St Peter and All Souls RC Church

Newsletter

FUNDRAISING NEWS

FEBRUARY 2024

MINUTES OF PARISH MEETING

12TH JANUARY 2025

This meeting was convened in order to begin the process of reinstating a Parish Council at All Souls Church and to make known the volunteering needs within the Parish now that our clergy numbers have decreased. It was hoped that there would be representation from all Masses both at All Souls and at Our Lady of Lourdes as well as representation from all communities and ministries in both locations in the parish. Ministries invited include reading, catechesis, Eucharistic, social groups and ethnic groups as well as at least one representative for each weekend Mass.

Apologies were received from Clive Sheridan (altar server) Stan Hansel (organist), Valerie Roberts (catechist and reader) and Leanne Rogers (scribe for meetings, fundraiser)

Charles gave an update on the progress of the repairs needed in the church. Our parish finances are in a reasonably good situation at present with a good amount in the refurbishment account. The parish is trying to save money in various different ways but we do need to keep the house in good order. Some repairs and renewals have been required in the past 12 months.

• The repairs to the church – our application for National Lottery Funding is at the second stage. The team have viewed the church and agreed that it is a worthy cause for their consideration, mostly because of our commitment to the communities that use our premises and attend our services. We had a donation from the diocese a while ago which was used to survey the works required. Our hope is that the Lottery Grant will be in the region of £1.9million. The latest update is that we are now getting the draft application sent to us at the end of Jan 2025, from the Bishop's office and we will review and provide our input. The application will be submitted to the National Lottery at the end of Feb 2025.

• After we hear back from the National Lottery, which will be after three months, we will set up a monthly call between the Bishop's office and ourselves to move forward with the project.

It is important that we keep the Diocese on track with submitting information for the next steps in our application. It was agreed that we need to get more frequent notification of progress and efforts being made on our behalf. We need to know that targets for our application are being met. We will still need to find the necessary experts to deal with plans and dates and we need these to be in place when the Lottery has made its decision.

We cannot engage a Project Manager until we are sure of the money. We will need to use people whose expertise is in the refurbishment of churches (and we are now mindful that our Cathedral in Norwich now has a project worth £5million). There is a possibility that we might be able to use the same Project Manager as the Cathedral when the time comes. We will ask for monthly updates on our position in the Diocese and would like to know we have the support of Bishop Peter!

The condition of the church is now not getting worse. The roof will also be included in the project.

Fr Karol warned of a shortage of priests in the diocese in the next year as numbers of those coming up to retirement are growing and new ordinands are not yet ready.

There was a long email message from Stan Hansel – organist – about the need for a choir and for more people to be interested in church music and the provision of this. It was stated that at some Masses the singing without the organ was better than the singing with it!

There was also much talk about the need to monitor the availability of Masses due to the reduction of our parish clergy to two instead of three. The difficulties will be manifested in the months to come as priests take time out for holidays or maybe get sick and unable to work.

Fr Karol told us that Bishop Peter Collins will be coming to the Memorial Mass for Catherine of Aragon on 24th Jan at Peterborough Cathedral. Fr Karol also told us that the La Salette Provincial will be visiting our Parish with an assistant between the 20th and 24th Jun.

Charles told us that a Fr George will be visiting the Parish for 6 weeks during the summer and may be able to help cover some of the Masses.

Joanna asked that we reinstate a Healing Service in All Souls. Fr Karol will look into this.

A plea was made on behalf of the Hope Kitchen which is worked from our Parish Centre on the first Sunday of every month. There are enough volunteers for February but more are need for the months following that. Up to 80 people are routinely in need of our help. Please see the Fundraising website for more information. See the link to this on the Parish website.

There is to be an International Cookout this year involving nine diverse communities and their national dishes. All food standards will be checked before the date. The date for the Saturday 6th September 2025

Attendance sheets were circulated, requesting contact information (phone and email):

Maria Grota

Dcn Claudio Chiappinelli

Joanna Chiappinelli

Dcn John Bedford

Pat Bedford

Luke Sheridan

Ana May Sheridan

Natalie Riviere

Michael Riviere

Maria Da Rocha

Joe Heppell

Mairead Khosla

Sandra Griguoliene

Fr Karol Porczak

Ampi Cuenca

Angelo Cuenca Charles Benjamin

Lisa Benjamin

Allegra Benjamin

Tom Ahearn

June Ahearn

Olinda Fernandes

Archie Fernandes

Andre Fernandes

Margarida Fernandes

Christine Baldwin

Atour Doman

Daniel Roberts

Aaron Roberts

Pep

Sav

The meeting began with a prayer and then each person was asked to identify him/her self and help the group to understand what part they already play in the life of the parish.

Joe Heppell:- assisting with catechesis at RCIA, Governor at St John Fisher school, Eucharistic Minister at 9.30am Mass.

Olinda Fernandes:- Catechist, teaching assistant at St Thomas More School (would like to be a reader at 6pm Sat Mass)

Archie Fernandes:- would like to be a reader and a Eucharistic Minister at 6pm Sat Mass, happy to help with garden work as required.

Pep and Sav: attend and assist at Coffee Mornings on Fri. Help with the flower arrangers’ duties and would be happy to help with garden work as required.

June and Tom Ahearn:- Organise Friday Coffee Mornings, Sacristan duties during the week, attend to laundering of sacristy linen.

Daniel Roberts: reader and Eucharistic Minister at 6pm Sat Mass, helps with collection, singing and any other jobs as required along with Valerie (his wife) who is also a catechist and reader if required at 6pm Sat Mass

Aaron Roberts: Altar server and helper in setting up for 6pm Sat Mass. He would like to be the Altar Servers representative in future meetings.

Atour Doman:- Reader, Eucharistic Minister and takes collection at 6pm Sun Mass. Works alongside Alex (East Timorese Community) at this Mass.

Michael Riviere:- Eucharistic Minister at 9.30am Sun Mass. Happy to represent that Mass and to do any jobs that he can help with.

Natalie Riviere:- Catechist, Eucharistic Minister at 9.30am Sun Mass. Helps with the monthly Hope Kitchen for those in need. Fund raiser and event planner,

Andre Fernandes: 9.30am Sun. Mass. Free on Sats to help with anything that might be required. His work is in health care at the Fitzwilliam Hospital.

Margarida Fernandes 9.30am Sun Mass. Would like to help with the collection and with singing.

Christine Baldwin:- Reader at 10.45am Sun Mass. Assists with coffee after Mass. Would be happy to be a welcomer at this Mass and offers to put together a rota for this ministry.

Ampi Cuenca:- 10.45am Sun Mass. Reader and Eucharistic Minister and general helper as required.

Lisa Benjamin:- 9.30am Sun Mass Catechesis, Reader, Eucharistic Minister. Happy to fill any gaps and would like to begin a continuation class on Sat. for children who have made First Communion (many of whom do not attend Mass after receiving the sacraments for the first time).

Sandra Griguoliene: 10,45am Sun Mass. Catechist and happy to help with any events or needs after 16.00hrs

Luke Sheridan:- 10.45am Sun Mass. Lead altar server. Assists where required.

Pat Bedford:- 6.00pm Mass Sat. Reader, Eucharistic Minister, Repository Shop, Communion to the housebound each Wed pm. Assisting with fundraising, helping where required.

Dcn John Bedford: 6.00pm Sat Mass and others if required. Chaplain to Peterborough City Police, Communion to the housebound as required, assists with preparation of couples for Marriage, undertakes funerals both in the church and at the crematorium as required. General assistance as required.

Dcn Claudio Chiappinelli:- 9.30am Sun Mass. Deacon’s duties at Mass on Sundays and through the week. Funerals as required. Will help with anything as required.

Joanna Chiappinelli:- 9.30am Sun Mass. Reader and Eucharistic Minister at this Mass and during the week. Communion to the housebound as required.

Charles Benjamin:- 9,30am Sun Mass. Leader of fundraising efforts, setting up events and publicity. Assisting with parish needs as required.

Maria Grota:- 10.45am Sun Mass. Works for Diocese regarding Marriage Crisis. Eucharistic Minister, helps with Hope Kitchen would like to be a reader.

Mairead Khosla:10.45am Sun Mass. Leader of catechists team, Eucharistic Minister.

Mary Da Rocha: 10.45am Sun Mass. Responsible for DBS checking as Safeguarding Representative. Also responsible for Eucharistic Minister DBS checks if visiting housebound parishioners. Will check any other volunteers as required. Readers do not need to be checked.

This is a summary of the cover and commitment in the parish at present. There is a need for more Readers and Eucharistic Ministers who will take Communion to those who are unable to attend Mass. This is part of the ministry and should be considered as a privilege for the Minister and a blessing for the recipient. If you know of anyone who is no longer able to attend Mass and would like to receive Holy Communion in their own home, please let a Priest or Deacon know and arrangements will be made.

There was a suggestion that a Comments Box should be placed at the back of the church so that people could leave messages if they had some kind of need for assistance.

The meeting closed with a prayer at around 16.15. Fr Karol thanked everyone for their attendance and commitment.

• God bless and thanks for your help thus far.

• Please encourage anyone who may be able to help us in however small a way to contact the fundraising team via Charles Benjamin (charlesbenjamin04@hotmail.com)

• JustGiving – (www.justgiving.com and click on the below link

• https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Standing-Together-Achieving-Miracles?success=true

• If you have missed previous newsletters and would like to catch up please visit the website.

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• Please encourage anyone who may be able to help us in however small a way to contact the fundraising team via Charles Benjamin

• Please encourage anyone who may be able to help us in however small a way to contact the fundraising team via Charles Benjamin (Info@stpetersandallsouls.com)

• Donate directly to the Church account below

• Bank HSBC

• Account Name is St Peter and All Souls RC Church

• sort code 40.36.15 Account no 72401436

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• Donate to our JustGiving page by clicking on the button below.