Putting the site into mothballs

The first function of this site was to provide an online opportunity for people to take part in the You Are Living Stones consultation. To that end, it’s served its purpose.

I did have an idea that it might go on to be a resource for co-operation in the two deaneries. In meetings in both deaneries, the deans invited the deanery clergy to nominate a person from each parish to serve as a correspondent, publishing those events in their parishes that were open to people from other parishes. That idea has not been blessed with success.

In January, the domain mapping subscription for this blog will expire, and I don’t intend to renew that subscription. The blog will still exist, but the URLs will change to the WordPress domain, and visitors to nottinghamcatholic.org.uk will arrive at a page where they will be invited to click a link to visit the blog at its new address.

Your comments are welcome below.

Special deanery meeting: the questions

If you weren’t able to attend today’s special deanery meeting, you’ll find the questions in  posts below — one post per question. Please use the comments facility to submit your response (and remember it will be visible to anyone who visits this blog)

Before answering, you might want to study again the You Are Living Stones Lent Update that was given out at Holy Mass a little while ago. If you’ve mislaid your copy, you can download it, along with other material, from this page.

When considering the questions, remember that “link” means “share a priest.”

Please submit your responses by Tuesday, 2nd April if you wish them to be considered when the deanery’s response to Bishop Malcolm is compiled.

Special deanery meeting Q1

The proposals:

• LINK St Theresa, Aspley WITH St Hugh of Lincoln, Bilborough
• RETAIN Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Bulwell and Divine Infant of Prague, Bestwood Park
• RETAIN St Paul, Lenton Boulevard and St Mary, Hyson Green
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Assumption, Beeston AND St Thomas More, Wollaton
• RETAIN Holy Cross, Hucknall
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Our Lady & St Thomas of Hereford, Ilkeston AND St John the Evangelist, Stapleford
• LINK St Francis of Assisi, Long Eaton WITH St Hugh, Borrowash
• LINK Our Lady of Good Counsel, Eastwood WITH St Joseph, Ripley

The bishop’s first question: What do you think of the proposed links between parishes, etc., in general?

Special deanery meeting Q2

The proposals:

• LINK St Theresa, Aspley WITH St Hugh of Lincoln, Bilborough
• RETAIN Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Bulwell and Divine Infant of Prague, Bestwood Park
• RETAIN St Paul, Lenton Boulevard and St Mary, Hyson Green
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Assumption, Beeston AND St Thomas More, Wollaton
• RETAIN Holy Cross, Hucknall
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Our Lady & St Thomas of Hereford, Ilkeston AND St John the Evangelist, Stapleford
• LINK St Francis of Assisi, Long Eaton WITH St Hugh, Borrowash
• LINK Our Lady of Good Counsel, Eastwood WITH St Joseph, Ripley

The bishop’s second question: If you do not think a proposal will work, why not? What is your reasoning behind this?

Special deanery meeting: Q3

The proposals:

• LINK St Theresa, Aspley WITH St Hugh of Lincoln, Bilborough
• RETAIN Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Bulwell and Divine Infant of Prague, Bestwood Park
• RETAIN St Paul, Lenton Boulevard and St Mary, Hyson Green
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Assumption, Beeston AND St Thomas More, Wollaton
• RETAIN Holy Cross, Hucknall
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Our Lady & St Thomas of Hereford, Ilkeston AND St John the Evangelist, Stapleford
• LINK St Francis of Assisi, Long Eaton WITH St Hugh, Borrowash
• LINK Our Lady of Good Counsel, Eastwood WITH St Joseph, Ripley

The bishop’s third question: In what ways can your deanery and its parishioners change in order to better fulfil the Church’s mission of preaching, worship and service?

Special deanery meeting Q4

The proposals:

• LINK St Theresa, Aspley WITH St Hugh of Lincoln, Bilborough
• RETAIN Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Bulwell and Divine Infant of Prague, Bestwood Park
• RETAIN St Paul, Lenton Boulevard and St Mary, Hyson Green
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Assumption, Beeston AND St Thomas More, Wollaton
• RETAIN Holy Cross, Hucknall
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Our Lady & St Thomas of Hereford, Ilkeston AND St John the Evangelist, Stapleford
• LINK St Francis of Assisi, Long Eaton WITH St Hugh, Borrowash
• LINK Our Lady of Good Counsel, Eastwood WITH St Joseph, Ripley

The bishop’s fourth question: What could parishes in your deanery do to support other parishes if they lost a resident priest? How will your deanery cope if it has one or even two fewer priests in the imminent future?

Special deanery meeting Q5

The proposals:

• LINK St Theresa, Aspley WITH St Hugh of Lincoln, Bilborough
• RETAIN Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Bulwell and Divine Infant of Prague, Bestwood Park
• RETAIN St Paul, Lenton Boulevard and St Mary, Hyson Green
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Assumption, Beeston AND St Thomas More, Wollaton
• RETAIN Holy Cross, Hucknall
• RETAIN LINK BETWEEN Our Lady & St Thomas of Hereford, Ilkeston AND St John the Evangelist, Stapleford
• LINK St Francis of Assisi, Long Eaton WITH St Hugh, Borrowash
• LINK Our Lady of Good Counsel, Eastwood WITH St Joseph, Ripley

The bishop’s fifth question: In what practical ways can the parishes of your deanery work together?

One year on

Or a bit over a year.

I was, I’ll admit, disappointed that the invitation to the priests of the two deaneries to become participating authors on this blog, or to nominate people from the parishes they serve to contribute on behalf of their parish, didn’t bear fruit.

But the tumbleweeds blowing through this blog are deceptive. Today’s special deanery meeting showed that in parishes in the Western deanery, the You Are Living Stones consultation process has been proceeding with vigour. And I hear similar things coming from the East.

I’m hoping tonight or tomorrow to reproduce here the questions that were put at today’s meeting, so that those who weren’t able to attend can use the blog’s comments system to have their say.

While I did, as our bishop asked, chair the meeting, I am immensely grateful to Ron Lynch for offering and applying with such generosity his acclaimed skills as a facilitator. Ron’s help meant we got as much from that meeting as we might have expected from one lasting four times as long.

I am also grateful to the many thoroughly busy people who took the time to take part.

The report of today’s meeting will be available here in due course.

Nottingham East Deanery Talks on ‘You are Living Stones’

Each Wednesday in Lent in the Nottingham East Deanery we are enjoying a series of talks aimed at providing a backdrop to the consulation ‘You are Living Stones’ that will take place in parishes across the Diocese. You can access the talks here:

1. Our Mission in Christ – Living the Gospel Today
2. Who we are as the Body of Christ – the Church
3. Our Resources – Where we are at

Why not join us for the next talk which takes place this coming Wednesday 28th March at The Becket School, West Bridgford: A way forward together as living stones

Long Eaton’s Living Stones parish audit day

The date has been announced for the Living Stones parish audit day for Long Eaton parish: 10am to 1pm on Saturday, 31st March, at St Francis of Assisi.

All Long Eaton parishioners are welcome to attend this parish audit day, which will be run by experienced and qualified consultants generously offering their services pro deo.

The Living Stones talks would be a good preparation, but everyone will have something to contribute even if they’ve not been to a single one of the talks. People will be better able to contribute if  they’ve at least read and thought about the Living Stones information sheet that was given out in church on 3^rd & 4^th March; better still, if they’ve looked at the complete You Are Living Stones document.

At 1pm participants will finish by eating lunch together (so take some food!). If you have to get away promptly at 1pm, though, don’t let that put you off taking part in the consultation.