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Parish Council

Role of the Parish Pastoral Council

The Parish Pastoral Council is the coordinating and unifying structure of the Parish Community.  Its members gather together the thoughts and ideas of the community, work them together until some general agreement has been reached, and then translate this consensus into Parish goals.  Finally, it sees that the Parish Community acts upon these goals. 

The Parish Pastoral Council is not meant to be either a dictatorship, insensitive to the needs and concerns of the people, or a strictly democratic body, deciding by a plurality of one vote the major direction of a Parish.  Nor is its model to be the efficient business organization.  Rather, it is to be sensitive to the movement of the Spirit among God's people, to work for a unified vision or general agreement among its members, and to help the whole Parish to meet the challenge of being a Church in the modern world.

Parish Pastoral Councils serve in an advisory capacity to the Pastor and are to utilize the many and varied gifts of the Laity in service to the Church as it continues to carry out the Mission of Christ.  Parish Pastoral Councils are not task oriented nor are they to be considered as task oriented.  They are the Visionaries of the Parish.   

By virtue of Baptism, Laity are empowered to participate in the Mission of the Church and in the Pastoral activity of the Parish.  They are a community of believers striving to experience more fully the Kingdom of God in a particular time/place.  One of the ways Laity can exercise that call is through the ministry of the Parish Pastoral Council. 

The primary focus now is to develop Mission focused Parishes rather than programmatic or finance driven ones.  The heart of the Parish is a consciousness and zeal for the Mission of Jesus Christ. 

Meetings:
The Parish Pastoral Council meets every 4^th Monday of the Month at 7:00pm at the Church. 

Get to know the Parish Pastoral Council members by viewing their photos.

Note: The Parish Pastoral Council would like to list the following references as some of the sources used in the understandings, ideas, and thoughts guiding the Parish Pastoral Council:

-Parish Pastoral Council Vision and Goals, Diocese of Joliet, Most Reverend Joseph L. Imesch, Retired Bishop of Joliet

-Revisioning The Parish Pastoral Council, Paulist Press, Mary Ann Gubish and Susan Jenny, S.C.

-Developing a Vibrant Parish Pastoral Council, Paulist Press, Arthur X.Deegan, II

-Parish Planning, A Practical Guide To Shared Responsibility, The Liturgical Press, Robert G. Howes

-Pastoral Councils in Today's Catholic Parish, Twenty-Third Publications, Mark F. Fischer

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