Parish councils assuming new directions

By PAUL QUIRINI- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

The parish council at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Albany is on its way out. But parishioners shouldn't worry about who will lead them into the next millennium.

With the help of Sister Gail Rieth, RSM, parish council members are making a transition to a pastoral council that will be more concerned with the long-range vision of the parish and not simply the day-to-day activities of committees and ministries.

The change is more than just a case of semantics, according to Rev. Thomas Powers, pastor, who said: "Names are important. What you call something makes a difference. There is a difference between being 'parish' and being 'pastoral.'"

Evolution

In 1997, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard established guidelines for parishes to transform their parish councils into pastoral councils. Members of St. Teresa's pastoral council voted last October to begin the transformation. Parish staff members didn't attend the meeting because they wanted parish council members to decide for themselves if this was the right move, according to William Toomey, a parish council member.

"The representatives of the parish would be the ones who decided if it was something we should explore. There was a consensus that we should go forward," he said.

Since that meeting, the parish council has continued to function, but each meeting also has been devoted to trying to understand what a pastoral council is about. Sister Gail has attended some of the parish council's monthly meetings, and "her presence has given support and impetus to people acting in a different way on the parish council," Mr. Toomey said. "The parish council, in its actions, has become more deliberative and more questioning than it was."

Making the change

Sister Gail has noticed that parish council members seem ready to change over to a pastoral council.

"I sense an eagerness to move into the change and see what it means, what it's going to bring, how it's going to be different and better. There's certainly a concern for the parish as a whole and what's best for them," she said.

An example of how parish councils differ from pastoral councils is the way in which each might deal with accessibility to persons with disabilities in the parish, Mr. Toomey said.

A parish council would make the church and parish social center more accessible to such persons, but "a pastoral council would be dealing with how we, as a praying community, treat all handicapped people, and what to do to assist them with becoming fully participative in the parish," he said.

Martha and Mary

Parish council members will go on retreat next month with Sister Gail to develop a mission statement as well as goals and objectives that the pastoral council will follow.

She will use the story of Martha and Mary to illustrate the difference between a parish council and a pastoral council.

"Most parish councils tend to be Marthas; they look at the tasks that need to be done, and they do the tasks. The shift is to Mary, who sees the tasks that need to be done and is willing to do them but sees a bigger picture," she said.

Mission

Father Powers said one of the most important tasks facing the parish council will be coming up with the mission statement by which the pastoral council will act.

"A mission statement is not always easy to come by, because you have to become expert in something we're very, very weak in as Church: consensus," he said. "You care for the other person's point of view and say, 'How can I join that point of view and maintain my own values?'"

Mr. Toomey, who has been involved with St. Teresa's since 1941, was a member of the steering committee that started its parish council about 20 years ago. The transformation to a pastoral council is a natural progression in Church leadership that takes into account more than just the day-to-day operations of the parish, he said.

"You have to have the visionary aspect of the parish. Before, it was the bishop telling the pastor what to do, and the pastor telling the trustees to sign their name here," he said. Now, "each individual has to come to an understanding of what the Church is."

(04-08-99) [[In-content Ad]]