St Andrew’s PPC Meeting Thursday 7th December 2023

Attending : Father Mackle, Deacon Tommy, George Allan, Mary Teresa Coyle, Catherine Dunipace, Jenny McGahan, Caroline Hanlon, Moira English, Robert Paterson, Marysia Paterson, Ricky Jackson, John Heath and Veronica McLaughlin.

Apologies Sadie Traynor, Jim Hendrie, Chris Sanders and Donal McDermott.

1. Opening Prayer

2. Agree previous minutes or any further changes
No changes, minutes agreed.

3. Pastoral Area Update

• Productive meeting held recently and agreement reached on a proposed summer Mass schedule, which was discussed and agreed. The possibility of a pilgrimage to Rome for older school age children and young adults was discussed. Next pastoral area meeting is in January 2024

4. Any questions or arising from latest Parish Group Reports

• Liturgy
• Halls
• J&P
• Messengers
• Fabric & Finance
• Further Halls update – New gutters and downpipes fitted to hut and house and LED lighting now complete. Upper hall window fitted but work not complete. Halls Committee in need of further volunteers. Thanks offered for the significant help by various volunteers on the Parish halls, house, grounds etc. We are very blessed as a Parish to have the volunteers we do. Discussed action needed to assess risk of aerated concrete. Possibility discussed of arranging an inspection by a surveyor or structural engineer. Highlighted items arising on recent fire risk assessment with new report requireddue to errors.

Action

• Item for bulletin to be drafted asking for people to give their names to be called on to set up tables and chairs for events on occasion particularly during months - Robert.

5. Visiting teams

• Following appeal made to form cross-parish visiting team, this is now up and running with meetings held. Visits are carried out in pairs and some additional visits carried out. It is hoped that visits may continue under evangelisation initiative.

6. Summer 2024 Mass schedule – covered under item 3.

7. AOB

• Work will commence in January on parish directory.
• There are no RCIA candidates this year. Programme for this is currently being revamped.
• The Children Liturgy, St Andrew’s squad and Catechists team have amalgamated into one new group. They will look at how best to inform, guide, educate and prepare the children of St Andrew’s for the Sacraments from a parish perspective.
• Touched on possibility of establishing an oratory in St Nicholas. EDC were approached but advised they would not support this request with no reason given.
• Lunch club urgently need a volunteer to help set up and clear away tables.
• Carpet in porch discussed and how to refresh. Possibility of changing external doors to the church as well as 2 internal double doors.

Actions

• Include appeal for volunteers in bulletin item and social media – Robert.
• Make an appeal at Mass for volunteers to help set up hall on occasion - Father Mackle.
• Look into replacing carpet in porch - George.
• Consider whether replacing external and internal doors is feasible and issues involved – George and Robert.
• Contact school with request they contact EDC re Oratory request

8. Date of next meeting – Thursday 21st March 2024

9. Closing Prayer

Report of Meeting
Present
Fr. Mackle, John Heath, Donal McDermott, Ron Drozdziak, Elizabeth Reid, Mary Theresa Coyle, Gordon Reid and Veronica McLaughlin.               
Apologies Monsignor Ryan, Deacon Tommy Sadie Traynor.

Opening Prayer 
The meeting was opened with a prayer led by Fr. Mackle.  

Previous Minutes  There were no matters arising and minutes were agreed from previous meeting.

Group Reports   
Group Reports were considered on the following with no significant questions raised: 
·    Liturgy
·    Faith Formation
·    Messengers
·    J&P
·    Fabric & Finance
·    Halls
 
It was noted that all had gone well with arrangements for Christmas Vigil Mass and that there are plans to have the current P6s to encourage P5s to sign up for Pope Francis award. 

SVDP 2020 - Double Anniversary Year  
The New Year 2020 is of particular significance in the historical journey of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. The foundation of the first conference in Scotland took place 175 years ago on the 25th May 1845. This development heralded the beginning of the establishment of many other SSVP conferences throughout Scotland.  The New Year 2020 also marks the 50th anniversary of the National Council of Scotland instituted in 1970. To commemorate both these anniversaries there will be special events during 2020 at national level. It was suggested that the parish also mark this special anniversary in some way and raise parish awareness of the amazing work done by the SVDP. The possibility of marking this special occasion through a parish Mass was discussed as well as communication both in the parish and the wider community potentially involving the mini-vinnies. 

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Action – Donal will discuss with the group and liase with Fr. Mackle on next steps.
 
Lent Fest 2010  
It was highlighted that this will be held again this year and it’s hoped that the exhibition could move around the diocese including the parish. 

Schools consultation   
Members of the group had attended the 2 public meetings in Bearsden Academy, which were extremely well attended. In summary, the potential impact of the original proposal was detrimental to encouraging parents to send their children to St. Nicholas Primary, as it wouldn’t be an associated school for the local Secondary’s.   Discussion followed about the impact of that on Catholic education. This will revisited when the outcome of the consultation is known. 
 
St Andrew's Squad - children's catechesis The parish group require new volunteers to take over from current ones to support children before they receive the sacraments. Current volunteers have carried out this valuable service for a number of years.
Action  - Fr. M to meet with Veronica MacGuire and Tamara Kennedy 

Vocations promotion  
There was a discussion around the need to promote vocations in the parish and local primary school. This is a particular concern given the low number of priests and the fact that there are currently only 20 seminarians in Scotland. A new initiative has started in the school to pray for and promote vocations
St Nicholas 28. Prayers for Vocations. Supported by SERRA and Ricky Jackson. 

Primary school newsletter  
The group had a discussion around the school newsletter as it’s felt that there was scope to increase visibility of faith related issues such as the Pope Francis award, mini-vinnies, sacrament preparation as well as fundamental faith promotion. 
One suggestion possible option would be source some newsletters from other catholic primary schools and pass them to the school to assist. 
 
Action - Donal to source some catholic primary school newsletters as examples then discuss next steps with Fr. Mackle.  

AOB   
A replacement has been found for a new parish Safeguarding coordinator who will be appointed shortly. Level 2 training which is mandatory, will possibly be held in the parish as we have sufficient numbers. 

Next Meeting and closing prayer Dates for future meeting proposed for 23rd April at 6.45 for 7pm in the parish house.  Meeting closed with a prayer led by Father Mackle.  

Present
Father Mackle, Monsignor Ryan, Deacon Tommy, John Heath, Ron Drozdziak, Mary Theresa Coyle, Elizabeth Reid, Margaret Barton, Gordon Reid, Iain Pringle, Donal Dowds, FredMcDermott, Donal McDermott and Veronica McLaughlin. 
                                                                                                                               
Apologies 
Jane Dowds, Sadie Traynor, and Ann Marie Clark. 

1. Opening Prayer 
The meeting was opened with a prayer led by Father Mackle. Iain Pringle Donal Dowds and   Fred McDermott were welcomed as new members to the PPC. 

2. Previous Minutes  
Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted and there were no matters arising. It was agreed to post these in an accessible place for parishioners and decision subsequently taken to post these on parish website given the high number of people accessing. 

3. Group Reports  
Group Reports were considered on the following with only questions raised in meeting itself minuted : 

• Liturgy
• Faith Formation
• Youth
• Messengers
• Fabric & Finance
• Justice&Peace
• Bereavement,
• Transport to Mass
• Fallen away
• Halls.

 
Liturgy report- Question was raised about whether there is a need to have music at Holiday of Obligations evening Masses. This has been discussed at liturgy group and it was agreed that the liturgy group will look at numbers attending for future Masses and make a decision thereafter. 

Faith Formation- Stephen McKinney’s talk scheduled to take place on 29thNovember will clash with Parish  celebrating sacrament of Confirmation. 

Action - Elizabeth to rearrange. 

Youth- The extent of parish youth activity over the previous 3 years was noted very positively. Net ministry has given good feedback to the parish on their activities. Agreed it would be good to publish the calendar of events as far in advance as possible to further maximize attendance. 

F&F- Archdiocese has been written to and parish relatively content with its financial position though levy remains significant. 

Action - Fr Mackle to arrange for heating to be adjusted. 
Heating loop in church noted as now fixed. 

J&P- Joint working continues with St Joseph’s and work done to raise awareness of human trafficking continues. Agreed to look for opportunity to tie in with Faith Formation group. 

Action  - Elizabeth and Veronica to take forward. 

Bereavement group - noted as working well

Transport to Mass- This service is used and there is still a need for additional drivers for the 12 o’clock Masses. 

Fallen away- This is now considered as part of the Emmaus group. 

Halls - Halls committee still  needs additional volunteers and will ask again via bulletin after the summer. Committee intends clearing out crypt in the autumn and will look for volunteers for that specifically. 

4. Joint Reachout with St. Joseph’s   
The idea for a joint Reachout has arisen through discussions in the cluster meeting particularly with both local schools due to merge, it was agreed as a good idea. St Joseph’s do have a messengers system that could deliver and would input to the content. 
This was agreed in principle and the importance of including messages around social justice activities such as highlighting awareness of human trafficking, soup run, food banks and message of mercy was agreed as essential. There was general discussion around possible reasons for people not coming to church services in order to better understand how target the content of Reachout. The parish is very fortunate to have a system that reaches out to 3,200 people with the importance of personal contact to give an invitation and encouragement agreed as essential.
 
Action – Reachout team to consider future content and take forward with St Joseph’s. 
 
5. Pope Francis Faith Award  
The award is a  primary school based programme for P6&7s with classroom based sessions as well as parish based activities. Fr. Mackle has discussed with the Head teacher of St Andrew’s  who feels that there is not the capacity for the primary school to take on that commitment at this point.  There was discussion on whether the award could tie in with the SVDP youth group. 
Richard Jackson has offered to meet with the HT and share good experience from St Mary’s Duntocher on the faith award.  Parish catechists could go into the school to support for 2018-19. PPC discussed  the importance of catholic education and the primary’s role in this. 

6. The Emmaus leaflet  
New Emmaus leaflet shared with any comments to be sent to John Heath. 

7. St Andrew’s Primary’s final Mass 22nd June / refreshments upper hall  
St Andrews Primary School final Mass before merger with St Joseph’s is on Friday 22ndJune at 10am and there is a lot of preparations underway to mark the occasion. It was noted that the primary school opened in 1969 so is now in its 50thyear.  It is hoped to hold the refreshments in the upper hall after Mass.
Action - Gordon to contact commercial let and see if hall can be made available.  

8. SCIAF / St. Nicholas / St. Margaret’s boxes  
In recent years the demand for SCIAF and other charity boxes is much reduced partly because people make electronic donations. Parish has therefore advised SCIAF etc to reduce the number of boxes sent to reduce waste.  All agreed a good idea. 

9. Cleaning Contract  
As it has been a few years since cleaning contracts for the church and the hall have been reviewed, an advert was placed in bulletin. At the same time a request issued for volunteers secured 5 volunteers. 
Gordon updated PPC on the quotes about which there was some discussion. 
Action – Gordon to update halls committee.

10. PPC Constitution  
The original St Andrew’s PPC draft Constitution based on a generic Archdiocesan version, has recently been updated and was issued to meeting for discussion. 
After some discussion, it was agreed to establish a sub group to review and propose final draft for agreement. Group to consist of Fr. Mackle, Gordon Reid, Donal Dowds, John Heath, Iain Pringle and Veronica McLaughlin. 
Action  - All to email any comments on draft to Veronica McLaughlin for consideration by sub group. Date of meeting to be confirmed. 

11. AOB  
Car park next to church is now introducing charges with no free parking time from 18thJune. Convener of local traders had met with Fr. Mackle as he wishes to mobilise as many people as possible to oppose the new charges. PPC agreed it was important to support this due to potential impact on local trade and church attendance. 
Action – Item to be drafted for bulletin. 

Suggestion made on how to demonstrate the extent to which the church works as part of the community. A high number of hall lets raise money for a variety of charities and it was agreed that it would be good to start to monitor. 

Suggestion made to coordinate content of bulletin in time order. 

A vote of thanks was given to Margaret Barton and Jane Dowds for all their time and service on the PPC. 
 
Next Meeting 
​The next meeting is proposed on 6th August at 6.45 for 7pm in the Parish house.  
 
Meeting closed with a Prayer led by Fr. Mackle. 

Present
Father Mackle, Monsignor Ryan, Deacon Tommy, John Heath, Ron Drozdziak, Mary Theresa Coyle,  Sadie Traynor, Gordon Reid and Veronica McLaughlin. 

Apologies 
Elizabeth Reid, Margaret Barton, Jane Dowds and Ann Marie Clark. 
1.   Opening Prayer 
The meeting was opened with a prayer led by Father Mackle. Gordon was welcomed to the PPC as replacing Dorothy as halls committee representative. A vote of thanks was given to Dorothy for her long years of service on the PPC.
 
2.   Previous Minutes 
Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted and there were no matters arising. It was noted that changes to the porch have been beneficial.  

3.   Group Reports  
Group Reports circulated in advance of the meeting were discussed. 

• Liturgy Group report - comment made on low numbers particularly on 2ndNovember. This will be considered by liturgy group before next year. Numbers attending the 10 o’clock “midnight” Mass had increased and it seemed the revised time had meant some regular attendees had not come along and equally there was an increase number from out with the parish. It was agreed that the time of Mass for 2018 should be considered by the Liturgy group. A good turnout for Mons Ryan’s talks noted and very positive that numbers for next parish retreat are good with around 40 people signed up.  
• F&F – Clarification given around security issues mentioned in report. 

• Messengers - positive feedback on new look Reach out.  This lead to a discussion around the heavy reliance placed on a relatively small number of individuals for key parish activities. This could potentially cause an issue if for whatever reason they are no longer able to continue or access to key records or equipment is not available. 

 
Action – agreed to put succession planning on agenda for next meeting. 

• Halls – Gordon outlined plan to go to competitive tender for church and hall cleaners. Enquiries have been made via bulletin and Association of Bearsden Churches for potential companies. It was agreed at the same time to make an appeal through bulletin for volunteers to clean and assess if this would be a viable alternative. 

 

1. Constitution 

 
The original constitution for the PPC is still in draft form with a scanned copy available. It was agreed to review at next PPC and thought to be given before then to any revisions required. Agreed appeal in bulletin to offer opportunity for any new members to join PPC. 
Action - Veronica to locate nomination forms and electronic version of original draft. Fr Mackle to draft bulletin appeal.  

1. Legion of Mary

 
The Legion of Mary group in the parish meets every Monday at 5pm. There is to be a Legion of Mary Visitation to the parish in August 2019 giving an opportunity to reconnect with the church. This will be for 10 days visit and involve a visit to each house in parish. A group will be needed to organise in due course.  

1. Update on clustering

 
Cluster arrangements are generally going well though there’s a more natural twinning process occurring with St Joseph’s.  The next spiritual event will be in St Benedicts on 22nd March. 
Fr. Mackle reported on an item discussed at the recent Council of priests meeting which was to review pastoral structure. The Archbishop has raised the question of whether the Archdiocese can be reduced by 2025 to 50 parishes from the current level of around 90. There are currently around 50 active priests in the diocese. This will be considered at the next cluster meeting on 16thApril before communication to parishes. Lay input will be sought at the next Lay council meeting in June.

1. General Data Protection Regulations

 
Parishes are having awareness raised of requirements of new regulations with seminars to follow.  One aspect which will affect parishes is that individuals have to give consent that their data is being stored. More information will follow in due course. 

1. Bus bay on Roman Rd 

 
A request has been made by a parishioners to ask EDC to reinstate the bus bay on Roman Road. Contact has been made with EDC and they have confirmed that bus bay at Bearsden hub is the designated bay. Agreed it would be reasonable to advise school as well as people arranging for any parish trips. 
 
Action - Fr Mackle to take forward. 

1. AOB

Dementia friendly parish - Although interest in the scheme lower than expected, it was agreed that a request would be made for a replacement Parish rep.
 
Action - John to ask Anne to draft short item for bulletin.  
 
Fertility Care Scotland – following on from a donation made by the parish to Fertility Care Scotland, a request has been made for a parishioner to be trained in the Billings Ovulation method in May 2018. 
Action – Fr. Mackle to draft short item for bulletin requesting volunteer. 
 
Parish social activities – following the success of the various social events as part of the Parish’s 50thanniversary, a suggestion was made to repeat some events in 2018. Possible suggestions are the BBQ and music night
 
Action - all to give thought to feasibility of this before 30thMarch and email thoughts to Veronica.   

Next Meeting The next meeting is proposed for Tuesday 1stMay at 6.45 for 7pm in the Parish house.  
​
Meeting closed with a Prayer led by Fr. Mackle.