Pastoral Area Update December 2024
Dear Friend and Parishioner,
As we prepare for Christmas in this season of Advent, I wanted to update you on what’s been going on in our new expanded Parish formation, as part of the 10-year mission plan: 'You will be my Witnesses'.
I updated you in October on the response from the Bishop to our report to explain how we, the churches in Maidenhead, Twyford, Wargrave, Cookham and Culham, as well as the convent, want to come together to create the new Parish of Holy Family.
You will recall, one of our main proposals in our plan is that we launch our Holy Family Parish formally on Pentecost Sunday 8th June, 2025. This is still our intention. We may not have everything aligned by then (due to canonical law we have a lot of formal steps to take, which don’t affect the new parish), but it seems fitting that we come together and celebrate our new parish at Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, marking the beginning of Christianity as a new community, and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples to transform them as missionaries.
A copy of the 18-page Parish plan presented to the Bishop is available at the back of the church. Please do take a look – so that you can see how we plan to create and run the Holy Family Parish, in the short, medium and long term. It is also available on the parish website here (August 2024).
… And we have kicked off quite a lot of activity since then, in addition to the work I updated you on in October.
So, what have we done?
- Maria Beasley, our new Children and Young people Youth worker for our Holy Family Parish, based at St. Joseph’s has really “hit the ground running”. We have had a fabulous Alexander Devine Advent Calendar campaign, where we have gifted over 250 Advent Calendars to the hospice for children being treated there and their siblings and friends. Maria has also met with all the school and parish groups involved with children and young people and has great plans to really engage them in new and fresh ways. Maria’s contact details have been added your church’s newsletter.
- The Chosen Season1 talks, led by Fr. Kevin and Dcn. Peter at St. Thomas More are now complete, with the good news that in the new year, they’ll start up again with Season 2… There is a Christmas special coming too - watch for details in your newsletter.
- The Rescue Project was so well received by all who took part, that we will be running it again in Lent.
- We are planning an annual Celebration and Mass once a year for those celebrating special wedding anniversaries – watch this space…
- And in recognition of our wonderfully diverse communities, we are extending our Masses led by ethnic groups So far, there is a retreat for Nigerian women on 14th December at St.Thomas More. At St. Joseph’s there is already Mass and celebrations for the Filipino and the Goan communities in place.
- We’ve started planning celebrations for the new parish too, with a Seder Meal on 29th March and a BIG parish Picnic on 22nd June. If you’d like to get involved, please do let me know!
- The Holy Family Finance Committee is now set up with representatives and are meeting before Christmas to get to know each other and agree how they’ll work together.
The work of the Finance Committee is extremely important as it will oversee, agree and prioritise the use of funds within the new parish. The Finance Committee will comprise of representatives from each of the current parishes and clergy. I have appointed Dcn Mike Jackson as the Chair of the Finance Committee with Rory Dunne as Vice-Chair. The table below shows the representative nominated from the 3 churches.
Look out for more information in the new year about their plans.
Chair Dcn Mike Jackson Vice-Chair Rory Dunne St Joseph's Barbara Korzeniowska Carolyn Seet TBA St. Edmund Campion Ruth McCartney Patricia Opalko Juraj Folvarsky St Thomas More John Edmunds Michele Tursi Luke Krauze Clergy Fr Liam Cummins Fr Ephraim Odhiambo Fr Kevin Hughes - As stated last time, the Holy Family Parish Pastoral Council is also being set up, with existing PPC members at each church asked to stay on and other churches requiring representation. The terms of reference, with advice from the diocese, are in the process of being reviewed, so that we put in place an effective council which can really help me, as Parish Priest, in the formation of our new parish and into the future.
- The various Working Groups in the Transition group are now formulating their plans into tangible activities, what can we do now and by Christmas, what can be done by Pentecost and what will we do after Pentecost and the rest of 2025. I hope to share more details about the plans in the new year.
…and your priests and deacons continue to work together with arrangements for a wonderful, festive, holy Advent and Christmas.
So what does this mean in terms of Transition?
At the moment we have a great group of volunteers from each faith community who have helped us to shape our 'You will be my Witnesses' 10-year plan, culminating in the well-received report to the Bishop.
This group will continue to lead the transition planning for us all towards our launch on Pentecost Sunday next year and beyond. However with the formation of our Parish PPC and Finance Committee (PFC) in the new year, approval and direction will shift subtly over time, to the PPC and PFC, as they take over the day-to-day running of our new parish, providing me as Parish Priest with advice and guidance.
We have a lot to do and exciting times ahead as we transition to the Holy Family Parish of Maidenhead and Twyford, and I know from your continued feedback that you fully support these changes.
Keep talking to your representatives…
As you can see from all the activity, they need your help. They are available after Masses most Sundays for a coffee and a chat. They want to hear from you, so they can feedback your thoughts to our meetings.
If you don’t feel comfortable airing your opinions in this way, please write to me directly at: lcummins@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk and I will listen and respond. The most important thing for me – is that we, the faithful, in all our churches feel included, listened to and heard. This is not being done to you, but with you.
On some subjects, we may want to canvass opinion more widely through surveys or questionnaires. Please look out for these regular ‘You will be my Witnesses’ updates where I will give more information.
Any change is always difficult to accept, and I’m determined to make this journey as transparent and collaborative as I can for everyone in our wider Parish.
Father Liam
Parish of the Holy Family, made up of the following church communities:
- Maidenhead: St Edmund Campion, and St Joseph
- Cookham: St Elizabeth
- Twyford: St Thomas More
- Wargrave: Our Lady of Peace (currently closed)
- Culham: Christ the Redeemer
- Kiln Green: St John’s convent
You can read the previous letter here (October 2024) and the earlier letters here (May 2024), here (February 2024), and here (November 2023).
Edition 5 – 8 December 2024