Plenty of Work, Plenty of Laughs – and Plenty to take Home.
As you would expect, when nineteen parish administration staff from fifteen parishes gathered at the Chancery for their annual professional development conference this week, there was plenty of energy, laughter and conversation; a welcome tonic for these quiet achievers who work tirelessly to keep their parishes running smoothly.
“The responsibilities of parishes continue to grow,” says Greg Westbrook, Diocesan Business Manager, “particularly in areas such as governance, financial management, safeguarding, record management and regulatory compliance. The Chancery hosts the Parish Administration Conference to build confidence in parish staff to manage these responsibilities and support them to work more effectively.”
The conference is essentially a practical forum where participants receive consistent information, learn about new requirements and share experiences.
“The relationship between the Chancery and parishes is fundamentally one of service and support,” Greg said. “Many of today's challenges, whether they involve compliance, finance, property, people, technology or safeguarding, are becoming increasingly complex and are often difficult for individual parishes to manage alone. The Conference gives participants direct access to Chancery personnel who are available to guide and assist them throughout the year.”
“By working collaboratively, parishes can benefit from shared expertise, common systems, coordinated training and diocesan-wide resources that would be difficult and costly to develop independently. This partnership allows parishes to focus on serving their local communities while drawing on the support, advice and specialist knowledge available through the Chancery.”
This year, the two-day program covered practical topics including PACEM (Parish Administration Communication and Engagement Management) software, finance, insurance, safety and risk management, marriage applications and communications, including a tutorial on using online graphic design and publishing platform, Canva.
Parish staff met with Chancery colleagues, heard from the Mission and Pastoral Life Team about its work implementing the Sandhurst Formation Support Plan, and had plenty of opportunity to ask questions and share experiences.
But the conference is deliberately about more than absorbing information.
“The Chancery also aims to provide the space and place for parish staff to sit in the company of others who ‘get it’ and, of course, the opportunity to pray together.”
Conference organiser Kate Pentreath, Executive Assistant to the Business Manager, says bringing people together in person creates something that is difficult to replicate through emails, online resources or individual assistance. “The gathering creates space in a different environment and offers different perspectives,” Kate said. “For busy parish staff, it’s a unique opportunity to consider issues that can easily be pushed aside during the busy working week.” As one participant reflected: “Important things I’ve not had time to think more about are now in my consciousness.”
“Participants consistently valued hearing about the experiences of other parishes, discussing common issues and learning from those with more experience. For those who are new to parish administration, the opportunity to meet and connect with other parish staff was particularly valuable.”
That sense of being in it together is one of the conference’s greatest strengths. Over the years, parish administration staff have built networks of support, picking up the phone to share a solution, workshop an idea or swap a funny anecdote with someone who understands exactly what they are talking about.
And then, of course, there was the fun, something Kate sees as essential ‘stress-relief’ for staff in roles at the ‘frontline’ of parish life. She kept the energy high with a rapid-fire Slido quiz at the end of each day – partly, she joked, to check whether everyone had actually been paying attention. They had. There were prizes to prove it.
Kate also tasked participants with a creative challenge, requesting they bring a centrepiece interpreting the conference theme, ‘The harvest is abundant’ from Bishop René’s first Pastoral Letter.
The “most popular centrepiece” came from Kennington Parish: a cane basket overflowing with fresh flowers grown on Sacramental Coordinator Sally Jenning’s nature strip, as well as fruit, vegetables and even a boiled egg (of course there was laughter). Cards created by children in the parish’s Sacramental Program, featuring the Fruits of the Holy Spirit and used on the parish Jesse Tree during Advent , added a deeper layer of meaning to the colourful display.*
The annual parish reports provided another opportunity for sharing – and plenty of conversation. Each parish reported on key news, achievements and challenges from the past year, allowing staff to celebrate successes, learn from one another and discover, perhaps reassuringly, that they are rarely the only parish wrestling with a particular challenge.
Participant feedback reflected the value of that shared experience: “Loved hearing from all the parishes”; “Making more connections, good to hear other parishes’ experiences”; and “Informative. Helpful to hear from others with experience.”
Others highlighted the parish reports and Q&A with the Business Manager, the PACEM, marriage application sessions, and Kate’s session on Canva.
Another summed up the conference: “Always so valuable. Thank you, Bishop René, for allowing this and encouraging parishes to gather and network.”
*Kennington Parish Sally, Sacramental Coordinator and Megan, Parish Secretary, explained:
At the start of Advent, a Jesse Tree is set up at St Therese’s Church. At every Mass, part of the offertory includes children bringing an image or symbol linked to the readings of the Mass, which is placed on the tree. At Christmas, the tree is abundant with symbolism. These symbols and the tree are also used in a Sacramental Program activity where children discuss the fruits of the Holy Spirit, then draw a fruit symbolic of the way they see the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the people around us.
