Deanery

Parish, Deanery and Diocesan Planning
Initial responses from Deaneries - May 2019
13th June 2019

Dear Father and Parish community,

Thank you for your contribution so far to the process of parish, deanery and diocesan planning. The submissions received from deaneries show a good level of thought and reflection. 

The next stage is for each parish to be involved in discussing the proposals and considering the initial set of questions and these additional responses to the draft submission. It is envisaged that in each parish the Parish Council, Finance Committee or similar groups are involved, as well as the headteacher of the local Catholic primary and/or secondary school, and any lay chaplain. It would also make sense for your parish secretary/administrator to take part in the discussion and if you employ a lay pastoral worker, they should also be part of it. 

For the most part, initial proposals have been taken as the best way forward, but in some cases, the responses from the Deanery have not set out a clear proposal or what was suggested has had to be changed because of wider considerations. If any priest or Deanery has questions about what is proposed because it differs from your initial response and thinking, please do contact the VG who facilitated the initial Deanery meeting. 

Discussion about these proposals should be in the context of a ‘stand alone’ meeting, rather than just an agenda item along with other matters. As a minimum, it is envisaged that the discussion would be best spread across two 1 ½ hour evening meetings, or during the day if that suits most participants. You could also consider asking someone external to facilitate the discussion if you think it would help. 

The deanery is then to collate the responses and adjust the initial deanery response, as necessary, to reflect any new thinking or decisions. 

Please have your parish response completed and returned by the middle of July, and then the deanery response returned to your VG by the end of July.

With my gratitude and prayer,

High Peak Deanery

Proposals

• 3 pastoral areas each served by one priest

Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frifth – priest resident at Buxton
Broadbottom, New Mills, Marple Bridge – priest resident at Marple
Glossop and Hadfield – priest resident in Glossop

• Tideswell and Gamesley cease to operate as places of worship
• Formation to be put in place for lay ministry and leadership

Questions and actions

• Please consult on the reorganisation into the 3 pastoral areas and what the impact will be on all areas of parish life and pastoral ministry. 
• Please continue with the formal process to close and sell Tideswell and begin the process to formally close Gamesley as a Mass centre. With regard to the sale of Tideswell, begin to identify how any proceeds could be used for mission in the area. 
• Please begin the process of Buxton serving Chapel
• Depending on the forthcoming Quinquennial inspection of St Mary’s in Glossop, please consider if the church is financially viable and whether parish time and resources are best spent working to preserve the building. 
• Identify ways in which the chaplaincy provision at Derby University (Buxton) can be enhanced as an area of mission and how ministry to young adults can be a focus in the deanery. 
• Begin conversations with St Thomas Aquinas CMAT, Lead Lay Chaplain Joseph Hopkins and the schools of St Thomas More and St Philip Howard and the Buxton and Glossop parishes on the employment of a full time lay chaplain for the two schools, possibly with some time each week dedicated to parish youth ministry. 
• Identify training leads for lay ministry and leadership and actions that can be taken at deanery level to provide this formation. This will be discussed at diocesan level, but please consider solutions at the local level. 

The question that the deanery raised about the replacement of Sunday obligations Masses with Services of Word and Communion is echoed from other places in the diocese and has been passed onto Bishop Patrick.