pastoral council

Current Pastoral Council Members include:

• Nate Boyle
• Marianne Burda
• Angela Isaac
• Don Macnamara
• Scott Mark
• Tim Schmid
• David Scott
• David Thayer
• Ed Trbovich
• Arlette Uihlein

What is PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL?

Mission: Ensures parishioners work as co-workers and advisers to the pastor and staff, and that they have an active role and voice in their parish. Assesses the current and future needs of the parishioners and advises the pastor and staff accordingly. Develops long- and short-term goals.

Discerned: Council members are selected through a process of prayerful discernment. This approach invites the guidance of the Holy Spirit toward identifying those with gifts necessary to create, implement and oversee the annual pastoral plan, who will work tirelessly to support the pastor and parish and form together and individually as microcosms of the parish, ever mindful of the Mission of Jesus Christ.

Primary Role: Carefully utilizes skills of listening, assessment and planning to assist in establishing an ongoing pastoral plan that is implemented by the pastoral staff, parish committees, volunteers, organizations and parishioners and evaluates the outcome of same.

Structure of Council: The pastor presides at meetings and the other essential positions are facilitator and recorder.

Order of Meetings: The spirit of the group is one of consultation and collaboration. Decisions are made through discernment and consensus.

Accountability to Parish: Pastoral Council is first accountable to the Pastor and is secondly accountable to the parish at large. All actions of the Pastoral Council are transparent and will be made known to all.

*Adapted from Pittsburgh Catholic, April 2, 2007, John Franko.

The MISSION of JESUS CHRIST

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor … to proclaim liberty to captives … recovery of sight to the blind … to let the oppressed go free.” (Luke 4:18)

In summary, the Church does not exist for its own sake. Rather it is an assembly of the Pilgrim People of God on a journey that takes them into the heart of the Mission of Jesus Christ. Through its members, the Church:

• CONNECTS THE FAITHFUL TO GOD through prayer, ritual, community and action
• PROCLAIMS GOOD NEWS to a world that often glamorizes evil.
• OFFERS HEALING WORDS AND SERVICES to the wounded or broken.
• DISPELS LONELINESS AND ESTRANGEMENT by building inclusive faith communities.
• PROVIDES A BEACON OF TRUTH AND A CALL TO INTEGRITY through its teaching ministries.
• ANSWERS THE CALL to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless.
• CARES FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE, espousing human dignity, and sharing the fullness of life that Jesus came to offer.

It is the task of the pastoral council to keep before the faithful of the parish their baptismal commitment to make Jesus’ Mission the Mission of the parish. All these actions, like the love they manifest, begin at home and in our parish settings.

* "One Body, One Mission" Diocese of Pittsburgh pastoral council guidelines