Hello. My name is Mike King and I am privileged to be chairman of St Michael’s PPC (Parish Pastoral Council).
My family and, indeed, extended family have been part of St Michael’s parish for a long time and have always found it a friendly, open and busy community. I hope you find the same, but if, for any reason, you cannot find what you are looking for, then please contact me and I promise you that I, or another member of the parish team will do our level best to help.
I hope you’re not surprised to learn that there is a parish team. It’s a fine group giving huge amounts of time to planning and coordinating the great range of activities in and around Ashtead and further afield.
And so, this is by way of an introduction to the team and some of the many things we all get up to.
It’s also an introduction to the many others who form the army of volunteers who clean the church and serve at mass and arrange the flowers and look after the hall and tend the sacristy and run the rotas and minister to the sick and greet people and read and sing and cook and raise money for any number of charities and write to express our strong feelings about oppression and cruelty and organise our social events and….well, the list goes on and on. Have a look at the 'Who Does What' page HERE.
As a team, we decided to reorganise ourselves into six areas of coordination to try to initiate, help support and help keep a grip on all the stuff that happens.
Each of the team members who are responsible for an area of activity are called coordinators….in other words, they help to guide and coordinate and recruit rather than try to do everything themselves.
The six areas of activity and their coordinators are as follows:
(Click on each subject title to go to its page)
Liturgy (click)
Michelle is responsible for coordinating all aspects of our parish community worship. In particular, she watches over:
- Music
- Readers
- Eucharistic ministers
- Welcomers
- Servers
- The sacristy
The rotas for ministers, readers and welcomers are HERE
Formation (click)
Caroline is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the spiritual education offered to every member of our parish community. In particular, she watches over:
The sacramental preparation programmes for:
- Baptism
- Holy Communion
- Confirmation
and
- Children’s Liturgy
- Adult Education
- Evangelisation*
* As Caroline is very keen to let people know, evangelisation is what we are all called to do and so, whilst the topic falls into her area, we all acknowledge that this is part of all areas of coordination and something we must all put our minds and hearts to.
Care for our parish community
Keith is responsible for:
- All activities which seek to support Youth and the elderly and infirm
- Parish social life (click)
- Child and Vulnerable Adult protection (click)
- Hall management
Marriage and family life
Marriage and Family life used to be a part of the above group of ‘Care for our parish community’. Recently the PPC decided that the increasing pressures upon this group required that we give it special attention. Fina and her husband have children and are central to the young married population of the parish. It is our hope and intention that Fina will be able to represent the needs of all families as we work to do the best for our parish and the wider community.
Care for the wider community (click)
Ted is responsible for coordinating the many ways we show that we, as a parish, recognise that we are part of a wider world; a world that is populated with people who are often much less fortunate than we are.
In particular, Ted is responsible for:
- CAFOD
- Action in Africa
- J&P
- Christian Aid
- Fair Trade
- Ecumenism
Finance and operations (click)
Jeremy is responsible for keeping the parish in the black and for many of the practical things that keep the parish running….like :
- Finance
- Fabric
- Communications
- Health and Safety
Parish coordinating Team.
-Parish Priest
-Chair
-Vice Chair / Sec
-Deacon
+ 5 coordinators
