Welcome to St Simon's Partick Education in Faith Group.

Convenor = bent@stats.gla.ac.uk

Meets on third Sunday of the month 11 am in presbytery

Minutes of Meeting of 17/11/04

Present: Carole, Shirley, Sr. Pat, May, Jim, Tom, Jane, Anne, Raymond, Willy, Ben Apologies : Vincent

New members Carole Monaghan and Shirley Monteith were welcomed. They are respectively taking on responsibilities for Justice and Peace and for SCIAF The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

The agenda was reordered.

5 Justice and Peace Carole attended a conference in Edinburgh on asylum seekers in Scotland (mainly Glasgow and Edinburgh). This traced the history of migration to Scotland from Ireland, then Asian countries and now in the form of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. These can be people who have come from life threatening situations to a situation in which they have no eligibility for financial support or rights such as entitlement to employment, resulting in ‘black market employment’ and disasters such as the deaths of a Chinese group in Morecambe Bay. What can be done? Activities which could be promoted in St. Simon’s: Hold a meeting to raise awareness; Distribute literature e.g contact info on (African) support groups; Make contact through children attending local schools; Write letters to counter negative press; needs at least 10 letters for effect; Write to MP’s e.g. to express opposition to currently favoured policy of ‘safe zones’ within a country or continent in which the displaced might seek refuge; but trouble makers too might gain access; Form a group in St. Simon’s, meeting at weekends. Carole will find out what other parishes/groups are doing.

2 Ascent The most recent monthly meeting was last Tuesday at which 16 attended. In the first half of the meeting Sr. Marie Chambers led the group in the Lectio Devina method of prayer. In the second half Tom gave a presentation on his visit to the Carmelite Convent in Lithuania (using nero vision software). There will be 2 or 3 meetings in advent with a focus on the gospel and canticles of the following Sunday. Some practical issues are that some members are hard of hearing; there is difficulty in remembering names (but name labels are not considered ideal); and subscriptions are due.

4 SCIAF Shirley will find our more about possible activities, including support for ‘Fairtrade’ (a product list is needed) and SCIAF promotions; also Christmas cards.

3 Baptismal Preparations There will be two baptisms next Sunday (24th). The parents have viewed the video presentation either at a preparation meeting or at home. Willy requests that the parish be represented by members of our group at the baptismal service. Ben attended a meeting on diocesan activities organised by the RE Centre. This proved to be the first of 4 November meetings (3 evening ones and 1 full day), which would complete training for catechists, who would conduct a ‘several session’ programme of preparation in their parishes. The centre have prepared a manual for this programme, which is available given full participation in the training. This is likely to be repeated in the springtime. Up to 10 parishes were represented.

4 Caf?© The module ‚ÄòExploring the Catholic Church‚Äô has now been completed Ben presented the following report: ‚ÄòThe module of 8 video based talks was run on Tuesdays over September and November. The speaker, Dr Marcellino D'Ambrosio, a young Texan theologian and father of five, presented his material in a humorous and easy manner, using helpful practical illustrations. Topics covered included 'Who needs the Catholic Church', Baptism, Prayer, the Mass, Confirmation, Sin, Mary and the Saints. Over the eight meetings about 30 participated with an average attendance of 13. On a score from 1-10 (10 most helpful) participants rated both talks and discussion at 8, and welcome and social time at 10. Some received a deeper understanding of church teaching; for others questions were raised (a valuable effect); all enjoyed an enhanced focus on their faith and would be interested in similar courses in the future.‚Äô

A discussion led to the conclusion that it would be better to have short sharper ‚Äòcourses‚Äô, maybe on a more frequent basis, possibly bringing in experts, such as Dr. Noel Donnelly, to counter feelings of floundering. Willy thought floundering was good (i.e. flat is fabulous/fandabbidozzy) and would be interested in ‚Äòlearning activities‚Äô. Whatever we should aim to put on a ‚Äòcourse‚Äô in lent; probably (a selection from) a caf?© module or possibly a session on SCIAF. Ben to explore caf?© options; Shirley SCIAF.

6 RCIA The need to start preparations by February was re-iterated. See Date of next meeting.

Date of Next Meeting: Sunday January 16th, 2005; but those who can will meet on Sunday December 19th to discuss RCIA

PPC Education in Faith Group Tue 10 May 7 30 pm (on RCIA) Sun 15 May 11 am