A year ago last September I wrote to you all to tell you that I was intending to set up a Parish Pastoral Council. I want to tell you today that an interim or provisional Pastoral Council has now been meeting on a regular monthly basis for the past few months. As you receive this news three questions might come to your mind. What is a Parish Pastoral Council? Why have one, and why is ours a provisional or interim one?
What is a PPC? It’s a group of about 8-12 parishioners who meet with the PP about once a month. Its not a management committee or a board of directors or shareholders, nor is it concerned with the nitty gritty of finance or parish administration. It’s a gathering of parishioners who come together to ‘worry’ about the parish along with their parish priest. Maybe ‘worry’ is not quite the right word, because it may suggest we are in some form of crisis, but the meeting is an occasion for the priest do so some of the thinking, worrying and planning he might normally do on his own along with some representatives of the people who are ultimately affected by whatever he does.
Its an opportunity for the PP to sound out his parishioners, but at the same time it is an opportunity for them to sound him out. If the PPC is working well, the agenda will be set by both the priest and the group. Decisions will usually be arrived at by consensus, rather than being imposed from above. By the way, the PPC is not my brainchild. It has a standing in Canon Law, provided that the diocesan bishop wishes one to be established, and Cardinal Cormac is encouraging their formation in this diocese.
Why have a PPC? When I was in primary school, there were at least 4 priests working in my parish. The priests would visit every household at least once a year. No appointments were made. The priest either just turned up or he announced on Sunday which roads he would visit the next week. This system of visiting was a good way for the priest to get to know his people, and vice-versa. Also it was a good way for priests to get to know the needs of their people and their feeling on different matters. There were also different organisations that parishioners could join to support one another – and those in need – organisations like the Union of Catholic Mothers, the Knights of St Columba, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Legion of Mary, to name but a few. There would be larger parish events too, Dances, pilgrimages and the like.
Over the years many of these once traditional forms of parish life have died a death. When I came to this parish, there were no such groups or organisations apart from the choir. Our Catholic communities are less close knit than they were, but we still need communication, support and a sense of community. We need to find parish structures and groupings that are appropriate to our own time – when communities are weaker, individuals more diverse and time more scarce.
Despite all our technology, communication is much more difficult today. It is not easy for me as your parish priest to consult you. When I asked for feedback about the gospel sharing groups three weeks ago about only half the adults responded, so in the case of those who didn’t reply, I am completely in the dark as to what you were thinking. Communication has to be two way or the parish priest ends up talking to himself, and the parishioners end up talking to one another about what the parish has said without including him in the conversation. The result, not a mature Christian community but a dysfunctional family! However, a PPC that works well can be a very effective means not only to help the priest do his work better but to enable all the members of the parish feel involved and have a voice.
Why do I call it an interim, or provisional Pastoral Council?
Parish councils are not new, but in many parishes such groups flourished for a short time and then fell into abeyance. In many cases they floundered either because the PP called all the shots and used the PPC to rubber stamp his own decisions, or because the parishioner members called the shots and acted like little directors, often antagonising other parishioners in the process. There was often a lack of understanding too with regard to the distinctive role of the Bishop, the Parish Priest and the members of the council.
If we are to have a PPC, we need to get it started on a firm footing. Being a member of a Parish Pastoral Council is first and foremost and act of service where we are all learning to put the good of the parish first and not allow our own hobbyhorses and interests to get in the way of the common good. It is important that the Council builds up a spirit of trust, and that it gets used to praying together and reflecting on the gospel, because the master of the Council is not the PP but Jesus Christ. It is his work ultimately that we are trying to do. It is his will we are trying to discern.
Over the next few months we have to work out some very practical matters, such as who is going to be a member of the Council – should it be elected or appointed – how long should an individual serve on it? How will it consult the parish, and be a genuine vehicle of communication within the parish? Once all these things are worked out, we should be able to set up a body with clear terms of reference that is starting out with some experience.
In the meantime we have been attending to some practical matters, such as the setting up of our new initiative, Faith coming Alive and our groups who are reflecting on the Sunday gospel. You may recall too that a couple of weeks ago I spoke about times of Masses at Christmas. That was something I spoke about first with the interim PPC. At our meeting last week we also referred to the national debate about Faith Schools.
There are 2 other matters in particular that I have asked for the Council’s help. One is our new parish premises. You have asked to have it and have agreed to pay for it. I am asking the PPC to consult you on how to make best use of it. The other is about the possibility of an open day next Summer, when we open our doors and invite in the wider community of Teddington to come and see us – who we are, what we do, what we stand for. Many parishes in the diocese did something similar last year with the encouragement of Archbishop Cormac. I hope that with the leadership of the PPC we may be able to organise a series of events which will not only open the eyes of our neighbours but also be stimulating and enjoyable for ourselves.
Last week I listended to an interview with a journalist from Iraq. He was saying how it was relatively easy to take Sadam out of circulation, but much more difficult to take Sadam’s mindset out of the heads of the people. Sadam had gone, but violence fear and intimidation was alive and well.
Parish Pastoral Councils are part of a new mindset for a new situation, but they will only work if we adapt our mindsets too. Part of the new mindset is for all us to have a sense that we are all involved in the Christian Community and we are all involved, priest and people together, in the work of the Church. I hope that you will give us your trust and support as we develop this new form of leadership. In the end Christ only has you and I to do his work, and we cannot do that work if we behave like lone rangers.
