SOLENT PASTORAL AREA & PARISH

Feedback from meetings - and a new PPC

Bishop Philip visited the Pastoral Area on Tues 29 October

to hear from the Solent Pastoral Area Advisory Group

(SPAAG) about our progress in implementing the greater

integration of our four parishes called for in the diocesan

Ten Year Plan. After a busy 2-hour discussion he was very

positive about what we are doing and was particularly

pleased that our plan is more focussed on the

empowerment of evangelisation rather than just the

finances. In his feedback he said that he sensed a real

momentum in the way that we are already working

together. We owe a huge debt of thanks to the SPAAG

and especially to the chair, Andy Jordan, for all the time

and effort he has invested in steering this process.

The feedback from the parish meetings held recently in all

four parishes has now been gathered into a single

document with parishioners’ comments grouped together

under common themes. These results will now be made

available so that you can see what was said in our parish -

and in the other parishes as well. The feedback runs to

many pages so it will probably be displayed in the church

halls, and for those who wish to study the remarks at their

leisure, it will also be available on the parish website.

Watch out for a new website page dedicated to the “Solent

Pastoral Area”.

At our Parish Meetings some people raised questions

about the Evangelisation Strategy Team – what was it for?

who were the members? and so on. Originally set up to

support the parish priest in determining ways to develop

news ways to evangelise, its activities have expanded way

beyond this remit (especially since the publication of the

diocesan Ten Year Plan) so, at its latest meeting, it was

decided that the group’s name should be changed to

reflect what it really does – it is really a Parish Pastoral

Council (PPC) – and will be known as such with immediate

effect. This was a timely decision because one of the

strong recommendations of the Bishops’ Synod in Rome

last week was that Pastoral Councils should be a

mandatory requirement in all local churches globally.

To help ensure that parishioners know what the PPC is

doing, a short report will be made available after each

meeting for you to access in whatever is your preferred

method – on noticeboards, on the website, and in hard

copy. To address one of the other queries from the parish

meetings about who was representing the parish on this

group, photos are being taken of all members so that

boards with named photos can be placed in both

churches. They should be ready sometime during

SOLENT PASTORAL AREA & PARISH UPDATE

What comes after the Parish Meetings? 

Thank you to the nearly 100 parishioners who attended one of the parish meetings to hear about the issues facing the diocese and to share their views about the future direc-tion of the Solent Pastoral Area. Our three neighbouring parishes have held similar meetings and there are many common themes running through parishioners’ comments although, of course, there are also differences which reflect local considerations.   

Our parish comments have been gathered together and, to ensure that everyone is kept “in the picture”, a response is being worked up to each of the points raised. Once that has been done (no later than mid-November) the com-ments and responses will be shared with all parishioners. 

The Bishop will be visiting the Pastoral Area on Tuesday 29th October to talk with the parish priests and 

members of the Solent Pastoral Area Advisory 

Group to discuss how our plans are progressing 

and to offer his thoughts, support and guidance. 

Remember – the Diocesan Plan can be found on our website at https://www.catholicchurchfareham.org.uk/Portsmouthdiocesenews 

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SOLENT PASTORAL AREA & PARISH

Parish Open Meetings Fri 27th Sept & Sat 5th Oct

At St Philip Howard Church Hall

This Friday (27th at 7.30pm) sees the first of two important

parish meetings where we will all have a chance to share

our views about how we should take forward the Diocesan

Ten Year plan in the Solent Pastoral Area. Don’t expect a

“great reveal” telling us what the answers are because

there are none as yet. These meetings are a step on the

process of working it all out and they give us an opportunity

to hear a brief summary of the issues we face, and then the

chance to share our thoughts on what we want the future

Pastoral Area to look like.

Like the meetings being held in Park Gate, Stubbington and

Gosport, these gatherings are a great example of the

listening church that the Pope wants us to be - walking

together on a Synodal path whose purpose is “to involve all

the baptised”. And this means that we all have a

responsibility for contributing to the plan that needs to be

developed to bring the four communities on the Fareham-

Gosport peninsula closer together. So ...

Please put Friday 27th September at 7.30pm or Sat 5th

October at 10.30am in your diary and come prepared to

share your views and shape the future of YOUR parish.

The Diocesan Plan can be found on our website at

https://www.catholicchurchfareham.org.uk/

Portsmouthdiocesenews