History of Parish Assembly
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History of Parish Assembly |
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Beginnings
Parish Renewal
The Parish Pastoral Group, which had been set up around 1998 by the previous Parish Priest the late Canon William Aherne, had a meeting on 7th February 2001 which Fr. John K. O'Mahony and guest speakers addressed. They spoke of their experience of drawing up and implementing a Parish Pastoral Plan in the Parish of Ballinhassig. The Kilbrittain group felt that it would be good to set about a programme of Parish Renewal for their own Parish.
Since this would be a new undertaking it was decided that there should be people elected for this especially since it was three years since that group had been appointed. A committee from this group was then set up to work on planning an electoral system and on setting up elections increasing the membership and broadening the base. The plan was that all this would be finalised by Autumn.
This new group would then take part in a short Adult Religious Education Programme, about one night a week for a few weeks, possibly in late Autumn. Having done this the group would then do a review of the Parish, its strengths and its needs, and draw up a pastoral plan of renewal. Following that a committee would be appointed for a definite period to put the plan into action.
This Parish Pastoral Group then set up a small committee to prepare for the election of a group to reflect on the future of Parish. These devised fourteen electoral areas each of approximately 30 homes with about 70 adults. It is suggested that each area elect 3 people one of whom at least would be under the age of 28. This was to provide a sizeable representative group who would spend a few sessions in the short adult Religious Education course reflecting on Church and Parish and the task of a caring parish. This was also to be a listening group which could identify the needs of the parish and devise ways of addressing those needs. These people would also acknowledge and support the many good things that are going on at the present. There would be no question of duplicating or trying to take over what is being done.
Ballot papers were distributed at the beginning of May and all votes were to be collected by the middle of May. A list of people in the Electoral Area was given to each household with ballot papers for all those over 18.
Parish Pastoral Assembly
Following elections in the early summer a group were formed to establish a new Parish Pastoral Assembly. This group met in September for four evening sessions of preparatory work. This culminated in a weekend assembly on 13th-14th October held in the Pastoral Centre at the African Missions, Wilton, Cork, Twenty-four people attended, they are as follows:
Teresa Aherne, Teresa Barry, Don Brennan, Michael Coleman, Denis Collins, Helen Crowley, Kathleen Deasy, Pat Deasy, Siobhan Fleming, Paddy Hayes, Carmel Hurley, Imelda Hurley,John Kelly, Martin Lehane, Jerry Moloney, Marian Moloney,Oliver O'Brien, Philip O'Connor, Fiona O'Donovan, Barry O'Mahony, Bertie O'Mahony, John F O'Mahony, Helen Ryan and Fr. Tom Riordan.
These Members of the Assembly took an in-depth look at the parish of Kilbrittain and identified its strengths and weaknesses. They then looked at what they thought would be an ideal Parish. From these deliberations it was clear that Kilbrittain is a Parish with very many strengths. They came up with some suggestions, which would still benefit the Parish.
Three committees were formed to further examine the areas identified. One to look at Issues of Faith – including participation at Mass and Stations, and two groups to look at aspects of Parish and Community Life.
The Assembly elected a Parish Pastoral Group to act as a co-ordinating body:
Don Brennan – Chairman, Imelda Hurley – Secretary, Teresa Ahern,
Michael Coleman, Paddy Hayes, Fiona O'Donovan. Fr Tom Riordan was also to be a member of the group.The members of the Faith and Liturgy group:
John O'Mahony, Chairman, Helen Ryan, Secretary, Teresa Barry, Kathleen Deasy, Carmel Hurley, Jerry Moloney.The members of the Communications group;
Pat Deasy – Chairman, Siobhan Fleming – Secretary, Helen Crowley, John Kelly, Marian Moloney, Barry O'Mahony,The members of the Communitygroup are;
Philip O'Connor, Chairman, Denis Collins, Secretary, Martin Lehane, Oliver O'Brien, Bertie O'Mahony,The full Assembly aimed to meet at least twice a year.
Assembly Pastoral Group
The Pastoral Group, elected at the October weekend, the co-ordinating body for the Assembly, met about eight times a year. Their first undertaking had been to draft a Constitution for the Assembly. This constitution was presented to a meeting of the full Assembly on 25th September 2002 and adopted by the meeting. This meeting also reviewed the work of the Assembly since its beginning in the previous October. The task was to revisit the ideas that were discussed at the foundation as well as new ideas and to plan the programme for the future.
Three members of the pastoral group also acted as a liaison with each of the working groups and attend their meetings.
Changes had to be made to the Pastoral Group in the Autumn of 2003. Don Brennan and Fiona O'Donovan resigned since both were leaving the parish. The group, with the agreement of the whole Assembly, has decided not to co-opt replacement members from the other groups, since there was less than one year to run. Michael Coleman was elected chairman in place of Don Brennan.
This group subsequently met each of the working groups to help to review the work of the process to date and to consult on the agenda for the future.
They finally anticipated and began, with the other groups, preparations for elections for the new Assembly in the summer of 2004. In preparation for the elections posters were put up around the church showing the work of each group in the old assembly and showing what kind of gifts and talents were needed in the people to be elected. Members of the Assembly spoke at the Sunday Masses the week before the ballot papers went out.
Faith and Liturgy Group
This group have encouraged community singing at Mass, produced a Christmas Carol booklet and a hymn sheet for Sundays. They also organised a Parish Mission. For this they had met with the mission team twice to prepared. They printed Mission Invitations and with the help of the other groups they distributed the invitations to the whole parish. The fruits of their effort were to be seen in the success of the mission. A Mass was celebrated in May for the Junior and Leaving certificate students. The students themselves played an active part in the Mass. This has become an annual event. During the Novena for the Holy Souls a night was set aside for those who had died in the previous year. Relatives were invited to take an active part in this Mass. The group also organised a three evening retreat given by Fr. Gearóid Dullea.
Communications Group
This group met with members of the Church of Ireland with the idea of initiating joint ventures. This resulted in the attendance at the Advent Carol Service in Rathclaren and in planning the Ecumenical Christmas Carol Service in Kilbrittain Church. With the help of the Liturgy group they planned this service which was followed by a "cuppa" in the Hall.
They also set up the Parish Website: www.parish.kilbrittain.net. The first pages of the website went on the net before Christmas. Siobhán Fleming designed and set up the sight and Paddy Shiels hosted the internet space and provided technical advice. In conjunction with this a parish e-mail address was set up parish@kilbrittain.net.
Community Group
This group looked at a wide variety of community issues and met with a number of organisations. They were instrumental in reactivating the Community Alert, setting up a new group with its own officers. They were also instrumental in getting the Kilbrittain Festival revitalised. After two years of hard work they got a committee to run the festival. Many of the group members were actively involved in the very successful festival which was held during that summer. This has also continued as an annual event. The group also met with the Welfare group and those working towards a Childrens' Playground with the offer of assistance.
Parish Pastoral Assembly
Elections for the Parish Pastoral Assembly were held in late Summer of 2004. There was a good response to the voting. Of those who were proposed thirty people agreed to go on the new Assembly. This number includes seven people who were elected to serve for another three years. This was a help to provide some continuity from one Assembly to the next.
There were again a series of four weekly familiarisation meetings during the month of September. After this members of the Kilbrittain Parish Assembly met in Myross Wood Retreat House on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October. After a lot of discussion and consideration a "Vision Group" and three subgroups were formed. The Vision Group's task was to co-ordinate the task of keeping the Vision alive. The three subgroups had the task of addressing the themes.
- Faith Development and Liturgy
- Community Involvement
- Caring for One Another
At the first meeting of each committee after the Myross Wood weekend the officers were elected. The groups are:
Vision Group:
Chair: Pat McCarthy, Sec. Imelda HurleyFaith Development and Liturgy:
Chair; Teresa Barry, Sec. Majella Mc Carthy, Siobhan Kearney, Jerry Moloney, John O'Mahony, Kitty O'Sullivan, Steve Lawes.Community Involvement:
Chair; Michael Coleman, Sec. Rosena Murphy, Imelda Hurley, Bernadette Twomey.Listening and Caring:
Chair; Steve Lawes, Sec.; Sheila Wall, Mary Fullam, Martin Lehane, Pat McCarthy, John Murray, Noreen O'Brien, Barry O'Mahony
Faith Development Group
This group saw their task to deepen an understanding of being the Body of Christ and to promote an Adult Faith. They continued many of the initiatives begun by the previous assembly: the Ecumenical Carol Service, Eucharistic Adoration, Mass for those who died during the year and Mass for exam students. They also initiated on the Wednesdays of Lent and on the First Friday for the rest of the year. They organised another Parish Missions. They also took on the "Do this in Memory" programme for those preparing for First Holy Communion. This is run by the parents of the children and has been continued for the second year. The Kilbrittain - Hasanabdal Fund was initiated after the Pakistan earthquake and is now an ongoing project. They also began the process of introducing "Ministers of Baptism", people to visit families arranging baptism to welcome the new parishioner and to help prepare for the ceremony.
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."
Community Care Group
The Community Care Group had the task of listening to and identifying the needs of the parish; and being concerned about and caring for people.
The group considered the needs of bereaved people in the parish. They held a Bereavement Mass in the Autumn. Those who had been bereaved in the previous two years were specifically invited to this Mass. There was a speaker experienced in bereavement counselling spoke at the Mass. There was a 'cuppa' in the hall after the Mass. This was repeated the following Spring twelvemonths. The group also held a meeting for the bereaved in the Parish Hall to which people came and shared some of their sadness and found comfort, strength and friendship in each other.
Teen Quiz evenings were started in the Autumn of the second year. These were held about once a month with many 13 to 16 year olds enjoying fun, competition, prizes, refreshments and each others company.This group also visited some of the senior members of the village and parish.
"Ar scáth a céile a mhaireann na daoine"
.
Community Involvement Group
This group set out to work for the common good of the parish at community and organisational level.One of the early tasks was the compilation and publication of the Kilbrittain Parish Directory. This was designed to give to new people coming into the parish. The booklet includes a list of organisations and services in the parish as well as information about services available in Bandon . This was distributed to all homes in the parish and will be made available to new people as they come to live in Kilbrittain.
The group also decided to consider the needs of the youth of the parish. The Kilbrittain Youth group came about as a result of this.A youth gathering was held in the community hall in the Spring of the final year. The purpose of this was to look at the lack of activities for the youth of the parish. Around twenty young people attended and took part in a discussion on what they would like to see happening for their age group and they came up with a comprehensive list of ideas and suggestions. As a result of this process it was agreed to start up activities which began with soccer in the hall. Activities continued on Friday nights since with soccer, volleyball and a table quiz and similar events.
The group also organised two day trips one to bowling and the other to go-karting, archery and clay pigeon shooting, both on a Saturday. Numbers taking part varied from the twenties to mid thirties up to forty at times.
The youths themselves certainly enjoyed the craic of the various activities.The Community Involvement Group sought and received help and support of members of the other groups of the assembly and volunteer leaders and the parents. There worked on a rota basis, helping with leadership duties in the hall and on the trips.
Parish Pastoral Assembly
The elections for the third Parish Assembly was held in May 2007. This was the first time that people had served two terms on the Assembly, so were not eligible for re-election. Not everyone voted in the election, however, the response was very good.This group met on Wednesday 13th June, in the Parish Hall, to meet one another and to get an introduction to the new task. Karen Kent of the Diocesan Pastoral Development team attended and facilitated this meeting.The group then did the preparitory training during September. The first session was a Formation Day on Saturday 15th September in the Munster Arms Hotel in Bandon. This was followed by three nights. Then the group met again for a Planning Day at the Munster Arms Hotel on Saturday 20th October, to discuss plans for the next three years. At this meeting the group appointed a Chairman, Deputy Chairman and a Secretary. These were:Chairman, Tony O Connor; Deputy Chairman, John Murray and Secretary, Theresa Beecher.By this time there had been leakage from the original 23 so the group had reduced down to 15. These were:
The first elections to the Pasish Pastoral Assembly were held in 2001. The Assembly was set up in September of that year. A Constitution was drawn up within the first year and agreed and adopted by a meeting of the full assembly. This constitution may be viewed by clicking on the word underlined or by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.
The fourth election to the Parish Assembly was held in May of this year. Several people had served two terms on the Assembly already and so are not eligible for re-election. Their names did not appear on the list of names this time.
People had been asked to have their ballot papers completed and ready for collection by the end of April.
It would have been great if everyone had voted in this election, however, the response was very good.
The votes were counted during the following week and those chosen were approached and asked if they would be willing to go on the Assembly. A sizeable number agreed though some declined.
The over all result of the ballot was that 28 people will form the next Assembly. Of these 3 are continuing from the last Assembly.
Preparatory meetings will be held this group in the Hall in Kilbrittain, at 8.30 p.m. each evening. These evenings will be conducted by members of the Diocesan Pastoral Development Team.
Monday 6th September: Wednesday 15th September: Thursday 23rd September:These evenings will be conducted by members of the Diocesan Pastoral Development Team. There will be a planning day on Saturday 2nd October from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. The first meeting of the Parish Assembly will then be on Monday 11th October at 8.30 p.m.Kilbrittain Parish Assembly members
Chair: Dermot O’Mahony, Knopogue, Bandon
Secretary: Denis O’ Brien, Clondogue, Kilbrittian
Depty Chair: Noreen Crowley, Clararonan, Ratharoon, Bandon
Developing Faith & liturgy/Celebration
Chair: Marian Moloney, Granfee, Kilbrittian
Secretary: Jo Moloney, Woodlands, Glanduff, Kilbrittain
Dermot O’Mahony, Knopogue, Bandon
Teresa O’ Driscoll Argus, Maulnaskimlehane, Bandon
Teresa Barry, Kilshinihan, Timoleague
Mary Collins, Knopogue, Kilbrittain
Gretta Hurley, Carraig Dhubh, Farranagark, Kilbrittain
Maureen Fitzgerald, Clashreagh, Kilbrittain
Catherine Whelton, Kenwhel, Harbour View, Kilbrittain
Young People
Chair: Tadgh Hurley, Barleyfield, Kilbrittain
Secretary: Amanda Desmond, 9 Castle View, Kilbrittain
Helena Fleming, Granreigh, Kilbrittain
Helen Flynn, Garrendruig, Timoleague
Deirdre Crowley, Claranonan, Ratharoon, Bandon
Seamus O’ Mahony, Ardacrow, Kilbrittain
Denis O’ Brien, Clonbougue, Kilbrittain
Building Community
Chair: Denis Collins, Killeens, Kilbrittain
Noreen Crowley, Clararonan, Ratharoon, Bandon
Tony O’Connor, The Saitings, Garranareagh, Kilbrittain
Jim Moore, Barleyfield, Kilbrittain
Donal O’ Riordan, Tir na nOg, Maulmane, Bandan
Teresa Ahern, Harbour View, Kilbrittain
Bernie Lyons, Granreigh, Kilbrittain
Mary Fehilly, 11 Castleview, Kilbrittain
Josie Fleming, Granreigh, Kilbrittain
Maeve Conlon, Comino House, Ratharoon, Bandon
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