Making Parish Councils Pastoral

by Fischer, Mark F.

• ISBN13: 9780809146765
• ISBN10: 0809146762
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-01-31
• Publisher: Paulist Pr

Summary

Catholic parish councils can become more pastoral by embracing the Church¿s vision, namely, that pastoral councils serve the apostolate of pastor by cooperating with him in planning.

Author Biography

Mark F. Fischer is professor of theology at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, California. He has published two books about pastoral councils, has coedited a third, and has written numerous articles on this topic.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Divergent Voices	p. 2
The Pastoral Viewpoint	p. 3
How My Understanding Has Changed	p. 4
The Purpose of this Book	p. 6
Introduction to Pastoral Councils and Pretest	p. 11
Pretest	p. 11
The Apostolate of Pastors	p. 12
The Matter of Pastoral Councils	p. 13
Councillor Selection	p. 14
The Purpose of Councils	p. 15
Councillors as Consultants	p. 16
The Two Parts of This Book	p. 17
What Councils Do	p. 20
St. Mary's First Council	p. 21
The Relevance of Social Justice	p. 22
The Second Council's Assignment	p. 24
The Council's Findings	p. 25
What the Council Did	p. 27
Councils and Committees	p. 30
Genesis of the Africa Committee	p. 30
The Committee's First Meeting	p. 32
What the Committee Did	p. 33
An Unexpected Shift	p. 34
Father Mike's Response	p. 36
Pastoral Councils and Parish Committees	p. 37
Pastoral Council and Parish Staff	p. 41
The Multipurpose Building	p. 42
The Role of the Council	p. 43
Planning by Experts	p. 44
Planning by Councils	p. 45
Seven Rules for Pastoral Planning by Councils	p. 47
Pastoral and Finance Council	p. 49
The Preliminary Reports	p. 50
Differences Regarding the Two Councils	p. 51
Official Teaching	p. 53
The Correct Starting Point	p. 55
An Aristotelian Solution	p. 56
Types of Knowledge	p. 56
The Method of the Two Councils	p. 57
The Gifts of Councillors	p. 58
Resolving the Problem at St. Philip's Church	p. 59
Selecting Pastoral Council Members	p. 64
The Criterion for Selection	p. 65
The Representative Character of Councillors	p. 67
The Method of Selecting Councillors	p. 68
A Discerning Election	p. 70
Pastoral Council Spirituality	p. 73
Council Spirituality	p. 75
Encountering Christ in the Community	p. 76
Making the Church's Intention Our Own	p. 78
The Coordination of Charisms	p. 80
Sharing in the Pastor's Spirituality	p. 82
How ôPastoralö Are Councils?	p. 87
Are Pastoral Councils Truly Pastoral?	p. 88
Planning and Implementing?	p. 90
Reviewing the Actual Experience	p. 91
Origins of the Pastoral Council	p. 99
How This Concept Developed	p. 99
Need to Note the Difference	p. 101
Representation	p. 103
Understanding the Role of Pastoral Councils	p. 104
What Pastoral Means	p. 109
The 1973 Circular Letter	p. 110
Popular Misconceptions	p. 111
Between Vatican II and the 1983 Code	p. 114
Canon 536 and Pastoral Activity	p. 119
Obscurities of the Canon	p. 120
Explaining Canon 536	p. 121
Selectivity and Innovation	p. 122
Canon 536 and Vatican II	p. 124
The Uneven Documents from 1987 to 2001	p. 127
Christifideles laici	p. 129
Ecclesiae de mysterio and Ecclesia in Asia	p. 131
Novo millennio	p. 133
The Precise Definition Holds	p. 134
The Documents of 2002 and 2004	p. 137
The 2002 Instruction	p. 137
The 2004 Directory	p. 140
Consequences for Pastoral Councils	p. 143
How to Make a Council More Pastoral	p. 149
A Pastoral Council Foundation Document	p. 150
Introduction	p. 150
Purpose	p. 151
Scope	p. 152
Criteria for Membership	p. 152
Selection of Members	p. 153
Officers	p. 154
Operation	p. 154
Agenda	p. 155
Relation to the Staff and Finance Council	p. 155
Meetings	p. 156
Consultation as the Church Sees It	p. 157
Appendix	p. 159
Notes Index	p. 163
Bibliography	p. 169
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