Parish
Pastoral Council
Open
meeting in St. Thomas the Apostle Church on Monday January
31st 2005 at 8 p.m.
What's happening?
As part of the diocesan
renewal programme 'Working
Together for Mission', our parish of St. Thomas the Apostle is working
to renew
our Parish Pastoral Council by the first Sunday of Lent February
13, 2005.
What is the role of the Parish Pastoral Council?
The P.P.C.
will bring together priests, staff and lay people of the parish
- in all about 10-15 members. Guided by the Parish
Priest,
they will work closely together to build up a parish community
marked by faith, mission, worship and service. They will focus
especially on:
- Faith formation,
especially for the young.
- Sacramental,
liturgical and prayer life in the parish.
- Enabling
lay people to carry out their vocation of shaping society according
to the Gospel.
- Social
justice and caring for those in need especially the New Irish.
- Openness
and dialogue within the parish and in the wider community.
How will
Council members be selected?
The process
for selecting additional members for the Council will have
two stages:
- Parishioners
are asked to prayerfully nominate possible members.
- The members
of the P.P.C. will be selected from among those nominated,
through a process of consultation
and discernment.
Who can
be nominated?
Members
of the Council must be baptised Catholics who are involved
in the life and worship of the
parish, and who
are willing
to make the necessary commitment.
What commitment is involved?
The P.P.C.
will meet about once a month or 9/10 times a year. Members
must be able to
attend
at least half
of the
meetings
over the year.
They are asked to, make a provisional commitment
until June 2007.
How do I
nominate someone?
To nominate
someone for membership of the Parish Pastoral Council, fill
in the form on the flyer
sent to all homes (or you can print it out in pdf or html format
from here). You can nominate yourself or someone else. If you
want
to nominate
a person
other
than yourself, please ask them first.
Please return the nomination form to the Parish
Office on or before
Monday,
January 31st
2005.
It is hoped
that the membership of the Council will be decided by early
February
to allow
for an initial
meeting
in February/March.
Please consider
seriously whether you or someone you know has something to
offer.
Pray for the success of this important
new beginning in the life of our
community.
You will
find Father John Hassett's presentation about Parish Pastoral
Councils at Mass
next Sunday (January
30) a help.
Don't
forget there will be an open meeting in St. Thomas the Apostle
Church
on Monday January 31st 2005
at 8 p.m.
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