Annual General Meeting
Blessed Sacrament Parish
June 10th 2008
Chairman’s Report
Good evening and welcome to the Annual General Meeting of our Parish. One of the difficulties I have had in preparing this report is not what to say but what to leave out. I would like to begin by saying a few words about the people of the Parish and by acknowledging just how fortunate we are in having such a very large number of people who are willing to give generously of their time and talents and so ensure that we have a very lively, successful and outward-looking Parish. Blessed Sacrament Parish can only continue to be a successful Parish if large numbers of people are willing to continue to commit their time, energy and enthusiasm and so I would like to begin by thanking everyone who has been involved in the work of the Parish over the past year in whatever role. In a Parish such as ours there are many roles to fill: in planning and involvement in the liturgies, as Eucharistic Ministers, readers, altar-servers or musicians. We have dedicated individuals who give time to keep the church clean and well maintained, help out at the Friday Drop-In, are involved in the education and formation of our children or in marriage preparation, help with fund-raising or social activities or perhaps are members of the Parish Team. I would like to offer them all sincere thanks whatever their contribution.
Of course no Parish could be successful without good leadership and we are fortunate in the inspired leadership of our Parish Priest Fr John Joe and particularly fortunate that, at a time of a shortage of priests, in having Father Joel and Father Choi to support Father John Joe in his work in the Parish.
I have already mentioned how difficult it is to give a report of the work of the Parish over the past year which includes all areas of our activities – so I am not going to try. Instead I would like to mention just a few of the areas which I think have been important and have been memorable to me personally.
This AGM marks the end of a three-year cycle in the life of the Parish. and so from today we have a new Parish Team. The Team comprises representatives of the various geographical areas of the Parish together with individuals who are able to contribute particular expertise in important areas of parish work such as, for example, finance or work with young people. The new Team will work on your behalf over the next three years and so I hope that you will be able to support them in their work over this period. I would like to offer special thanks to all members of the outgoing Parish Team who have worked so hard over the past three years.
We are also very near the end of the period covered by our Parish Pastoral Plan. You will remember that, at the request of Bishop Malcolm, every parish in the Diocese was asked to prepare a Pastoral Plan covering the six areas highlighted in the Pastoral Plan for the Nottingham Diocese: Communications; Planning and Structures; Education and Formation; Spirituality; Liturgy and Worship; Evangelisation and Mission. In drawing up our Pastoral Plan we took account of the priorities that had been identified by parishioners during a series of meetings; we identified priorities for action and monitored our progress in achieving our goals. Our work has covered all of the areas mentioned and we added another of our own to do with social and other activities so that the Pastoral Plan could be comprehensive in its coverage of our work in the Parish. By the end of July the period covered by the plan comes to an end and we intent to publish a report on the Parish Website so that you can see what has been achieved and, perhaps, to prompt you to suggest other areas which we might adopt as priorities. Earlier in the year I attended a meeting of representatives of all the parishes in the diocese to hear Bishop Malcolm present a report on what had been achieved by the Diocesan Pastoral Plan. The Bishop said that the plan had been a great success in focussing attention on the priority needs of the Diocese. He congratulated the parishes of the Diocese on their own Pastoral Plans and expressed the hope that parishes would continue to develop and monitor their future work using this approach. To this end we intend to hold a Parish Meeting in October in order to begin the development of a new three-year Pastoral Plan.
Just to mention a few of what were, for me, highlights of this year. I think that we should all be pleased with the approach to liturgy which has developed in the Parish and especially the liturgies in the seasons of Advent and Lent. The Lenten Study Course is now firmly established as a Lenten activity – this year 22 people studied St. Matthew’s Gospel and this has led to the development of a monthly discussion group which explores some of the issues which are of special importance to Catholics. The first of these considered the moral issues raised by the passage through Parliament of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill. A further two meetings are planned for the first Sundays in July and August. Another highlight was the Holy Week Retreat led by Father Joe O’Hanlon. This was a wonderful experience, well attended and highly successful, as were all of the Holy Week Services especially the Good Friday Service. We are already beginning to think of what we might do in Lent and Holy Week next year.
I mentioned that the period of our Pastoral Plan is almost but not quite at an end. One of the most important highlights of the year is yet to come because on 26th July we will be privileged in being able to attend the ordination of Rev. Robert O’Callaghan, a young man from this Parish. This promises to be a very special day and we hope to welcome Bishop Malcolm and at least 50 diocesan priests to take part in the ceremony. Father Robert will celebrate his first Mass here at 10.30am on Sunday 27th July.
July also sees the Silver Jubilee of Rev Jim Duffy’s Ordination to the Priesthood and we also hope to make that a very special day. Thinking of Silver Jubilees reminds me that Father Pat Costello, who spent his first seven years as a priest in this Parish, celebrated his Silver Jubilee on 5th June.
A final highlight relates to our young people. Bernadette and Luke will be taking part in World Youth Day in Sydney later in the year and the two of them have organised a number of activities to support them in this venture, as have several parishioners by holding or supporting a range of events. Bernadette and Luke have been asked, by the Diocese, to keep a video diary of their experiences. We look for ward to seeing the video and hearing about their time in Australia. We wish them luck and hope that they enjoy their visit.
Thank you all for attending tonight’s meeting. It is important that, as a Parish, we find effective ways of communicating with each other. These meetings are one such way. Another way, and one I commend to you, is our Parish Website – do make use of the site to keep up to date with the work of the Parish. We now do have a really excellent site and I would like to thank Laurence for his work in developing and managing the site – also to Father Choi who, I understand has been a great help.
Once again thank you all.
Patrick Cusack,
Parish Chairman