We have now had three further meetings of clergy and nominated representatives from each church community, in our new expanded Parish formation, as part of the 10-year mission plan: You will be my Witnesses.
The Parish transition team is made up of 26 people from all the churches as well as representatives from St Joseph’s convent. We meet monthly, to explore and start to come up with strategies, approaches and how we think the new Holy Family Parish will work in future.
I mentioned in the first two editions of these updates, that we are working towards a paper for the Diocese that explains 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 The Holy Family.
As a reminder, each church in our new Parish retains their name, their identity locally and publicly. There is no intention at all to change this.
Our meetings have long agendas, and we have now carried out a lot of work:
Their remit is to understand what is being currently done in each Church, understand the needs both locally and a new parish. They need to include people who are already active in these areas. They need to look at resources available. And finally, we need to develop a prioritised plan, timeline and resources.
The groups are:
Our Mission is: The Parish of the Holy Family, is a vibrant, welcoming and inclusive community gathered together in Christ to proclaim the Gospel, to bring about the Kingdom of God through celebration of the sacraments and by our words and actions.
Please get to know your representatives. As you can see from all the groups, there is a lot to do – and they need your help. They are available after masses on Sunday 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 my 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:
Read the latest letter here (October 2024).
You can read the previous letter here (February 2024) and the first letter is here (November 2023).
Edition 3 – 6 May 2024
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