The parish is looking forward to a great get together at its Christmas Festival on Saturday 7 December, from 4pm to 8pm. It’s a nice, relaxed way for us to catch up with each other before Christmas. The Festival is an immediate response to the September parish survey.
Nearly 500 parishioners responded to the survey and one of two major themes was the desire to gather as a community more often. The other key message was a strong need to develop our own faith and spirituality, especially through bible study and faith formation.
As a result we are running a short ‘bible study” group for Advent, reviewing the Mass readings each week. They will be held in the parish rooms each Saturday at 10.00 am, starting on November 30.
More information on the results of the survey can be found on our website: Holy Spirit Catholic Parish – Serving the Community of Gungahlin and the Pocket Parish App.
As promised the parish will now be conducting focus groups on key topics which emerged from the survey and which need more thought and discernment.
These include: Welcome and inclusion across all aspects of parish, Music and Liturgy;
and Our Volunteers, their recruitment, training and formation, nurture and our appreciation. Everyone will be welcome and we will advertise the focus groups extensively.
20 people from our parish attended the Archdiocesan Assembly on 18 October. We joined more than 550 people from across the Archdiocese, gathering as a family for the first time in 20 years to consider the big three themes: Encounter, Discipleship and Mission.
An excellent report of the Assembly can be found at: Archdiocesan Assembly Response – CG Evangelisation. It is well worth the read and will help guide our thinking on our own Parish Assembly in March next year.
We see the Parish Assembly as our chance to gather as a parish family to focus on our Mission and how we go forth together. So, there is much to look forward to as we approach Advent and a new liturgical year.
Warmly
Alison
Chair of your PPC
