pastoral council

As stewards of the St. Edna Parish Vision, the Pastoral Council acts in an advisory capacity to our Pastor, assists in prioritizing needs, and provides leadership.

About Our Council

The primary focus of our council includes:

• Researching the needs, the ideas and the hopes of the faith community
• Encouraging and supporting existing ministries
• Evaluating the quality of life of the faith community
• Planning for the parish’s future by recommending policies, procedures and programs that will implement its values and fulfill the church's mission
   

The Pastoral Council believes that God has given everyone the gifts of life, time, talent and treasure, and it is our responsibility to share these gifts according to God’s call. Drawing on the abundance Stewardship at St. Edna, we will help provide liturgies, expanded faith formation, and educational programs. 

The Council interacts with the other leadership groups in our parish such as the Office of the Pastor, Parish Pastoral Staff, Finance Council, and the Stewardship Council. We will be working very closely with our four commissions: Faith Formation, Worship, Parish Life and Human Concerns and their ministries. The Council supports and encourages them to fulfill their mission of providing for a deeper and closer relationship with Jesus Christ. We wish to work to bring this peace and love of Christ to those who currently do not experience it.

In short, we act in an advisory capacity to our pastor, assist in prioritizing parish needs and provide parish leadership. The Pastoral Council recognizes the diversity of our parish and strives to represent that diversity in our council. The ability to listen is an important quality and our decisions are reached by discussion and coming to a consensus.

Please click here for biographical information about each of the members of the Pastoral Council.

What is a Parish Council ?

Greetings to all, fellow St. Edna parishioners! We are writing to you this day to explain what our Parish Pastoral Council is, talk about how we interact with the mission and activities within our parish, and ask you for something very important.

Let’s start with a bit of history and structure. Parish Pastoral Councils, or ‘PPCs’, began approximately 50 years ago, as a direct action of the Vatican II document titled “Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church.” Parishes were given a directive and a framework to form these councils. Today approximately 75% of U.S. parishes have an active PPC. We at St. Edna are especially blessed in that we’ve had a vibrant PPC for many years. Presently we have energetic St. Edna parishioners serving on the council – you can see who we are and read our biographies on the St . Edna web site.

So –what exactly do we do? Our mission statement provides a great explanation:

“As stewards of the St. Edna Parish Vision, the Parish Pastoral Council acts in an advisory capacity to our Pastor, assists in prioritizing needs, and provides leadership.”

More specifically, let’s talk about the four Roles & Responsibilities the PPC has developed, specific for the needs of our parish:

• Research the needs, ideas, and hopes of the faith community. Our PPC members attend regular Archdiocesan sponsored leadership events. We are also active in the many ministries, worship, and social events during the year. We are all good listeners and are curious & creative.
   
• Encourage and support existing ministries. A key responsibility for our PPC members is to act as communication liaisons with our four Commissions and their respective ministries. Our PPC members attend the Commission meetings and communicate issues and concerns between the PPC and the Commissions.
   
• Evaluate the quality of life of the faith community. All 15 of our members are volunteers from our parish. We actively worship with our community. We care about living life as Christ intends us all to do.
• Planning for the parish’s future by recommending policies, procedures and programs that will implement its values and fulfill the church’s mission. We are passionate about evangelizing Christ’s word to our entire community, especially so to our youth who will follow us. We take ownership for the improvement and long-term vitality of our parish.

So, now with all that said, let’s get to the final point - What does the PPC need from you? The answer is very simple and easy: We need to know what you think! Things like: What do you like about worshiping at St. Edna? What ideas do you have for improving what we do? What questions do you have about how our parish operates? Would you like to volunteer with one of our fantastic ministries? What can we do for you?

To encourage more active dialog, we will have at least one PPC member present after every mass on the 2nd weekend of every month. Please approach us – we have nametags to identify ourselves. We will be happy to meet you and have a discussion!

In closing, we the members of St. Edna’s PPC are honored to serve in this capacity for our wonderful parish, and we look forward to hearing from you.