Diocesan Pastoral Plan

Diocesan Pastoral Plan:

Once again, our thanks to all those who have put forward their details to help with the changing landscape of the local church. Those details have now been collated and the ‘pro temp core group’ met during this last week to assist in identifying who might be ‘teamed’ with who, and matters progressed. 

Those who have offered to help will receive or will have received an e-mail acknowledging and thanking them for their assistance. Such a general e-mail will also include the names of the temporary ‘core team’ members, who have been delegated to contact those of you who have offered to help in the various arenas, so as to bring the differing skill sets and people together. This ‘phase’ will bring individuals together in a ‘group’ meeting which will have both a ‘social’ and ‘business’ element, the latter, in terms of what individuals are prepared to offer within the bounds of their broader responsibilities and commitments. 

On Tuesday there will be the first Deanery clergy meeting of the year and doubtless, there will be some ‘feedback’ on developments, expectations etc. 

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Diocesan Pastoral Plan:

   Thanks to all those who have put forward their details to help with the changing landscape of the local church by filling in the forms, which are still available, should you be able to help in some way. 

Given the shortage of priests and the amalgamation of the Deaneries of the Diocese into single or ‘a moderated parish’, it is important that we are pro-active in assembling a ‘core team’ to take care of local administration but also to contribute to and be a model for effective evangelisation. 

The purpose of a ‘core team’ will be to help oversee and manage the different elements or strands of the local Church community and to liaise with local clergy and the other local ‘core teams’ and the priest administrator to best effect the proclamation of the Gospel and to support best pastoral practice. 

Having had a break after Christmas, Fr. Ian will now be looking more closely at the forms which have been returned, with a view to gathering a ‘core team’ together; obviously this is something which requires prayer and thought, so please keep this matter in both. 

Just to repeat, that concerned as we are to ‘cast our net wide’ in regard to how you might be able to support the changing local Church, if you have not filled in a form, requesting basic information about you and any manner you might be willing to help, please do so. Help in the life of the local Church, could be through prayer, liturgy (children’s especially), sacramental and catechetical preparation; support with parish social life and particular groups of people, such as the housebound, toddler, youth, men’ / women’s group, the ‘highly mortgaged group’ or perhaps your support could be more in terms of administration, property fabric and maintenance; please indicate any area you could help with. Many thanks. 

Yes, there is the immediate, but what about the longer term and bigger picture, encouraging vocation in the broadest sense to marriage, priesthood and religious life? As a community are we seminal in nurturing and encouraging all of our young in the love of God, in responding to His call (vocation) and in living their lives for Christ? If the harvest is to be reaped, we have to be the labourers. Put another way, what spiritual legacy will we leave the world? 

Diocesan Pastoral Plan:   Our thanks to all those who have given time and thought towards our meeting this Sunday! It is hoped that we can outline something of the considerable change that has come about over the years in parochial life, not least, in terms of administrative demands, of which many people will be unaware! ‘What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve’ however, we do need to look at and give consideration to a number of arenas with a view to forming a ‘core group’ of parishioners who will assist in overseeing the many elements of parish life, consequent, in part, on the decline in the number of priests.

There may well be areas about which you have thoughts/ideas/ skills and abilities and other areas about which you are perhaps unaware or would not wish to be concerned or involved with and other things which are in between, besides!

Essentially concerns are twofold, administrative and pastoral, you may have skills and aptitude in one area more so than another, but continued and further contribution to parish life in either area would be very much appreciated.

The objective of our meeting this weekend is to be able to demonstrate the need for a core group / pastoral council to oversee the different ‘layers’ of parish life with a view to making both representation and contribution to the ‘moderated parish’ of the not too distant future. The different ‘layers’ will be responsible for different aspects of parish life, whether spiritual / liturgical, catechetical, pastoral (in a very broad sense), property maintenance, financial, administrative as well as other areas.

Following the words of today’s second reading, we should be encouraged to use our variety of gifts in continuing to contribute ever more generously to the life of the Church, mindful of Mary’s words in the gospel ‘Do whatever He tells you.’

Growing the Church requires all kinds of talents, including yours, so do let your light shine, encouraging, supporting

and being seminal in Her life in Dorking and surrounding areas.

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Diocesan Pastoral Plan:  Following on from the parish meeting on the 8th December, it would be helpful to have a gathering of persons who are concerned to further the discussion early in the New Year, with a view to enhancing the existing infrastructure. Given feedback on the day and the time, we will meet on Sunday 19th January after the 10.00 am Mass. 

To focus our thoughts and discussion, please have a look at the ‘buff coloured’ sheet / PDF (via e-mail) there is a non-exhaustive list of areas of concern (compiled by parishioners) for you to consider and perhaps make contribution, prior to the meeting. There may well be areas about which you have thoughts/ideas/ skills and abilities and other areas about which you are perhaps unaware or would not wish to be concerned or involved with and other things which are in between, besides! Essentially concerns are twofold, administrative and pastoral, you may have skills and aptitude in one area more so than another, but continued and further contribution to parish life in either area would be very much appreciated. The objective of a January meeting would be to be able to establish a core group / pastoral council to oversee the different elements of parish life with a view to making representation for the ‘moderated parish’. 

Growing the Church requires all kinds of talents, including yours, so do let your light shine, encouraging, supporting and being seminal in Her life in Dorking and surrounding areas.