bazaars (Fete)
- The use of banners that list the Catenian aims during Catenian events
- Fund raising for local catholic charities, the president's charity is currently, the Weymouth life care centre (currently in excess of £500). There was also a dinner at which £120 was raised to support the youth of the parish on a diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes. And we have also supported a local day centre for disabled people, (The Acorns) for whom we were able to raise over £1000
- Encouraging our members to support our Clergy and identify themselves as Catenians and proudly Roman Catholic
The Brotherhood locally stands at a healthy 29, with another gentleman showing interest in joining. We lack active support in Dorchester albeit some of their parishioners have attended our social events. We would like to invite new brothers from that parish to join us.
Each year we invite the Clergy in our catchment area to an appreciation dinner for them at the Prince Regent Hotel, which is well attended.
We are actively discouraging the old and outdated concept that the Catenians are a group of business and professional gentlemen only. The true requirement is to be a practising Catholic gentleman of good standing.
CWL - Report
Currently have 31 members, and meet monthly. Meetings begin and end with prayer. Our main areas of activity are:-
- Service in the Parish
- Fundraising for Charities
- Ecumenical Activities
- Social Activities.
Service in the Parish. We are responsible for refreshments for:-
- 11am Mass every Sunday
- Children's First Holy Communion Mass
- Advent Carol Service
- Also organise:-
- Passover Meal
- Stations of the Cross and Lenten Lunch
- Healing Mass and Lunch
- Sale of and draw tickets at Parish Summer Fete
- We also try to respond positively to other requests for our help.
Fund Raising For Charities
- Particular items include:-
- Annual Sea Front Stall for named Charity - 2010 Weymouth Street Pastors, 2011 Soul food
- Sell Draw tickets and programmes at Weymouth Carnival
- Section raised £600 for Help For Hero's - Our National Charity for 2010
- At our January meeting, the following payments were approved.
- £100 each to:-
- The Lantern
- Weymouth Samaritans
- Weymouth and District Life Julia's House
- Other payments:-
- Relief and Refugees £75
- Our Lady's Catechists £50
- Catechetical Comps £75
Ecumenical
A section member sits on the Women World Day of Prayer. We are hosting the Service in our Parish this year. We have good relationships with other organisations and attend Rally's and Services when invited. We respond with our own offers of hospitality.
We regard this as an important part of our work.
Social
We offer friendship and support to our fellow members and Parish friends. Particularly our sick members.
We have various social activities, and invite parishioners to hear our speakers.
Our aims for 2011 are to continue our efforts in prayer, service and support where needed. We have a particular intention to recruit new members.
The Knights of St Columbia (KSC) Council 183
Weymouth KSC received their charter in 1927 and there has been a council in Weymouth ever since. The Council membership is getting on in age and there are only 10 brothers left now. However at one time there were 24 or more brothers. The KSC is a national organization of brothers, divided into provinces. Our council is in The Portsmouth province. The parish Priest is our Chaplin and we are most grateful for the support he has given us.
Our meetings are held once a month at the Grand Knights residence. The meetings are conducted with due ceremony, opened and closed with prayers. Our meetings although informal are conducted to a set reverential manner.
We have brothers elected to undertake various officer functions, such as council welfare for brothers and widows, including visits to sick brothers and widows as required at home or in hospital. Actions given to us as they arise from the Parish Priest and the other parish organizations, such as we actively support the Parish Fete every year and assist with the setting up and closing down of the Fete. Another low profile function undertaken by the brothers is the display of the KSC Christmas Crib which we now annually transport to Dorchester County Hospital Restaurant where it is set up in the entrance and is illuminated and we always receive favourable reports regarding the crib. One of our brothers set up an award of a trophy to a local youth community organization directed at awarding recognition of high achievement by a youngster within the Westham Youth Group. Every Easter and Christmas there are Car Stickers and window posters heralding the celebration, these are avidly taken up at no expense as the local KSC finances the production.
Sadly now however all efforts to recruit new brothers fall upon deaf ears. This is despite us having the potential benefit of a Roman Catholic school in our area. Not one parent has expressed interest even after several approaches both personally and in the church. Sherborne is the northern most parish in the area and the KSC council recently ceased functioning due to lack of membership. A recruitment drive was conducted with Provincial Officers coming from Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Poole but there was absolutely no interest.
My Lord Bishop, Father Stephen and Council members:
I represent Weymouth and District LIFE Group, which is a branch of the national charity LIFE. This year it celebrates 30 years of pro-life outreach to our local community. LIFE Pregnancy Care Services, LIFE Housing, LIFE Education and LIFE Fertility Care are all aspects of our referral work, in addition to our Zoe's Place Baby Hospices.
Eighteen years ago we opened our LIFE Charity Shop and Babyshop in Great George Street, Weymouth. And it still functions today as a practical pro-life beacon.
In 2011 our Group will be hosting the mothers and babies from the Bournemouth LIFE House to a day out in the summer. We hosted them last year to a day of Christmas shopping and all the girls created a message card, here's a typical message: "Thanks you all for a wonderful day out. Me and Tommy really enjoyed ourselves and Tommy loves his new music ball. And thank you for all the food: it was lovely. From Esther and Tommy".
Also in 2011 we will be holding a Precious Memories Gathering for those who have experiences child loss. We will meet at St Mary's Church on Sunday 10th April in the afternoon. The initiative was LIFE's, but we are collaborating with non-LIFE members of the community. Once established, we expect this to become an annual event.
As Secretary of Weymouth and District LIFE Group I will soon be writing to the Parish Council and to Father Stephen for a LIFE Sunday. It enables us to appeal for more members and more pro-active helpers for our local group, so that our work can continue to benefit our community.
I am proud to be a member of LIFE, and a member of the oldest pro-life organisation in the world, the Catholic Church.
Joyce Fannon
Mothers Circle of The Infant Jesus of Prague was introduced in 1963 by the wife of an American scientist working with N.A.T.O. named Alma Stocklin. Mothers Circle 1 increased in numbers so in 1978 Mothers Circle 11 was formed.
At that time Mothers of children under 16 years met to say the Rosary and discuss a reading topic. Our topics have changed over the years; our concerns now include grandchildren, also our long suffering husbands who support us in many ways, attending parish events and celebrations.
We are not a fund raising group. However any subs left over at the end of the year are donated to charity. The members help the parish in various ways: The Children's Liturgy, Extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion, The Life Group, or support their husbands in the parish One World group. During 32 years members have moved away, or sadly have died. However, we are delighted to encourage new members, always making it clear that problems are treated in the strictest confidence. Our aim is to help our families grow in knowledge of God's love.
We continue to meet on the 1st Tuesday of the month at 8pm. And the venue is printed in the parish news letter, by the hostess for that month. We like to start the year with a House Mass. Father Stephen consults his very busy diary to make us a definite date.
The Group was formed by a joining together of St Augustine's and St Joseph's One World Groups. St Augustine's Group had been in continual action for about 30 years (for part of the time known as the Third World Group). St Joseph's for about 6 years.
The Group exists to support the parish priest in meeting the Covenant with the Poor entered into by the parish some years ago.
The Group supports CAFOD, pledging 50% of fund-raising. It maintains contact with the Diocesan CAFOD organiser and it promotes the Family Fast Days and special appeals. The parish recently signed a pledge to Connect to Rwanda to establish contact with a specific community.
For the other 50% of funds raised parishioners are invited twice each year to nominate charity work and a sub-committee discusses and allocated these funds. In 2010 over £4,400 was sent to CAFOD in addition to Family Fast Day and special appeals. £4,400 was distributed amongst charities in this country and abroad. Funds supported work in Tanzania, Kenya, Nepal, India, Bosnia and local work with the homeless.
The Group co-ordinates twice-yearly appeals for food for the Lantern Christian Centre, supported well by parishioners.
An AGM is held each February at which officers of the Group and the committee are voted in by parishioners.
In addition to financial support the Group provides social events for the parish and opportunities for members of the parish to meet and enjoy themselves.
We have 20 active members with many more who support our activities.
The Prayer Group started in 1974 with just two people. We quickly outgrew our home and started meeting in St Joseph's Hall. Over the years we have appreciated very much the support and encouragement received from our Parish Priests.
We meet weekly to praise and worship God, to share the Word, and witness to what God has done in our lives. A place where our relationship with Him can be expressed - encouraged - renewed.
In recent years we have hosted many events including Alpha, Life in the Spirit Seminars, the Cafe series such as -
- This is my Body
- Knowing God better
- Believe - Reflections on the Creed
- Life to the Full (these resources are available for anyone in the Parish to use)
- Deacon Geoffrey leads us in Lectio Devina once a month.
Last July we were asked to put on an all night prayer vigil at the Convent, to pray for our future as the Parish of Our Lady Star of the Sea, such a special night, attended by many in the Parish.
The future:
- We are planning an Alpha Course or a new Cafe series - we are gathering material to help us in forming a healing team, available to pray for people after the Sunday Mass.
- Many in the Prayer Group are involved in parish activities, and some of us are keen to take Jesus into the market place, joining ecumenical prayer teams such as:
- HEALING ROOMS, which has been operating for the past 6/7 years meeting weekly in the GP practice at Portland and at Dorchester Poundbury, under the local directorship of Mike and Beverley Robinson.
Under the banner "The Church" in Weymouth and Portland, we have:
- HOTS 'Healing on the Streets" led by Rev Tony Stephens. We meet every Saturday from 10 - 12 Noon outside NatWest bank in the centre of town. And like healing rooms anyone can come for prayer.
REFRESH 2012 headed by Annie Douglas and core team, praying about mission initiatives leading up to and including the Olympics in Weymouth and Portland. Our church co-ordinator for this is Deacon Geoffrey Carey. Father Stephen had asked Deacon Geoffrey to respond to the Catholic Prayer meetings. There is a vision - hospitality - social need on visitors next year. Not athletes as they will have their own Chaplin's.
Maria Carey has sold Fair Trade goods in the parish for many years. She buys a wide range of Traidcraft goods from the central depot in Gateshead and sells them at cost price in the parish. She has a stall in the halls at St. Joseph's and St. Augustine's after the morning Mass once per month. She supplies tea and coffee to both church halls for use at social gatherings, so we can claim to be a Fair Trade parish in that respect. We do not yet supply the Presbytery. Maria also supplies two local Anglican parishes. The parish made a one-off financial contribution to the buying of stock. Otherwise it is self-financing. Maria pays for all stock in advance. There is no profit. The Traidcraft stalls complement the work of the One World Group.
Geoffrey Carey
Youth Club runs on a Sunday evening during school term time with about 15 young people a week. Age range from 10-15. Within the club on a weekly basis we have had popular indoor games such as Belgium long ball, Handball with a very large soft ball, pin game, dodge ball, balloon ball and more.
We have also had a Tee shirt design evening, board game challenge, code breaking evening, chocolate theme evening, African theme evening and Christmas decoration designing evening.
We have had visits to the local police and fire station. Also coming to the club we have had visits from a paramedic and guest speakers like the Seb Green who completed a walk around the coast of Britain. We also had a visit from a street pastor giving a talk about the work they carry out helping vulnerable people on the streets of Weymouth.
The youth club actively takes part or hosts Deanery events, when several clubs meet for a fun afternoon e.g. walking around Moors Valley Park, followed by Mass when each group took part in reading, music, acting out the Gospel. We support any diocesan youth rallies or events when organised.
The Youth Club also has a weekend retreat to St Ritas Honiton centred on theme for example one year it was a Celebration of life. On the Saturday of that year we had a guest speaker Simon Giarchi the Diocesan Manager of Cafod giving a talk of his on Cafods work.
The Youth Club have along with the Parish taken part every year in Operation Christmas Child where we sent 67 boxes to Haiti.
We also do fund raising events most recently we did a sponsored walk in aid of Shelter Box and a representative came to do a talk, show us a shelter box and receive a cheque enough, with help from other fund raising within the parish, to make a completed box.
The Sunday evening before Good Friday youth club went into the church and took part in the Stations of the Cross with the young people reading a youth version of each station.
Matthew Wilkins
8. Bishop Christopher's Address:
The Bishop is aware of all the change and movement in the parish. The altar at St Augustine's will be moved across to St Joseph's, as an important symbol of the two churches coming together- this will be with sensitivity, loss and gain.
Our Lady and St Andrew's, Portland, which started as a small community church, had many different changes to adjust to, in the community. Originally having the prison and their families using, eventually being in bad repair with dry and wet rot - the cost of repair unreasonable. Other parishes within the Diocese suffering similar problems with Poole having to change from having four priests, to parishes merging and having only two priests.
The Bishop thanked everyone for patience and understanding during a difficult time. He was aware of frustration and outrage in the parish.
Referring to Pope Benedict's speech where he feels the Catholic Church is being pushed out of the public space. He quoted "We belong in public space". The Bishop referred to public space being already witnessed in the parish by the prayer group meeting in the square and the LIFE group with their work.
Bishop Christopher compared Plymouth City having street pastors, as Weymouth and the police very grateful for all the work they do, also the prayers of support from the parish.
He said he saw a healthy Catholic community within our worship and we must also show it in all our fellow religions - working together for example with the hospitality offered during the Olympics.
The Bishop himself on Sunday 23rd January had been asked by the Reverend Chris Biggs (Methodist) on Portland to preach and had accepted. He asked that the various organisations should not to loose their own individual identities.
He understood that passing faith on in families a difficulty and had observed in his own nephew and nieces sadly a loss but to always keep the door open. In keeping the door open - suggesting challenging them, welcome them, they may be wounded. Let the sacrament of worship pour out - "Among you saints of the 20th century" - us, as quoted by Pope Benedict to the young people at Twickenham last year.
Bishop Christopher congratulated Father Stephen on his seriousness of the catechists within the parish. The coming together in the diocese of the adults and youngsters.
The Bishop asked about the Polish community within the parish - Alicia explained she helped with the First Communion and Confirmation candidates with translation. She said there had been some difficulty in change and there were not many attending mass weekly. A Polish priest says mass once a month but it is poorly attended. The Bishop was recently aware of a Polish Saturday school next to his house in Plymouth- where the Polish meet each week to keep up Polish traditions.
There are other nationalities in Weymouth but they are many here for the jobs, few attending mass. Rhose Lawes has helped with the Philippians', translating - settling them into Weymouth but again few attending mass regularly. Bishop Christopher thanked all groups within the parish - as showing local community witness in all their work.
He then thanked father Stephen for his work in the parish.
Nine students are within the formation of seminars, after the launch on the Bishops 25th Anniversary.
8. Thank you to Bishop Christopher: Judith Boichot thanked the Bishop for his love, by showing love for coming to Weymouth for the weekend.
10. Closing Prayer: Father Stephen closed the meeting with a prayer.