The Pastoral Council at Saint Catherine of Siena Parish
Pastoral Councils – Why and What?

The concept of pastoral councils was a topic of the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. It is in this document "Suggestions for Pastoral Councils" we find the following definitions:

• Pastoral Council: A consultative structure in a parish designed primarily to envision, plan and oversee the mission of the parish community as an extension of the mission of Jesus.
• Pastoral Planning: The process, which turns the parish vision into reality within a particular span of time, through a systematic, cyclical design, involving the mission statement, long-range goals, and annual objectives.
  

As a part of the Diocesan Strategic Plan, all parishes were encouraged to form pastoral councils that would assist the parish clergy in conducting parish life. This was a change from the earlier model that used the Parish Council format. Parish Councils were generally charged with managing the maintenance of the parish plant, fund raising and social activities.

While the above definitions are generally addressing these councils at the diocesan level, in a June 2006 letter from Bishop Allen H. Vigneron he states "As my predecessors have mandated and encouraged pastoral councils, I also wish to express my desire that every parish not only have a council, it is my particular expectation that these councils promote pastoral planning." At the end of 1999, our original Pastoral Council was formed and on January 23, 2000, they were commissioned at the 10:30 AM liturgy. A panel of nine (9) appointed parishioners, they were to function as an advisory board to provide long-range pastoral planning for the parish. As a Pastoral Council, we have had ongoing efforts to identify our strengths and shortcomings. One of the early efforts in October of 2001 was to conduct a series of focus meetings. They were designed to gather input from the parish community as to the areas that could be improved. The suggestions ranged from a more robust youth program, ongoing adult education programs, a variety prayer services or groups, more emphasis on welcoming new parishioners and additional social events to encourage fellowship. In September of 2003, a second retreat was held to re-evaluate the previous effort One of the tools developed by the diocese was a program called "Ten Essentials of Parish Life." The following chart reflects the areas that captured much of Jesus' mission and the hopes and dreams of the Diocese of Oakland. As you can see, it touches on all aspects of building the "Kingdom of God on earth." Efforts have been made to have all the parish programs fall within one or more of these essentials.

The third effort was the Town Hall meetings conducted during 2007 (Summary St. Catherine Town Hall Meetings 2007.)

Early in 2008, the Pastoral Council held a series of workshops with the help of Mary Fair, a diocesan facilitator and resource specialist for pastoral councils. Using the findings of the town hall meetings (2007) and these workshops, we started working on several of those items.

A major advance was made with the arrival of Father Leo early in 2008. He stated that he was going to essentially be an observer for the first year of his assignment. In the fall of 2008 he attended the first session of the "New Pastor's Workshop." Upon his return, his focus was on integrating the "Ten Essentials for Parish Life" in our parish – A Five Year Plan. The council discussed at length, while addressing the areas that could be improved, why did not we take advantage of the things we do well. In order to build a structure that we could use, the council decided to categorize each of the findings of the town hall meetings to one of the Ten Essentials of Parish Life.

Many ideas have surfaced from the work of the council, some of which have been implemented and others waiting in the wings. The creation of a Parish Handbook to acquaint newly registered parishioners to the parish and the building of a web site as a communication tool.

This brings us to the purpose of this meeting and a second one on September 15, 2010 and that is to present the culmination of all these efforts into our Five Year Plan.

> Parish Five year Plan 2010

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