Annual Report to Parishioners – November 2024 

Welcome to the first Annual Report from our new Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) which will give you an overview of parish activities over the past year and of our plans going forward into 2025. 

PPC structure and membership

The PPC has worked alongside Father Antony in his role and work as our new Parish priest including working on  liturgy, formation, other ministries and also helping to organise the routine aspects of parish administration and parish life.   We have discussed ways in which we can support Father Antony in his Parish work, alongside his other commitments with the Syro-Malabar Community.  A key task is to make the membership of the PPC representative of the parish as a whole, and to make the work of the PPC visible, to encourage feedback. 

We have created vacancies for new members including representatives from our youth community, families with school children, a member of the Syro-Malabar community and new positions open to any parishioner.  Information about the PPC, including members’ photographs and details of their roles, will be placed in our church. We have set fixed terms of office for members, and for the chair and deputy chair.  We’ve set out what being a PPC member entails and the way the PPC operates.  This information is on the parish website (stchristopherscheam.com) with paper copies available from the parish office.    

Here are some of the key achievements in our Parish this year:

 

  • New Parish Administrator:  Vivienne retired from her role as Parish Administrator and Virginia replaced her.  We are indebted to Vivienne for all she did for our Parish over many years, and are delighted that Virginia has taken the role.

 

  •       Refurbishment of the Presbytery:  Our presbytery in Tabor Gardens was refurbished for Fr Anthony, we are hugely grateful to James Rayner and Monica Gibson for their help with this project

 

  •         “How can I help my parish?”:  Father Antony’s first initiative was to ask everyone how they could help our Parish and we have many new initiatives including a weekend Mass welcome group and have flowers on the altar more often.  Our volunteers are helping us start other new initiatives such as RCIA and a ministry to the sick and elderly.  We have a great group of volunteers and new ones who are gradually being introduced into the areas where they expressed interested. We are always keen to welcome more.

 

  •         Youth activities: Our brilliant youth community have come together at a Youth Mass every month, leading the music and readings.  They also enjoyed a social quiz night, which closed with a competition building structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows!

 

  •         Ministries:  We celebrated 6 Baptisms, and 2 Weddings.  There were 7 funerals. Additionally, 9 children received First Holy Communion and 33 members of our Parish received the sacrament of Confirmation.

 

  •         Other liturgical activities: We celebrated the induction mass for Father Anthony, organised a Lenten talk and an Advent Carol Service, and have introduced some music at Saturday and Sunday noon masses.

 

  •         Consultation for the papal synod - as a Parish we have been fully engaged with the Synod consultation  which has taken place this year. The themes of the Synod  have been  communion, participation and mission; within the PPC we are keen to place these themes at the forefront of our agenda  over the next 12 months.

 

  •          Ecumenical activities – We have participated in Ecumenical activities have been organised by “Churches together in Sutton and Cheam”.  In the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, three members of the parish attended the main Sunday service at Tate Road Christian Centre Sutton which had an overall attendance of 40-50.  On the following Tuesday, a service was held at St Christopher’s involving clergy from St Dunstan’s, which was well attended.  On Friday 1st March World Day of Prayer was marked with a service at Salvation Army Centre, Sutton. Approximately 60 people attended with the Mayor of Sutton. As usual this was well supported from our parish, including by members of our choir.

 

  •         Other social activities: Regular meetings of the Craft Group and Saturday Social Circle have taken place.

 

THANK YOU - thanks to all our many volunteers who generously give their time and effort to support the many activities and ministries within the parish, new volunteers and ideas are always very welcome. We plan to develop the social activities within the parish and extend a welcoming hand everyone who would like to join in more either by helping to organise or by joining our activities.

 

Financial Review

We plan to provide a separate annual financial statement to parishioners following completion of the 2024 year accounts in April 2025. We will take the opportunity to encourage the use standing orders and, for those who can, Gift Aid which provides a useful addition to our income. We are also exploring the possibility of obtaining card readers to enable us to accept donations and payments by credit or debit card.   

 

Average attendance at weekend masses:  Figures are collated over a 4 week period in late September/early October. For 2024 the average mass attendance was 354; the corresponding figure for 2023 was 370.

 

Plans for the coming year

 

Parish Pastoral Council:  We will continue to increase the visibility and transparency of the activities of the PPC by including summaries of each meeting on the parish website (paper copies available on request). We held our first “meet the PPC” after a Sunday Mass and will hold similar sessions on later dates. We’ll fill the remaining vacancies on the PPC, and encourage as many parishioners as possible to contribute to parish life and activities.

We are grateful to our current and new council members for their commitment and service.  Our special thanks go to Gerry Kavanagh and Mary Nash our outgoing PPC chair and deputy chair.    

 

Liturgy and Formation: We are planning to:

·         expand participation in the Christian Unity Week Service and to develop follow on activities with local Christian Churches

·         hold an Advent Carol Service, an Advent talk, and are aiming to develop other formation activities

 

Social Events - Our plans include a Winter Fair on 30th November and Advent Carol Service on 22nd December.  Our ideas for 2025 include a Parish Afternoon Tea, a Shepherd’s Pie Social night, and a Parish Picnic.  Extra ideas and help are very welcome too.

 

Year of Jubilee 2025 - The Holy Father Pope Francis has announced that 2025 will be a year of Jubilee, something that happens every 25 years.  The theme will be “Pilgrims of Hope” a year of hope for a world suffering the impacts of war, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis.  We will be organising Parish events to support this initiative, so please share any ideas you have and also support our events.  We are exploring the possibility of a Parish Pilgrimage.  Should this be a day at a venue in the south of England, or a week-long visit to Rome?  We would welcome your feedback.

 

Building and Facilities We will continue exploring the need for any maintenance or refurbishment of parish buildings, facilities and equipment

 

Share your thoughts and suggestions

 

We would welcome your feedback on the activities described in this report, and your ideas on how we could further develop our parish community – either via the parish office (cheam@rcaos.org.uk) or by speaking to any member of the PPC.  We’d also welcome further volunteers to contribute to organising or supporting our many activities and ministries. We really look forward to hearing from you.