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Liturgy Committee
There was a variety of topics before the Parish Pastoral Council when it met recently. We discussed the formation of a Liturgy Committee, using the suggestions put forward by a parishioner. Nothing definite has been set up yet but such a committee could take on many roles, such as contributing ideas for celebrating the major feasts, helping to prepare non-Eucharistic liturgies (these might be especially helpful in an ecumenical context), providing a space for other groups, for example musicians, children’s liturgy, altar servers, readers etc, to come together to plan specific liturgies. The intention would not be to usurp the role of any of these groups but to complement and enhance them, and to provide an opportunity for more people to be involved in and contribute to this important aspect of parish life.
Back to Church Sunday
Another suggestion before the PPC was the possibility of holding a ‘Back to Church Sunday’, to which ‘lapsed’ Catholics and others who for one reason or another feel alienated from the Church could be invited. The idea would be for this to be a joyful, welcoming occasion, with provision, perhaps later in the day, for questions and discussion, for those who wished.
Church Seating
There has been a proposal that space should be made to accommodate wheelchairs in the body of the church by removing a half pew and kneelers. This would also create more room for others who find the regular pews difficult to use.
Prayer time before Mass
A plea has been received for some quiet time before Mass so that people can gather their thoughts and prepare themselves properly. We discussed a number of ways of achieving this without making last-minute arrivals and those with small children feel uncomfortable, and one possibility is to have someone leading a short prayer or reflection about five minutes before Mass starts.
Leaflets
A visitor enquired recently whether there was a leaflet giving information about English Martyrs’ church. This would be fairly easily produced using information in Fr Dominique’s history of the parish. Similarly, a leaflet giving the location of the church and times of Mass could be distributed to hotels and B&Bs in the area.