Linked Parish Council Open Meeting 28th March 2023

Linked Parish Council Meeting open to all Parishioners Tuesday 28^th March 2023 - Our Lady Immaculate Parish Hall

Meeting began at 7:30pm

1) Opening Reflection and Prayer (Fr Martin)

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today in humility and faith. We thank you for all you have given us through our parish communities and the many blessings in our lives. We ask for your guidance and strength. Show us the way and fill us with courage and wisdom. Help us to remember your love and grace and to be faithful in our service to you. Give us the patience and understanding to face our challenges with grace. We ask these things in your name. Amen.”

May the Holy name of Jesus be praised forever.

May Our Lady Immaculate…pray for us

May St Augustine of Canterbury… pray for us

2) Linked Parish Council Reflections (Fr Martin and All)

a) Fr Martin began by thanking Des Kelly (outgoing chair) for his substantial contribution to Parish life and his leadership as Chairman of the Parish Council. Des has led a visible Catholic community in Chelmsford and led on many initiatives including the Corpus Christi celebrations, welcome ministry in church, census, education, catechetics and more, and continues to enrich our Parish life.

b) Fr Martin welcomed the addition of Parish council members from St Augustine of Canterbury Church and the possibility of further expansion of the council as we consider the Catholic vision for Chelmsford as a whole, not just the linked parishes.

c) Fr Martin explained that the pastoral partnership of a linked parish council in no way was to lead to a loss of distinct character of individual parish communities at this time.

d) Fr Martin spoke about the opportunity to invest in the parish council as a vehicle to inspire new initiatives led by the laity and include all in plans for the Chelmsford Catholic community.

3) Parish Partnership and the vision for Chelmsford (Fr Martin and Steve Webb)

a) Steve Webb (Director of Development, Brentwood Diocese) opened with the Bishop's Pastoral letter to all across the diocese on the weekend of 11/12^th February. He highlighted several key passages from the document including:

• Reclaiming the fruits of the Advent 2018 vision document which had been disrupted by the pandemic.

• That it is a vision of hope for the diocese, but an opportunity to rethink how to proclaim the “Good News of Jesus Christ in our Diocese and exploring new ways of doing that in our parish partnerships.”

• Wellbeing of our clergy is important who give so generously in their ministry are also facing increased demands on their time.

• “…supporting our renewal by using all of our combined resources to the best of our abilities. As we go forward we must recognise that we will not be able to maintain and repair all our buildings. “

b) Steve spoke on the focus going forward reflected in the vision document 'Shaping our future' and highlighted 2/3rds of the document focuses on renewal and only 1/3rd restructuring. He asked all to reflect that evangelisation is all of our responsibility, to bring the Gospel message to a changing world, and to continue to talk, pray and discern together.

c) In addition to talking through the 12-Strand plan for renewal of Our Diocese found in the vision document, he spoke of how the Joint Parish Council can support the vision. How we strengthen our links with a diversity of Catholic practice, notably the Syro-Malabar Catholic community who are growing in our parishes, and the Ordinariate represented by Fr Paul in Blessed Sacrament Church.

d) He spoke of increased numbers of lay leaders as crucial to the vision, prayers for vocations, and support for our young people to make them feel included within the church.

e) Question from Parishioner – surprised to see that lack of vocations is number 11 in the 12 strands of renewal, shouldn’t it be number 1? Steve explained that after much deliberation the list was in alphabetical order, but that yes, a lack of vocations was a major concern.

f)Question from Parishioner – How can the laity help? They want to and perhaps personal invitations could be encouraged for a range of activities, from stations of the cross devotions, to admin. Steve and Fr Martin agreed that non-sacramental liturgy led by the laity is something to be actively encouraged. Equally that priests do not want to be ‘sacrament factories’ and still need to be actively involved in all aspects of parish life. All agreed that upskilling the laity and empowering them is to be actively encouraged.

g) Question from Parishioner – How can we combat a declining Catholic population? Steve concluded with recognising this is the key question. That the laity and clergy need to be witnesses to Christ. There has been a decline in recent times of Catholic laity in leadership, people move away or have passed away that were key figures. So now we are evangelising anew and also committed to ‘operation lost sheep’, to re-engage those who have fallen away. With the laity working with the clergy on evangelisation, we can face the future with confidence.

4) The condition of St Philip's Priory and potential ways forward for clergy accommodation and the Parish Office. (Fr Martin and All)

a) Fr Martin explained that the change in clergy gave an opportunity to reassess the accommodation at St Philip’s. He acknowledged that substantial work had been done on to alleviate the dry rot at St Philips previously, however on moving into St Philip’s in August 2022, it was quickly apparent there was much work needed in terms of urgent repairs to the building and its surrounds. A recent valuation report on the building puts it thus: ‘I noted that the building is generally dilapidated. There are areas of widespread maintenance required and any incoming user, whether residential or commercial, will need to significantly overhaul and modernise the building’.

b) The recent condition survey of the building identifies an immediate expenditure of £300k +VAT simply to carry out urgent remedial works. The ongoing report identifies many other significant areas of subsequent expenditure that would need to be carried out, just to bring the building to a required habitable standard. The initial amount could easily double.

c) A fire survey earlier this year deemed the building to be a ‘substantial risk to human life’ and required immediate works to be carried out. These would have amounted to at least £70k involving overboarding of most ceilings, all doors to be replaced with fireproof fittings and a comprehensive fire alarm system to be fitted. Fr Martin has moved out of the Priory in order that the report be complied with in the short term.

d) The Priory itself is not fit for the purpose of the parish office and accommodation for three priests and would require considerable expense to be compliant with reasonable standards of privacy and practical accessibility. In terms of running costs the building is prohibitively expensive for the requirements of the parish and has been over many years a considerable drain on the resources of the parish, disproportionate to the benefits to the parish. Even were we to carry out the necessary works, following such works there is a major question over surplus space and the use of St Philip’s as a parish resource. The decision was in a way self evident that it is time to move from the property.

e) Whilst this was appearing to be a project requiring a long timescale and lengthy negotiations, matters have moved fast in recent weeks and the Diocese is now in possession of a firm offer for the purchase of St Philip’s. There are considerable advantages to this proposal as:

• The offer is significantly more than the recent charities commission approved valuation.

• The offer would commit to completion within a matter of weeks - this enables the parish to find and secure alternative accommodation not only for the clergy to inhabit but also for the parish office to operate. The Diocese is not in a financial position to offer any bridging loan that would assist with the purchase of another property for the parish, so therefore we are reliant on the sale of St Philip’s to cover the costs of a new property.
• The current offer comes from a Catholic charity and would continue to offer free use to the parish of the chapel and associated rooms. This would benefit the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Mass and also provide a basis for chaplaincy to various groups including Anglia Ruskin university students, thereby expanding the outreach and offer that parish can currently make at present in the restricted setting.

f) Question from Parishioner – Is the building listed? Fr Martin explained that the building is not nationally listed but is in a conservation area.

g)Question from Parishioner – St Philip’s is ideally located centrally to the church and bus routes, therefore is it sensible to leave and should we try fundraising? Fr Martin explained that time was a key concern, and that fundraising naturally takes time and factors including the fire report and the separation of the Priests currently mean it would be preferable to complete a sale quickly. He agreed that any new purchase would ideally be centrally located to serve all three parishes. He added that as a Catholic Charity had come forward to purchase the property it was ideal that it would stay within the Catholic family.

h) Fr Martin continued that in terms of the need for accommodation for priests in our current shared parishes, the Diocese currently envisages there to be three priests. It is reasonable to suggest that a priest requires the privacy of a bedroom, a study/sitting room and bathroom. New accommodation would require separate areas for parish use: an office for the parish administrator, meeting room for small groups and space to meet with individuals. A substantial property therefore is the only realistic way forward in our situation. The Bishop expects to make appointments in June and without the availability of shared accommodation for parish clergy this becomes problematic. It is not acceptable that junior clergy be isolated in the early stages of parish ministry.

i) Fr Martin said there is such a property available at present and this has the following advantages to the parish:

• The bedroom / study space would allow for three priests to have the suggested two rooms, access to bathrooms and these areas to be separate from parish space.
• The overall cost would be substantially affordable within our current funds and the sale of St Philip’s.
• The limited parking would be enhanced working alongside the new project at St Philip’s and at no cost to the parish. Hopefully we would find our presence in central Chelmsford to be enhanced and our abilities to offer good space to various groups and projects improved. A vibrant statement to the local community and beyond in what many perceive as a time of decline.

j)Comment and question from Parishioner – The sale could save St Philip’s in perpetuity, and it is good it stays within the Catholic family. Is the property being considered for purchase ‘plug and go,’ will it be ready to move into with no additional work required? Fr Martin explained that while we are still in the early stages of purchasing the property, it does fit the requirements with only modest remodeling required.

k)Comment from Parishioner – Thanked the priests for their hard work over the last few months and commented that this sounds right and it will be good to have our priests living together again.

l)Question from Parishioner – When the Catholic charity purchases the property could we have a buy back clause if our finances change and security for the chapel? Fr Martin explained that there could be a memorandum of understanding about the chapel and that a preferred buy back clause is something that could be discussed further.

m)Question from Parishioner – Regarding use of the chapel for the Latin Mass community, one of the problems is access to toilet facilities and kitchens only available by walking through St Philips. Will the new owners be able to accommodate this? Fr Martin explained that as he understood the plans at the moment the chapel remains with access from outside, and that there would be remodelling of the area around the chapel to include immediate bathroom facilities so the rest of the house can be secured.

n)Comment from Parishioner – Noted that in the ‘Our Lady Immaculate Parish’ book on the history of the parish including St Philip’s it was said that in 1927 that the property was bought in a poor state of repair from private ownership, so it has always struggled. Fr Martin said that we are currently looking a property that would be a sound investment and an easily saleable asset in the future.

o) Question from Parishioner – Are there plans to sell the Presbytery associated with St Augustine of Canterbury Church? Fr Martin stated that the property is currently let out to tenants until July 2024, so no, and added there are no current plans to sell the properties owned by St Augustine or Holy Name. We have now a good period of time to consider carefully how best to use our properties and assets.

p) Fr Martin said that while both purchase of St Philips is progressing and the purchase of a new presbytery is in a relatively early stage, both represent an opportunity for the Catholic mission across the city to refocus and look outwards with an expanded Catholic presence.

5) Youth Worker Role (1 year fixed contract) Fr Martin

Fr Martin said the Diocese had made available a grant for a youth worker for a fixed year long contract to work across the three parishes.

He said we have much to be grateful for in our youth. We had a large representation of young people at the recent Flame national Catholic youth event at Wembley, with 125 young people attending.

6) Closing Prayer Fr Martin

“Gracious Father, we thank you for the opportunity to meet together today. As we leave this place, surround us with your presence. May we find the comfort we desire in you and the courage we need to build up our parish communities in joyfully proclaiming our Catholic Faith. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.”

Meeting ended at 8:45pm