St Josephs Reflection Group Minutes April 2021

Minutes of St Josephs Reflection Group 14th April 2021

Apologies: Anne-Marie, Nuala, Chris Handley

1. Reflection on Easter Week

Fr Andy felt the masses were very prayerful and reflective and that Anna & Siobhan’s singing really enhanced those services

Shauna enjoyed Good Friday – it was very moving and prayerful and the exclusion of moving between the stations meant that attendees could just sit and listen which made the content much more meaningful.

Maria felt that the simplicity of the masses made them more profound. She attended them all on mass and although the music was distorted, it was a compromise she was able to accept. Wanted to thank everyone who made attending by Zoom available - “it brings us into the community”

John felt the penitential service was a highlight and using 3 key characters from the Easter story to focus on 3 types of sin allowed us to step back and reflect.

Overall, it was felt that Easter week was lovely and contained lots of little things that would have touched different people. We would like to thank Fr Andy because although he had to reduce the content, he truly kept the spirituality of Holy Week intact.

The children at school made cards for the older people in the parish that could not get out or we have not seen for some time and Shauna delivered them. One comment was “it was the loveliest easter message I’ve had”.

2. Finance

Annual accounts were reviewed.

Mark had produced an annual budget for 2021 before the meeting which was reviewed. There were no unusual items.

Although the current account bank balance is reasonably healthy there is planned expenditure for Fr Andy’s kitchen and for further work at Blessed William Richardson.

There are a number of other things that need doing to Fr Andy’s house and to St Joseph’s church so the group will create a priority list for future spending. Some may need doing before the summer is over.

3. Fund Raising

The group would like to thank John for the work he has done raising funds for the restoration of Blessed William Richardson.

There is a notice about fundraising issues by the diocese as many parishes, like ours, has had reduced offertory whilst the churches were closed, and while we still cannot have a full church.

In order to fund future work on the house and the church in Dinnington we need the parish to work with the Reflection Group to create a future Fundraising Group.

4.AOB

· St Joseph’s Parish Room

As yet we cannot make this available to all due to COVID rules, however the rooms will be used for voting in May – the rooms will need a thorough cleaning the day before and the day after. Anyone who can help please contact Anne Marie

· Church music. We have a licence to play church music but other music that may be under music copyright licensing laws can be played in church but not recorded on the Zoom mass recordings

Next meeting May 12th 7pm