Pastoral Council

Pastor: Fr. Hyacinth Fornkwa
Marie Guerin (Chair)
Adam Hewitt
James Roche

The Pastoral Council meets officially  the third Thursday of every other month between September and June, and if necessary, meets in work sessions on the "off months." Meeting locations rotate between St. Martha's and St. Mary's Churches. The last meeting of the year is typically a joint meeting with the Finance Council.

NEXT MEETING: TBA 

  

The Pastoral Council has approved new three-year goals as required by the diocese, and based upon the Disciple Maker survey data and the discernment at a number of summer meetings by a subgroup of the council. The council will be planning ways to best communicate the plan to parishioners, as well as how to enlist the help of parishioners in its execution. Based on feedback from the diocesan Chancery, the Pastoral Council will be making some minor edits to the goals and will then post them. 

The newly adopted mission, vision, and values are:

MISSION: We inspire, serve, and support people to be true followers of Jesus Christ. 

VISION: Holy Spirit Parish is a welcoming, unified, and vibrant Christ-centered Catholic community. 

VALUES: 
UNITY: Our parish is one body in Christ.
FAITH: We nurture the seeds of faith that we received in Baptism. 
LOVE: We are warm and loving; Christ-like. We care, give, and share. 
ENGAGEMENT: Every parishioner finds opportunities to be engaged in the life of the parish. 
INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY: We seek unique solutions for the challenges that face us. We are not limited by what we've done before. 

In the Diocese of Portland, all parishes are required to have a Pastoral Council. The 1983 Code of Canon Law requires each Catholic parish to have a Finance Council, but not a Pastoral Council, which may be formed if the Bishop finds it "opportune." This language about Pastoral Councils is found in Canon Law:

Can. 536 §1. If the diocesan bishop judges it opportune after he has heard the presbyteral council, a pastoral council is to be established in each parish, over which the pastor presides and in which the Christian faithful, together with those who share in pastoral care by virtue of their office in the parish, assist in fostering pastoral activity.
§2. A pastoral council possesses a consultative vote only and is governed by the norms established by the diocesan bishop.

It is important to emphasize the word "consultative." The Council is not a governing body of the parish; rather, it is a discerning body presenting its best, prayerful thinking to the pastor. The pastor is free to accept or decline any advice or recommendations offered by the Council in keeping with the role of the pastor in Canon Law. 

Because the Council is consultative to a particular pastor, the council disbands "upon the transfer, retirement, resignation or death of the Pastor/Administrator...A new Pastor must constitute a new Council or elect to use the disbanded council as soon as possible, but at least within one year of taking office." (Holy Spirit Parish Pastoral Council by-laws, Article I, Section III.)

Also because the Council is consultative to a particular pastor, parishioners in our parish do not elect Pastoral Council members. The pastor is free to appoint members himself or use whatever process he should wish to use to fill the council's membership.

Article II of Pastoral Council By-Laws for Holy Spirit Parish explains the Council's purpose and function:

SECTION I: The Council's purpose and function is to assist the Pastor in pastoral Planning by investigating pastoral matters, pondering them, and proposing recommendations. The Council is a consultative body to the Pastor, and, as such, gathers together the visions, hopes, and needs of the community, reflecting on them until an consensus is reached. The Council translates this consensus into parish planning through the establishment of goals and objectives. With the Pastor's approval, the pastoral plan is implemented by the staff, commissions, and committees. The Pastoral Council then follows and evaluates the implementation of plan recommendations. Nothing shall prevent Council members from also serving on committees to implement aspects of the plan. 

SECTION II: The Council works collaboratively with the Finance Council, especially so in its review and approval of the annual budget prior to the start of the new fiscal year. This is significant because of the serious impact that the budget may have on the parish mission and accomplishment of approved goals, and to ensure the budget is sufficient to support both.