What is Parish Council?

This article was published in the February edition of Soul & Vision, a monthly internet based news letter

[ Professor. Jacob Srampickal is director of the center for Social Communications at Pontific al Gregoria n University , Rome]

 

"Our parish priest is a very learned man . He knows everything . He tells us what to do and we just follow him", said an elderly lady . "Our parish priest is an autocrat. He doesn't want our opinions. He won't allow others to do anything , he fears others can mess up everything" another said. "In our parish , when we come up with a suggestion , or an opinion , the priest is keen to find out who came up with the suggestion. Unless he knows who did, he would not like to proceed ". "In our parish the parish priest takes all the decisions. He has a few favorites who execute all his decisions," an young lady quipped in .

The above are comments I collected in one of my pastoral communication classes, in a North Indian parish , while talking on the importance of the Parish Pastoral Council (P P C ) in a parish , the most important unit that helps create community participation and a sense of belongingness in the parish is the PPC . And good communication is the basis of building an effective PPC . Participation of the members of the parish in the decision making and execution of all the activities of the parish is the central focus of the PPC . Canon law numbers 228, 536 and 537 speak highly of the necessity for PPC in every parish . Earlier, since I already established in this column that the purpose of communication is to enable participation and empowerment of the people and thus build strongly united community , let me look at the formation of PPC from a communication perspective .

Theological foundation :

Like in the apostolic times , people can still come together to share their everything , all their resources to build a community of love effectively (Acts 3 \1 2 ). PPC s emphasize the concept, that it is the people's parish , not of the priests. The priest cannot and must not run things his way , he is here for a short time, like a bird of passage , it must be the people who are responsible for running the parish and its various activities. PPC s can help the resources of the people to be made available to the parish community and the less privileged members cared for more , if an open and friendly atmosphere is built up in the parish .

Membership:

The PPC is constituted of roughly 15 - 25 people depending on the size of the parish . PPC consists of representatives of the parish : from various ward s \ sectors, pious associations , religious, important institutions and of course , the parish priest, the non -voting assistant parish priests , etc . Gender equality may be maintained as much as possible . The members are normally elected for 3 years , every year one third being changed . A substitute for each member may also always be elected , who must come in case of the absence of the elected member.

Modus Operandi:

Anyone of these members may be elected president, not necessarily the parish priest. In these PPC meets, which is called every fortnight, every activity of the parish may be discussed . The agenda may be prepared in advance . Points may be supplied to the agenda by anyone of the members collected from those whom they represent.

Documenting the resources of the parish:

Resources include money, personnel, labor, special talents etc . The first priority of the PPC is to find the resources of the parish, document and update these periodically . These have to be made available for reference to the parishioners, through parish website or other ways.

Executive committee:

The PPC needs to have an executive committee of at least 4 people excluding the parish priest, and in emergency these may be given the power to change decisions in consultation with the parish priest. The Secretary must be an elected person, the assistants parish priest(s) if any, could be well utilized in this post.

Democratic decision making:

Never leave the final word to the parish priest as is often done. It is the duty of the members to be well informed of all the issues discussed. A 2 \3 majority or at least a simple majority (50% plus one) may be considered the decision point.

Duration of meetings:

The more the meetings, the more the participation. However, too many meetings may not possible. At least a meeting a month is a must.

Creating a community:

PPCs are attempts at getting the participation of the whole people in running the parish. Wide range of opinions collected from the parishioners help decisions to favor the faith needs of the people. For this reason, the parish priest may not be the chairman of the PPC and also not part of the executive committee, too. If in many parts of the world Catholics are leaving the church, it is mainly because they feel isolated from the activities of the parish. PPC can be an efficient means to re-evangelize them. "Pastoral councils often fail to function in an effective manner because parish priests are afraid that they won't be able to run the parish their own way. "I often wonder why they want to take over our parish and run their way" commented an elderly parishioner who was a PPC member for six years, with two terms. For all those priests who have been speaking endlessly in national and regional seminars on the importance of empowering the laity, setting up a PPC in the manner suggested above can be a bitter pill to swallow. They may suggest that it will destroy the church, but try doing it and they will see that the laity can be very responsible