We started with a welcome and a prayer and then went straight into an introduction and an overview.
There was discussion of how we, as the people of God, are a sacrament to the world.
The group was sitting in Neighbourhoods and these were joined with other Neighbourhoods to discuss the subjects of ourselves as a Sacrament of Communion, as a Sacrament of the Reign of God, and as a Sacrament of Universal Salvation. A good starting place is the old Childrens Catechism which says a Sacrament is an outward sign of inward Grace. We didn’t get too far into sacramental theology but we were able to see that we, as a group, are a sign and an instrument of the presence of Jesus in the world now.
Next came a brief discussion on prayer, centred on the words of Jesus in Mathew 7:7. Ask, Seek, Knock.
Then we moved to “What the Parish does”
- Whole Parish Community
- Neighbourhoods
- Small Groups
- All Families
- Catechesis
- Liturgical
- Schools
- Justice, Peace, Environment
- Recruitment
- Formation and Training
- PCT/PC
- Parish Team
- Finance
- Office Administration
- Maintenance
- General Gatherings
- Play Group
- Youth
- Evergreens
The next step in our Neighbourhood Plan is to move a considerable amount of this to the Neighbourhoods by the Neighbourhoods taking on a four phase strategy, namely To Gather, To Serve, To Represent, and To Communicate. By this strategy we can decentralise many of our services and the Neighbourhoods can become small, active faith groups.(that is Big Faith, Small Groups) The Neighbourhoods can bring their issues via their PCT representative to the PCT meetings.
The Neighbourhood Groups then had a practice run at a Neighbourhood meeting using a guide book written for that purpose and available in the future from the Parish Office. Each meeting involves some prayer, scripture reading an discussion/sharing of our faith.
There was a break for lunch and much discussion. This was followed by a summing up and a discussion on “Where to now?”
Those Neighbourhoods who had a Coordinator present set up meetings to present the theme of Gather, Serve, Represent, and Communicate. Others would take the information and the strategy back to their Neighbourhoods to then do the same.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury 