Email: nvparish@lismore.catholic.org.au – Admin: (02) 6568 1107 – Presbytery: (02) 6568 6642
Parish Pastoral Council Guidelines

Guidelines for the Parish Pastoral Council

Our Parish Pastoral Council’s role is to promote the mission of the Church to live and communicate the love and values of Christ in the world around us.
Our Parish Pastoral Council acts in a supportive and consultative manner with the Parish Priest in pastoral issues.

Members of the Pastoral Council seek to:

  • be open to communicate and dialogue with parishioners and with all groups and committees.
    listen and respond to the hopes, ideas, needs and concerns of all parishioners.
  • be available to support the Parish Priest in direction and vision, sensitive to the movement of the Spirit in the people of God.
  • identify the gifts of parishioners, and encouraging them to engage in Parish ministries which focus on the faith development and unity of our parish community.
  • set long and short term goals for the Parish, identify needs, set priorities and evaluate the implementation of these.
  • explore possible links with other Churches and organisations.

MEMBERSHIP

There will be twelve (12) members of our Parish Pastoral Council, consisting of the Parish Priest, the Parish Associate and ten (10) others who are members of the Parish and are at least 18 years of age.
Each is a representative of the whole parish community and is not a representative of any specific group.

NOMINATIONS

Parishioners will be invited to recommend other parishioners for appointment to the Parish Pastoral Council.
Each person will be contacted by the Parish Priest or his representative and invited to an Information Evening. After one week, those who attended the Information Evening will be asked to contact the Parish Priest and either accept or decline the nomination.  Please click here for the Nomination Form.

TERM OF OFFICE

The term of membership is two (2) years, with the eligibility to be appointed for a further two (2) year term. After the second term, the member will not be eligible for reappointment for another two (2) years. Each year there will be a review of the membership of the Council and those to be replaced will be informed by the Parish Priest.
Seconded nominations will be invited. These will be submitted to the Parish Priest and after an Information Evening the new members will be invited by the Parish Priest to join the Parish Council at the next meeting.

CASUAL VACANCIES

Casual vacancies will be filled by invitation, from the Parish Priest, and the parishioner will serve the remainder of the term left by the member who resigned.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEMBERS

Each member of the Parish Pastoral Council will be encouraged to:

  • attend the regular meetings of the Parish Pastoral Council
  • provide input to deliberations of the Council
  • develop a spirit of enquiry and the ability to listen and understand the issues affecting the life of the Parish
  • represent the Parish Pastoral Council when required (eg. Other parish, regional or diocesan meetings)

OFFICE BEARERS

The Parish Priest, Parish Associate and the Office Bearers will form the Executive. The Office Bearers, elected by the members, will be Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and the Secretary. They will be elected on a biannual basis.

The role of the Executive is:

  • to take responsibility for the preparation and distribution of the Agenda for each meeting
  • to coordinate the business of the Parish Pastoral Council between meetings.
  • to arrange additional formation outside the regular meeting.

MEETINGS

There will be a minimum of ten monthly meetings of the Parish Pastoral Council each year.

The Agenda for each meeting will be finalised by the Executive and circulated to the Parish Pastoral Councillors in advance of the meeting, together with the minutes of the previous meeting and any notes or other relevant material required.

DECISION MAKING PROCESS

This will be by means of consensus with each member invited to contribute to the discussion. After this consultation, if necessary, a series of recommendations will be presented to the Parish Priest for him to make a final decision. Majority voting, lobbying, competition or domination by one person or group is not acceptable.

COMMUNICATION WITH THE PARISH

Significant events, surveys and reports will be communicated to the Parish community regularly through the Parish Bulletin, by letter, on the Parish Web site (when completed) or by any other means, as required.

REVIEW OF GUIDELINES

The Guidelines will be reviewed as required.