On Saturday 10^th October St Julie’s Catholic High School hosted a joint parish event for St Mary’s and Our Lady’s Bishop Eton.  The day was called for by Fr Tim Buckley, to give us a chance to see all the great work that is currently going on in both parishes, whilst also encouraging others to join in and do more.  A steering committee from both parishes helped to organise the event and put together a set of objectives and desired outcomes.  The plan was to have a number of speakers at workshops that parishioners could go along and listen to, as well as a market place for all the parish groups to showcase their work.  The venue was the Our Lady’s building at St Julie’s, which was the original Notre Dame Preparatory school building and Chapel of the Sisters of Notre Dame.  Following is a summary of the day and extracts from the evaluation report, written by Ann Connor.

Welcome

At the start of the day the ‘Welcome to the Parish Awakening’ was given in the theatre by Fr Tim, Ann Connor (Chair of Bishop Eton Parish Team) and David Delaney (Chair of St Mary’s Parish Team).  Tim Alderman, Headteacher of St Julie’s, also addressed the audience and welcomed everyone to the school.  A short Awakening liturgy led by Mike Anderson, Chaplain at St Julie’s, and Brother James, of SFX, began with How Great Thou Art, included the recitation of Psalm 104 (the Lord remembers his covenant forever) and moved into reflection with Be Still for the Presence of the Lord.  Everyone joined in with such enthusiasm and melodic singing that the spirit was palpable from the outset of the day.

Market Place

There were 69 Market Place stalls, the majority staffed throughout the day in the main hall and surrounding corridors.  We were pleased to welcome to the Market Place representatives from some local and national charities and also some chief officers and regional representatives from Catholic organisations which exist in both parishes.  The Market Place was a very lively, colourful and interesting place to be on the day; at times it seemed over-crowded and for many there was not enough time in the day to be able to give each stall the attention it deserved.  We realised, and wondered at, the wide range of activities and organisations we have across both parishes.

The following Workshops were delivered:

• Call to Action:  The smell of the sheep (Kathy Bamber)
• Educating our primary children (Head teachers Deborah Bostock and Matt White)
• Educating our secondary children (Head teachers Tim Alderman and Les Rippon)
• Environmental Responsibility (Professor Thomas Fischer)
• Evangelising Teams (Fr Paul Cannon and Sharon Beach)
• Isaiah and Christianity (Rosemary Poole)
• Ministry of Eucharist and Reading (Fr Tim Buckley)
• Ministry of Music (Chaplains Mike Anderson and Brother James)
• Parish life in Hungary and Belgium:  A European model (Dr Gergely Juhasz)
• Puppeteers
• Pro-life issues (Elizabeth Parsons and Helen Currie)
• Volunteering (Professor Bill Chambers)

The day concluded with an inspiring Liturgy in the school chapel, led once again by Chaplains Mike Anderson and Brother James.  The liturgy was enhanced by instrumentalists, young and old, playing cello, clarinet, flute, guitar, keyboard, ukulele and saxophone making a full contribution to prayer.  Readings, singing, thanksgiving were enjoyed.  A statement of faith and call to evangelisation arose from the conference objectives and from the keynote address. Candles were blessed and distributed by the children.  The concluding hymn raised the roof, filled with the Spirit of fellowship, peace and love. 

Note of thanks

Thanks go to all of those who made a contribution to this special day; the joint steering committee, the 100+ people who attended the pre-conference sessions in September, the programme designer, volunteers who helped distribute programmes, those who helped set up the night before, those who chauffeured other participants on the day, keynote speakers, workshop leaders, market place stallholders, the puppeteers, chairpersons of workshops and COBRA meetings, leaders of the liturgy, the musicians and those who helped on the day with various jobs. 

Special thanks go to Head teacher Tim Alderman and the staff of St Julie’s Catholic High School who enabled the day to be such a success.  Tim and his staff provided support before and throughout.  Administrative staff attended to reprographics and technology. Teaching and caretaking staff made sure rooms were available and set up for workshops, site staff organised parking, catering staff prepared refreshments at breaks and lunchtime.  Staff including the chaplain attended and led sessions on the day.  Many people commented on the care and kindness shown by staff on the day.  One participant wrote, ‘I have known the school for many years and its Sisters of Notre Dame mission of generosity and passing on knowledge – a great example of this today’. 

Comments on the day

• A lot of effort and well appreciated
• Exceeded – greater number than I expected including a number of young people
• Wonderful atmosphere
• The event was a very positive experience for me
• Only intended to stay for the morning but am still here
• Productive and looking forward to the next day
• Great exhibition of all the things on offer in the parishes
• Good community experience at the end of the day
• Discussions interesting and thought provoking
• Did not know we had so much going on in the two parishes
• Well-structured and allowed a lot of input from the group
• Caretaker helpful and polite
• Thanks to all the hardworking staff and volunteers
• Staff welcoming, instructive kind and hard-working
• Thank you for trying and caring to support all of us on our faith journey
• Thank you for taking the time to organise this event
• It was a very good day for us all to be together
• Stalls were arranged well and gave the opportunity for meeting and mingling of two parishes showing a united commitment
• Lots of information to absorb and new contacts with a constant happy buzz
• Appreciated the hard work behind the scenes and hope the event will grow
• A huge thank you and congratulations to all the organisers, it was great!

Well I suppose all we need now is for Fr Tim to tell us when he wants to do the next Parish Awakening day so we can start all over again….