Bishop Issues New Norms for Parish Pastoral Councils

Bishop Peter has issued new norms regulating parish pastoral councils in the diocese.

Parish pastoral councils are consultative structures which enable the parish priest to draw on the collective wisdom of the parish to help him make decisions.

This helps to cement the principle of synodality into the decision-making process of the Church at the local level. The Church invites its pastors to truly hear the experiences of the faithful in setting pastoral policies, moving forward together to fulfil the Church’s functions: to preach the Word of God, to worship Him, and to undertake the service of charity.

Diocesan bishops are able in canon law to regulate parish pastoral councils in his diocese, applying universal norms to a local setting. Bishop Peter decided that the previous norms from around 20 years ago were in need of updating, especially considering the development of the Church’s understanding of consultation processes.

In keeping with what the wider Church expects of parish pastoral councils, key points in the new norms include:

• Each parish priest is required to establish an effective parish pastoral council
• All existing parish pastoral council statutes, constitutions or standing orders are to be re-issued by the parish priest according to the new regulations
• Members are to be appointed by the parish priest after he consults the parish in a way that is locally appropriate
• Parish pastoral councils are to have between 6 and 12 members
• The parish priest convenes meetings (ideally, quarterly), presides and should always be present to hear the counsel of the members
• Meetings are to focus on key pastoral issues, and not normally be a forum to receive parish group reports
• When there is a vacancy between parish priests, the parish pastoral council falls into abeyance; a new parish priest reviews the membership of the parish pastoral council he establishes after he arrives
• In between parish priests, if it is an extended period, the vicar forane (dean) liaises according to the local situation, to make sure that there is a “working group” to make sure things are still running properly in the parish

These new norms are available here.

Parish priests should now proceed to promulgate new constitutions, statutes or standing orders for their parish pastoral councils.

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