Pastoral Council

The Parish of St. Paschal Baylon, in accordance with the recommendation of the Second Vatican Council and the 1983 Code of Canon Law, established its Pastoral Council in 1986 to help foster pastoral action in the parish and to discuss, discern, and evaluate programs to carry out that action in order that the limited resources of the parish are used to best advantage. The Pastor presides over the Council which is composed of people drawn from those engaged in pastoral ministry or outreach in the parish. The Saint Paschal Baylon Council model is that of a Council of Ministries.

· Core Commission represent and facilitate communication among their respective ministries.

· Core Commission identify, coordinate, evaluate and encourage ministries within their area.

· Assess the performance of existing ministries and recommend improvements.

· Develop and implement Council approved programs.

· Each Core Commission consists of 5-10 members drawn from their ministerial group.

Pastoral Council Purpose Statement, Goals & Function

Purpose

St. Paschal Baylon’s pastoral council is a faith filled leadership body, guided by the Holy Spirit and the word of GOD, that acts in a governance role but only with the Pastor to discern the needs of the parish and to set goals and priorities to guide the Parish. Its mission is to build a Catholic Eucharistic community that is committed to ongoing spiritual renewal and evangelization.

Members of the Pastoral Council are called to always be open to the Holy Spirit, to let go of biases and vested interests and to make decisions in the best interests of the Parish. They should try and discern through prayer and discussion what GOD wants of our parish community and to establish a parish vision. This vision should include both spiritual and temporal goals of the community incorporating the needs of our parishioners and our obligation to serve the mission of the Church in the world. These needs should be ascertained from those involved in parish ministry and from information obtained directly from parishioners and those in leadership in the Church. The council encourages collaboration in parish ministry but it does not do the work of those ministries. The council provide guidelines and a framework for action. In collaboration with the Pastoral Staff and the Finance Council, it establishes a Five Year Pastoral Plan and promotes this plan to the parish community at large.

Goals

· Develop a more welcoming environment in our parish community

· Listen to concerns and needs of all parishioners, school, and staff

· Encourage ongoing communications between all pastoral groups

· Evaluate parish ministry goals as they relate to the Parish Mission Statement

· Discover and discern new avenues for fulfilling the parish mission

· Encourage parishioner involvement at all levels of parish life

· Develop Pastoral Council visibility to the parish community

· Establish ongoing parish vision

Functions

· Discern what GOD wants of the parish community through study, discussion, and prayer

· Conduct parish-wide meetings to investigate and ascertain parish needs, interest and goals

· Participate with the Pastor, staff and school administrators in the pastoral decision making process

· Communicate the results of the pastoral decision making process to the parish community

· Act as liaison between ad hoc committees and core commissions for purposes of collaboration and to avoid duplication

· Delegate the implementation f projects to ad hoc committees and core commissions

· Train newly elected members of the council in the consensus process

Commissions and Ministries

Commissions are the organizational groups into which the ministries of the parish are divided.

· Administration – Ministries that serve the parish in areas such as financial accounting, plant maintenance and renovation, and internal/external communications.

· Education – Ministries involved with the parish school and religious education for children, youth, and adults

· Community Building – Ministries that help to unify all parish organizations and groups with the purpose of furthering “the spirit of community” in our parish.

· Outreach – Ministries that reach out, within and beyond, the parish to serve the needs of the parish and the larger community

· Spiritual Life – Ministries involved with liturgical celebrations, prayer groups and devotions

Each commission is assigned two members of the pastoral council to represent them on the council. These two members meet throughout the year with a group of six to ten active members of that commission drawn from its various ministries (The Core Commission). The membership of these core commissions provide informational conduits between ministries of their own commissions as well as those of other commissions. They bring ministry issues or problems to the core for discussion, assessment and resolution recommendation, participate in ministry performance assessment and suggest improvements. They identify program initiatives and are mandated to develop pastoral council approved programs.

Ministries

Ministries are the parish organizations that address the spiritual, educational, charitable outreach, administrative and communal needs of the parish community. Each ministry belongs to one of the five Pastoral Commissions. Each ministry meets according to the needs of their particular service. Ministry leadership is asked to meet in plenary session twice a year – October and February.

The Pastoral Council’s membership is composed of the Parish Pastor, 2 members from each of the 5 Commissions and one appointed Staff Representative for a total of 12.

Each Commission has a “Core Commission composed of the two Council Commissioners plus 3-5 delegates from the Commission’s Ministries.

Administration Commission	Education Commission	Community Building Commission	Outreach Commission	Spiritual Life Commission
Communication	Adult Education	Boy Scouts	Bereavement Support	Altar Servers
Facilities Maintenance	Bible Study	Girl Scouts	Detention Ministry	Altar Society
Finance Council	Children’s Catecumenate	Cub Scouts	Ladies of Charity	Apostolate of Prayer
Stewardship	Confirmation Preparation	Men’s Club	Mission Circle	Baptism Preparation
Volunteers	Home Schoolers	Women’s Club	People to People	Cursillo
Church Renovation	Liturgy of the Word for Children	Newcomer’s Club	Baby-sitting at 9 am Sunday Mass	Baptism Home Catechesis
Maintenance Records	Preparacion Para Quinceaneras	Senior’s Club	Eucharistic Ministers (Home)	Catholic Engaged Encounter
Landscaping & Grounds	Small Christian Communities	Hispanic Society	Eucharistic Ministers (Hospital)	Eucharistic Ministers at Mass
	St. Paschal Baylon School	Catholic Couples	St. Vincent de Paul	Family Prayer Night
	Religious Education	Youth Ministry	Families Anonymous	Guadalupe Association
	Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults	Mothers and Others	Italian Catholic Federation	Grupo de Oracion Luz de Christo
	Adult Confirmation		Project Response	Lectors
			Respect Life	Liturgical Art & Environment
			SDWD	Music
			Welcome Club	Serra Club
				Ushers
				Vocations Committee
				Wedding Coordinators

SPB Pastoral Council

Notes from Meeting on 1/26/04

Action Items:

750 people volunteered for Eucharistic Adoration. 50 people volunteered to coordinate. The rectory chapel will be renovated to accommodate this activity. Cameras, lighting & enhanced security will be added. Target date to begin: in one month.

“The University” will be conducted in six parishes during Lent. 60 sessions will be offered. A twelve page color brochure will be available in the 6 parishes on the weekend of February 7-8. Individual course tuition is $5 for two people pre-registered $7 at the door. Tuition for the entire series is available for $50 for two persons.

Co-ed Catholic High School: A meeting will occur on January 28 to weigh the pros and cons of various sites under consideration. Size of the sites varies from 25-30 acres up to 200 acres. Any of the sites would be suitable.

A vice chair needs to be selected. This person will become chair of the Pastoral Council next year. Please let Fr Dave or Curt Lorenz know if you are willing to assume this role. Also, give thought to how we might choose a candidate if more than one steps forward.

Resolved:

Father Dave, Jim Napier, Felix Masci & Suzanne Duffy will explore the establishment of a method to coordinate fundraising/major gifts for SPB. At least 2 approaches will be brought to the Pastoral Council.

At the February 23, 2004 Pastoral Council meeting all ministries will be invited to attend in order to communicate their activities and to update the goals for their ministries. PC members took on responsibility for contacting their ministries.

The March 29 Pastoral Council Meeting is cancelled in order that you may attend University sessions.

Seen & Heard:

ü The Moorpark Road side of Aquinas Hall looks messy from the street. A plan is in place to erect a permanent structure to house the supplies stored along that side of the building.

ü The janitorial staff is doing a great job.

ü The music CD is excellent. 880 were sold, only about 100 left.

ü The Guadalupe image of Our Lady now in storage needs to be made mobile.

ü The Depot needs to replace silverware. Fr Dave requested a proposal for this, and any other item needed by the Depot.

ü There have been 2 cars broken into in the SPB parking lot. No plan to hire a guard.

ü The storage bins on the Columbia Road side of the property will be cleaned out this summer, after ministries have been notified. It was suggested that “leftovers” be made available to others prior to being hauled away. Dan Culhane volunteered to make available a labeling system to keep the bins organized.