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Joint meeting of St. Mary's, Athlone & Moate Parish Pastoral Councils
Held in St. Mary's Presbytery 29/09/2009
Meeting began with an opening prayer.
Members were invited to give a comment or pose a question about any aspect of our clustering initiative.
Pastoral Opportunity
Working together/pool resources/Baptismal Programme
Programme of activity/co-operation/first steps
We are looking out onto a fertile field & together we must decided how we want to make it productive & produce a harvest.
Look to other places to learn from their experiences
Something new/novelty value/exciting
Slow careful steps/low risk, high gain
Develop slowly, carefully/no urgency
Preparation for the future - the work we do now will mean that we can be ready for personnel shortages in the future.
Mary Cassidy, co-ordinator of the Baptism Programme in Ferbane parish, then gave a presentation on the working of the programme in her parish. The Ferbane programme involves the following:
Parents are asked to book the baptism of their child with the parish office giving at least one month's notice. (Baptisms are celebrated once a month)
Two members of the Baptism Team visit the homes of those who have applied & they explain the programme to the parents. They bring with them the Baptism registration form & a prayer card etc.
Parents bring their child to a designated Mass on the weekend before the Baptism ceremony where the 'Welcoming Rite' is carried out in the presence of the community.
A meeting is held on Thursday evening before the Baptism celebration where the priest who will officiate at the sacrament will outline the ceremony, explain the symbols used & organise the liturgy. Members of the baptism team are also present at this meeting.
Ferbane have six people on the baptism team divided into three groups who take responsibility every third month. The team was initially assembled two years ago by invitation issued in the parish newsletter. They had a short period of preparation before beginning their work. Initially there was resistance to the introduction to the programme, particularly the 'home visitation' but this has abated & there is now widespread acceptance. The promotion of the programme throughout the parish before its initial launch was a critical part of its introduction.
An opportunity was then provided for questions & feedback.
The meeting concluded with a decision that each parish council will meet in October to reflect on what we heard at this meeting.
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