New Parish Update:
I want to update you on where we are in the journey towards becoming a New Parish, joining together all the 8 parishes of our Eastbourne – St Leonard’s Deanery. There have been, over the past 6 months, fruitful meetings of a Parish Leadership Group of the clergy and some lay reps from our parishes. There have also been plenty of meetings with the Diocese and those involved across the other Deaneries in this process. Our 11 Deaneries will become 11 large parishes in the coming months. We have realised as the months have passed that this is a “long haul” journey, not a sprint, that must not be rushed but instead, step by step and with everyone playing their part, we can build together a vibrant and mission centred “Community of Communities”. We are now ready for more concrete work to be done and will begin in July working in 2 X Hub Leadership Groups, at the 2 ends of what will be the New Parish (Eastbourne and St Leonards). These Hub Leadership Groups, clergy and lay reps from each church, will work with you all in implementing changes that will allow us to use our many good resources in a way that best serves everybody, and also reaches out to those many people who are searching for Christ and faith. The first 2 important areas we are working on, ready for the autumn, will be [1] coordinating a joined-up approach to our Sacramental Programmes (Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, RCIA etc), and [2] working on coordinated new Hub Mass Schedules that provide all our churches with a better thought-out and sustainable range of Mass times. In the coming days we will be launching a New Parish Website that will provide lots of detail of what’s happening and how you can be involved [https://eastbourne-stleonards.org.uk]. Please continue to keep all this important work in your daily prayers. Many thanks. Fr Kevin Dring (Moderator – on behalf of the Clergy Team)