Our Lady And St Werburgh Parish Committee
Who Are the Current Parish Committee?
Our Lady and St Werburgh Parish Committee currently has 11 parishioners, together with our parish priest Fr Anton, serving on it. The Committee members are: Kath Lycett (Chair), Carl Ratcliffe (Vice-chair), James Taylor (Secretary), Liz Cooney, Jenny Fearns, Pascal Gauvin, Gareth Higgins, Annette Quinn, Bernard Rudd, Judy Somers, Patricia Whitehurst, and Steve Hallsworth. There are photographs of the Committee members on the notice board at the back of the church.
Who is Eligible to join the Parish Committee?
Any Adult within the Parish of Our Lady & St. Werburgh would be eligible to join the Committee. They should make their interest known to Fr. Anton. They would be made most welcome.
How Often Do the Committee Meet?
The Parish Committee tend to meet approximately 9 times a year, in the Upper Room, usually on a Wednesday, at 8.00pm, or when otherwise agreed with the Committee Members.
What Role do the Parish Committee Play within the Parish?
The role of the Parish Committee, under the support and guidance of the Parish Priest is to seek to enrich the spiritual and pastoral life of the parish, as well as its human fellowship. The way in which we strive to do this is set out in our Mission Statement which was compiled by the Committee at Easter 2005. Click here to read our mission statment.
In general terms, however, in seeking to realise the hopes and aspirations contained within our Mission statement, the Parish Committee has been involved in the following events/activities, which will perhaps give an insight into what the Committee is about.
- The Practical and Spiritual Preparations for the Consecration of Our Lady & St. Werburgh Church February 2007.
- Preparations, and help running CaFE courses, and CaFE Retreat
- Annual Summer and Winter Fayres
- Annual Joint Parishes (Clayton & Ashley) Mass and Picnic and Family Fun Day
- Annual Senior Citizens Christmas Party
- Helping to Organise the Parish Mission
- Organising and running of various Parish Social Events, eg. Barn Dance with hot supper, Bowling Evening with hot supper, Line Dancing with hot supper, Quiz Night, Beetle Drive, etc
- Initiatives to help Make our Parish a 'Welcoming Parish'
- Practical help with various Meetings/Events held at within our Parish
Eg. CAfe Training sessions, Catechetical Association Meetings, Deanery Meetings, etc.,
Supporting the diverse initiatives taken up in our Parish, eg Water4all, Link Line, etc
How Can I Get in Touch with the Parish Committee?
Perhaps you would like to propose an item for the next meetings Agenda, or make a comment on a Parish matter that is important to you? You may want to find out more about what the Committee is involved with within the Parish, or to offer to join the Parish Committee? Whatever the reason, if any Parishioner wishes to get in touch with the Parish Committee they may do so by posting a written message into the box situated in the Porch at the back of Church, marked for this purpose.
Mission Statement
Christ Jesus is at the heart of our Catholic Community in Clayton. The mission of the Parish Committee is to help facilitate the realisation of the Communion that he offers us, enabling each parishioner to play their full role in building up a community of love, led by the Spirit and united under God the Father.
To strive to do this most effectively we commit ourselves:
- to support and be guided by our Parish Priest, to whose Pastoral care God has
entrusted us.
- to be as attentive as we can to the thoughts, feelings, needs and vision of all Parishioners, through our willingness to listen, and through trying to ensure our Committee is as representative as possible of all the different aspects of our Parish life.
- to always seek to strengthen our bonds with our Parish School, our sister Parish at Ashley, the other Parishes of our Deanery and our fellow local Christian churches.
- to conduct our meetings in an attitude of prayerful striving of discern the Holy Spirit's call, always seeking to serve the common good before personal interest, and to foster good relations between the different Parish groups.
- to have good ongoing communications with each other, and the rest of the Parish.
- to be aware of our role within the Diocese and the Universal Church, particularly through the guidance She offers through Canon Law.
We seek to enrich the Spiritual and Pastoral life of the Parish, as well as its human fellowship. An important aspect of this will be to enhance the Parish's Spiritual preparation for our Church's Consecration and beyond.
It will also include supporting the diverse initiatives taken up in our Parish as well as organising varied social and fund-raising events.
As we put ourselves at the service of the sacramental power of the Church, we will always seek to encourage and enable others to respond ever more fully to their vocation within the Parish. We have a special commitment to the most vulnerable our society, to the lonely and to supporting family life. We will always seek to share courageously the message, life and joy of Christ's Gospel with the wider Clayton Community.