PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
Steering Group
Fr Danny McAvoy (Parish Priest)
Bernadette Fisher (Chairperson) Ozohu Adoh (Deputy Chair) Mary McNab (Pastoral Assistant) Steve Scott (Chair, Finance Committee) Marion McGuire (Safeguarding Representative) Maura Holt (Contemplative Life – Team Leader) Claudia Wing (Education & Formation – Team Leader) Shaun Howard (New Evangelisation – Team Leader)
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AN EXTRACT FROM POPE FRANCIS’ NEWS OF JOY
“The Parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelises, if the Parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be, ‘the church living in the homes of her daughters and sons’. This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few. The Parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s Word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, loving outreach, worship and celebration. In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelisers. It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them closer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-orientated”. |