Submitted by Alexina Murphy, Victoria

The 2023 Synthesis Report encourages more involvement of the laity and the entire community in discernment and decision making within their own community.

To further explore this topic, this was a panel presentation on just three of the ways for the laity to participate in the decision-making in their community and sharing best practices where this is already being implemented. Use your imagination to envision other countless ministries that could be developed as ways to serve the needs of the community. This panel presentation was facilitated by Dr. Luca Badini Confalonieri, director of research at the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. This is a part of a series of online international presentations being hosted by global reform leaders.

Diocesan and Parish Councils with a Deliberative Voice in Decision-making

This was presented by Sister Donna Ciangio, Chancellor in the Newark Archdiocese under Cardinal Joseph Tobin. Her PowerPoint presentation can be seen here:
https://files.constantcontact.com/3c969256301/0b71df7d-bf43-42a1-ad3c-8dd16d5c666c.pdf. It is recommended that networks of Parish Pastoral Councils be established at the level of small and base Christian communities, parishes and deaneries, right up to the diocesan pastoral Council. As a model of consultation and listening, it is proposed that Church assemblies be held at all levels, trying to widen consultation to include ecumenically the contribution of other Churches and ecclesial Communities. This might include other religions present in the local context and of society with which the Christian community journeys.

Dioscian Council

Using the Archdiocese of Newark New Jersey as an example, its goal is to be a Synodal Church where all listen, learn, share vision and mission, and make the Gospel real in peoples’ lives. The Archdiocesan Pastoral Council is an advisory body to the archbishop comprised of lay persons, priests, deacons and religious, representing the four counties of the archdiocese and the diversity of its people. Members of the Council have opportunities to listen to what the people of the archdiocese are saying and represent that to the archbishop. The Council, together with the archbishop, investigates, considers, and proposes practical conclusions about things which pertain to pastoral works in the diocese. This is done in a spirit of prayer, study, reflection, consultation, collaboration, and discernment. The council serves as an advisory group for the archbishop as members listen to the people and make suggestions that support and carry out the missionary activity of the vision, plans, and programs of the archdiocese, and to assess needs, determine priorities, and suggest new ministries or programs as needed.

Parish Pastoral Council

The role of the members is to lead the parish in the discernment and expression of its mission by creating and enhancing its vision and mission. Carrying out its mission for the clergy and people to walk together (synodality), the main mission of councils is to support continuity, identify parish or diocesan successes and needs, and create the pastoral plan for how we communicate the Gospel and provide the environment for encounter with Christ.

The members are there to offer support to the pastor and to offer ideas that will move the parish forward. Their role is to listen to all people, to share back to the pastor the community’s joys, sorrows, griefs and anxieties, their ideas, successes, their need for change, and their expressions of prayer and relationship with Christ. Members assist in ways to build up the faith community that serves the larger community. This includes having a Welcoming, Hospitality and Outreach committee. Membership includes the pastor, staff member(s), 12 to 15 parishioners and a member of the finance committee to ensure that adequate resources are available for the ministries to function well.

If you are just beginning, candidates can be recommended to the pastor by staff and/or key lay leaders. Some parishes gather a team to choose and recommend candidates. Candidates are recommended by current council or others to the pastor during the spring meetings. At Mass or through the website, you can ask for nominations of possible members – those people see as leaders. PPC Members can suggest and discern nominations that should be from various age groups, ethnic, or language groups, etc. The pastor or chairperson ratifies and invites new members from the prioritized list.

The pastor and a representative of the finance committee are always on the committee, and possibly a staff member. Members serve for staggered three year periods (calendar years September 1 – August 31). The chairperson (one year term, renewable); the secretary (one year term, renewable); the timekeeper (rotating role). Meetings are held monthly along with half day meetings one or two times a year for in-depth planning and review. Decisions are made by consensus. The Council communicates to the parish through the parish bulletin, website, Facebook, and other ways selected by the Council. Ensure that parishioners know who the PPC and finance council members and receive a summary of PPC meetings. The Parish Pastoral Guidelines manual of the Archdiocese of Newark is designed to help parishes develop their councils to surface and guide the pastoral planning and ministry needs of the local area. (https://rcan.org/parish-pastoral-councils/#:~:text=The%20Parish%20Pastoral%20Guidelines%20manual%20of%20the%20Archdiocese,planning%20and%20ministry%20needs%20of%20the%20local%20area).

The free manual begins with an introduction from Cardinal Tobin on the importance of parish pastoral councils followed by six chapters: Articles of Understanding, Leading Meetings Effectively, Exploring a Consultative Model, The Consensus Process, Resolving Conflicts, and Decision Making: A Way Forward.

The Appendix contains prayers and sample agenda to help plan meetings. These guidelines are designed so that the contents can be updated and revised on an ongoing basis.

We have begun to genuinely join our voices together behaving as a synodal Church. Let us now stay abreast of what is happening with each stage of the Synod from now through 2024 and beyond. The real work of becoming a synodal Church is still ahead of us. It is crucial that we stay involved in the process. We will keep you informed and continue to gather online as a community.

On behalf of the CCRI steering committee,
Rene Reid, CCRI director