1. THE PARISH TEAM
Fr Tom and Fr Vincent meet on Monday mornings to plan the week ahead and review past events. They discuss the content of the newsletter and make sure the diaries are up to date.
Fr Kevin Moule was appointed as Parish Priest of Radlett and Shenley, celebrating his last Mass on 11th September. Fr Kevin celebrated the Mass on 20th November followed by a well attended farewell reception in the Parish Hall.
Fr Thomas Parayadyil, had to reapply for his visa owing to an error by the Home Office which temporarily suspended the celebration of the 8.00 am Mass. Fr Thomas thankfully was able to return to the Parish from India and continues to work with his community as the Syro-Malabar chaplain. We were also joined for a week in October by Fr Fred De L’Orme who celebrated weekday masses while Fr’s Tom and Vincent were in retreat.
We have been joined by Fr Anthony Homer who has been celebrating weekend masses.
Jane Landi stepped down as Council Secretary after many years of devoted service and the appreciation and thanks of Fr Tom and the entire Council. Jane is still running the Parish Office and Kevin Keenan was invited, elected and joined the Council as Secretary in November 2011.
2. LITURGY/PRAYER AND EVANGELIZATION
The new translation of the Mass came in to effect in early September 2011, which has taken a little while to adapt to, aided by the laminated Mass sheets handed out at each service.
2.1. Advent & Christmas 2012
The annual Advent Talks commenced on 30th November addressing “The History & Background of the New Translation of the Mass’ followed by “The Creed, the Offertory & the Prefaces”,” Eucharistic Prayers, Communion and Dismissal”.
2.2. Easter 2012 Events
A full program of Easter events was held including Stations of the Cross, Lenten Talks (below), Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Churches Together. The 2012 Lenten Talks commenced on 28th February with a focus on Palm Sunday followed by “Maundy Thursday”, “The Chrism Mass”, “On Good Friday” and ”The Easter Vigil”.
2.3. Baptism Applications
Baptism Courses have commenced early this month with two evening sessions held in the big hall. A total of 50 baptisms were celebrated in 2011 supported by our Catechists.
2.4. First Holy Communion
The First Communion course was again delivered by our dedicated Catechists– 47 children made their FHC on Saturday 12th May once again with two ceremonies morning and afternoon. Photographs of the day have been recently published and are available for sale.
2.5. Confirmation
This year’s Confirmation course was again offered to two school age groups which meant we had 68 candidates. The course ran through the early part of 2012 with an unexpectedly large number of applicants requiring a second date for Confirmation added on Wednesday 23rd May in addition to the first ceremony on Friday 18th May.
2.6. Altar Servers
A recruitment drive for Altar Servers was well publicised earlier this year in response to a fall in numbers and although initial uptake was sluggish, there has been a very significant increase in numbers ensuring cover at all weekend Masses.
2.7. Ten Ten Theatre Group
Ten Ten continue to produce challenging and acclaimed productions including “Nine Months”, “Chased” and “Two Faced”, rehearsals for which were held in the Community Centre – “The Jeweller” and “Nine Months” were staged in the West End. A statement is attached at the end of this report.
2.8. Activities
The Parish has been very active in the last twelve months supporting many events including the Annual Pilgrimage in honour of Blessed Cyprian Iwene Tansi was held at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in August 2011, a concert for Macmillan Cancer Support, the Convent Mass, St Josephs Pastrol Centre, Spirit in the City, the Cemetery Masses, Ten Ten, and various coffee and tea mornings run by various groups.
3. ECUMENISM
Many of our parish activities have appeared in the Compass magazine this year and thanks are again due to Felicity for her hard work. The magazine is printed from the parish office.
The “Nine Lessons & Carols” service was held 18th December at St Paul’s Church, Woodland Road, with members of the Parish involved.
As part of the Easter schedule, Churches Together - Stations off The Cross held a service on the 28th March at St John the Apostle, Whetstone after the success of last year’s event. More information about Churches Together can be found in Compass each month.
4. PARISH REPAIRS AND RENEWALS
4.1. Car Park
The car park was repainted in early November and the wall (Bowes Rd) repaired. Over the course of the year the car park / landscape at the front of the church has been greatly improved and the efforts of the all those who volunteer for the car park cleaning duties is very much appreciated.
The grassed / gardened space at the side of the church has been turned into a parking /loading area for Scouts and was funded by volunteers from the troop.
4.2. Parish Office Copier
A new colour printer/copier has been purchased after approval by the Finance Committee following the assessment of a selection of bids.
4.3. Mass Communication
New remote mass hardware - mouse for the altar were installed December for those parishioners attending remotely.
4.4. Planned Projects
The replacement of the current church boiler has been discussed owing to necessary repairs carried out in late 2011. This is on hold at present but has been flagged by the finance committee as a likely high expenditure item.
A spate of breakings in the New Southgate area over the past year and recently attempted at the back of the church, the Scouts huts and indeed the Scouts minibus has flagged the need for improved security measures around the Parish Buildings. The existing wired CC-TV does not provide the coverage now needed to deter criminal acts or capture suspicious activities on tape. Quotations are being collected to add Wi-Fi based camera’s to the existing units to help address this requirement.
5. WEBSITE & IT
The newsletter is update weekly with pictures of various parish events regularly posted throughout the year. The Parish Council is aware of social trends and the increased profile of social media sites for communication and sharing of information including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr (for photo sharing).
Mindful of managing these new channels of communication, something that all business are coming to terms with, a trial Twitter site has been created in the hope that parish groups can push out information and updates to its subscribed members.
The Council has also discussed a data base that will allow access to information and collaboration to take place more easily, with over reliance on individuals. This is particularly important given the Parish’s legal requirements in terms of ensuring that all volunteers requiring a CRB check have valid one in place.
Once details for all groups have been collated the database can be used for tracking CRB compliance. N.B. the scout group are responsible for administering their own CRB checks for leaders and helpers.
Items concerning the parish/parishioners are always welcome – and an email or note should be sent to the parish office.
6. FINANCE
Our income has kept up well during the past year, despite the continued hard economic climate. The overall balance at 31 March 2012 was £277,206. There are funds available if required to finance projects such as boiler replacement, floor painting etc.
The parish does however need to cover weekly running costs of circa £4.5K and while the current balances are healthy, a fundraising campaign for 2013 has been penciled in for planning the end of this calendar year. In particular capturing more Gift Aid on cash that collected in the weekly Offerings and increasing the number Direct Debit offerings would have a very positive impact on the longer term finances and need for “rainy day” / high expenditure eventualities.
Brian Hunt has stood down as Chair of the Finance Committee after twelve years, though he has very kindly offered to prepare the Parish Accounts. On behalf of the Parish Council, a sincere thank you to Brian for hard work and dedication over this time. Patrick Bolger has accepted the role of Chair working with Brian with the preparation of the accounts which comes with the thanks of Council and Parish.
7. FUND RAISING/PARISH ACTIVITIES
This year’s January Sale raised £1,450 which has been set aside for parish projects.
The Fair Trade stall continues to operate once a month with extra stalls during Fair Trade fortnight and just before Christmas. Profits are sent to CAFOD.
The annual parish BBQ is very popular event bring all families and age groups together. This year’s event is on the 7th July.
8. PARISH CENTRE
The Big Hall is in constant use from Monday to Sunday. Scouts, Brownies, Cubs, Irish Dancing, Keep Fit, Mothers and Toddlers, Ten Ten, Bernadette Club, Saturday Club, Sunday coffee and teas, Fund raising mornings, the Free Trade stall and the AA all hold meetings and events in the Hall.
The Small Hall is used by other groups for smaller, quieter meetings, and is also used by Fr. Thomas for his Syro-Malabar marriage care courses.
Possible ways of encouraging users to leave the hall as they find it has been regularly discussed including the possibility of withholding deposits from users if the hall is not left in a satisfactory condition.
Father Tom has emphasised that the hall is now only hired out for children's parties and funeral receptions. In the case of funerals, a degree of sensitivity is required in dealing with people at such a vulnerable time, and in general terms past experience has shown that it can be difficult to administer a system of deposits, and that withholding deposits often leads to difficult situations.
9. PARISH GROUPS
The young members of the Parish are well catered for from the toddlers to the teenagers. Our Scout Group, the 22nd Southgate, provides an incredibly diversified range of activities and pursuits under the leadership of Chris Nagle and the dedication of all the scouting volunteers through the age groups.
The importance of the care and sense of community the organization provides through its activities and expectations of standards cannot be overstated at a time when so much news media presents youth in a negative light. The recently re-launched troop website provides very useful resource.
The Bernadette Club meets monthly and is well attended by the more senior members of the Parish, running day trips such as the outing to Runnymede and Windsor in August as well as coffee mornings over the course of the year.
The Knights of St Columba meet once a month in the Small Hall and recently held a pilgrimage to Aylesford.
Pastoral and Bereavement Training Course was held and a new a Parish Bereavement Group set up in the new year providing a valuable service to the community.
A Marriage Preparation course was held early this year and we have a small group of volunteer married couples to help with preparing engaged couples of marriage.
The Parish has also recently announced the intention to restart the Concern Team to visit housebound and elderly Parishioners.
The Parish Council is very appreciative of the work carried out by our Parish Groups and is supportive of a volunteer recruitment drive. This was originally muted for the weekend of 30th June - 1st July but by general consensus from various Groups leaders has been moved to September.
10. CHILD PROTECTION
There hasn’t been much activity this year. New catechists have been CRB’d. We are still waiting for new advice from the Government. The Diocese sends out a regular newsletter to child protection volunteers in the parishes.
11. DIOCESAN COLLECTIONS & APPEALS
The parish makes regular collections on behalf of a number of charities, including the Priest Training Fund, Sick and Retired Priests, CAFOD, the Catholic Children’s Society etc. We are always grateful to Parishioners who complete the Gift Aid forms, as the charities can make quite a lot of money on tax returns. Many thanks to those who count these extra collections.
The past twelve months has seen the following Appeals and fund raising events:
· A collection for St. Patrick’s Missionary Society was held on 7th August raising; £2,480 towards their work in East Africa. Fr John Garry spoke at all Masses highlighting the work the Society carries out.
· Diocesan Collection on 18th September for Racial Justice, Catholic Youth Service and the Agency for Evangelisation raised £616.00.
· CAFOD Harvest Fast Day raised £2,197.00 on the 9th October and a further £2,715 for Family Fast Day during Easter.
· A collection for the APF, who celebrated their 75th year of helping Missions abroad in 27 different countries raised £667 and was followed by a 75th Anniversary Mass on Sunday 23rd October at Westminster Cathedral.
· The annual collection for Sick and Retired Priests raised £3,051.00 in November.
· Catholic Children’s Society Crib Appeal raised for the organization that offers practical and emotional support to children and families who are under great personal and financial strain.
· The Easter appeal for Holy Placed raised £2,008.00
· Coffee mornings held for various groups including Barnet Mencap, Macmillan Trust were very well attended and raised over £1,100.00.
· The Priests Training Fund appeal held in April raised £3,408.00
· Fair Trade, £1,680 was given to CAFOD from Fair Trade. £840 profit from over two years of Fair Trade stalls was doubled by the Government £1 for £1 initiative to £1,680 during May.
· Annual Missionary Appeal 2012 (last weekend), raised a total of £2,573.00
· There is also a monthly collection of pennies for Pax Christi
The Council, Clergy and all the organisations supported through these appeals are very grateful for the continued support and generosity of the parishioners.
12. OUR LADY OF LOURDES PRIMARY SCHOOL
Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a Mass on 4th May 2012 with pupils, staff and priests, past present coming together in the Church. The School has once again had a tremendous year under the new head Mr. Meehan and achieved a Diocese Outstanding commendation.
Pastorally and academically, the pupils continue to thrive but the school faces challenges in respect to funding and engaging new families in supporting the activities of the school and PTA. Pupils from the school are well represented in the Brownies, Cubs and Scouts and gain from the positive reinforcement of their responsibilities within the community within the safe and caring environment. The School has excelled in music and sports performing very well in Year 6 inter school competitions over the past year and the children are very well prepared for SAT’s and transition into Secondary School.
Self-assessment forms are currently being handing in by those who will be choosing a primary (and secondary transfer forms are also being collated) school for their children in the Autumn. The school continues to be oversubscribed for places.
STATISTICS FROM OUR 2011 RETURN (1st January 2011 to 31st December)
· Baptisms – 50, including RCIA
· Receptions – 5 (male 3/ female 2)
· First Communion – 47 (male 20 / female 27)
· Confirmations – 68 (male 34 /female 34)
· Weddings – 8 in this church, and 4 paperwork prepared which took place elsewhere.
· Funerals – 30
· Average Mass attendance for October 10 – 1409 (down from 1457 in 2010)
TenTen Theatre: Statement for OLOL – AGM
1st July 2012
Clare and Martin O’Brien send their apologies that they cannot be present tonight due to work commitments in the north-west and would like the following to be read out on their behalf.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to the parish community, Fr Tom and Fr Vincent for their continued kind and generous support of the charity, Ten Ten Theatre. Since facing risk of closure in 2011 due to lack of funds, Ten Ten has maintained a high level of activity, continually increasing the number of schools, parishes and people we work with. We estimate that during the past 12 months, we have worked with over 80,000 children, young people, young offenders, parents, teachers and members of the general public. As a charity we are still building up our financial reserves but the demand for the work continues to be great.
We have many plans and aspirations for the growth of Ten Ten. In 2012/13:
· We plan to give out 5000 copies of our new booklet, “Being a Parent Today”, which was co-produced with the CTS, through our parent sessions in schools;
· We will continue the invaluable work with young offenders including a Lent project at Feltham Young Offenders Institution;
· We will have two teams touring Catholic primary schools throughout the UK for 8 months each;
· We will have one team touring Catholic secondary schools throughout the UK for 6 months of the year;
· We will be supporting the Diocesan Year of Faith programme by producing a week-long run of the play Kolbe’s Gift in a West End theatre;
· We will continue to develop a new project with the National Vocations Office.
We thank the parish community for its support and look forward to opportunities to working with parishioners over the coming year.