Behind the Scenes at St Georges
Antonia Gorman - Parish Administrator
Every week at the top of the bulletin Antonia’s name appears, she doesn’t work at the weekend so many parishioners will have never seen her and probably wonder what she does. Although I’ve included her in this ‘Behind the Scenes’ series she really is at the fore- front of many activities in the Parish.
Antonia works from her office in the presbytery, she works Tuesday to Friday and is in the office from 9:00am to 2:00pm. She came to St Georges in 2019 after working in the NHS as a medical secretary. She is married to Kev and together they have two children Shea and Arabella.
Most things that happen in the parish will at some point end up at Antonia’s desk, her workload covers the width and breath of parish life. The one job that most people will know her for is the production of the newsletter every week. This may look an easy task but on weeks when there is a lot of news it takes very careful arranging to make sure everything is included.
Antonia is very much the first port of call for most things. So enquiries from people wanting to enrol on sacramental programs, booking Weddings and Baptisms, will involve co- ordinating with parish sacramental catechists. As well as liaising with undertakers/ Frs Chris and Lister and Deacon Keith and the bereavement team for the booking of funerals.
Antonia is responsible for the production of the rotas for the various groups in the parish such as Eucharistic ministers, cleaners and counting teams an important job that keeps the church running like a well-oiled machine. Antonia is responsible for the Mass requests, ensuring that they are said at the correct date for parishioners.
Her role includes paying all the invoices and working with the finance committee to ensure that the finances are kept up to date. Occasionally there are requests that only happen now and again, recently there was a request for a copy of a Baptismal Certificate, which has to be dealt with.
One of the parts of the job that Antonia enjoys most is meeting the parishioners and helping them where she can. She always enjoys a catch up with people and likes to keep a finger on the pulse of what is going on in the parish. I think Antonias value to the parish can be measured by the recent parish meeting where a number of people giving feedback thanked her in her absence for the support she quietly gives.
One thing she doesn’t like is photographs of herself so if you don’t know her, you’ll have to keep an eye out for her!
Thank you for all you do Antonia, it is very much appreciated.