St. Francis - St. Maximilian Parish at 62811 New Haven Road, Ray, MI 48096 US - Parish Council Guidelines

 

We at St. Francis of Assisi - St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish are a loving, diverse, bi-lingual, Catholic Christian, missionary community. We are growing in our relationship with God to become more Christ-like by spreading the love, healing, forgiveness, and justice of the Gospel through meaningful and uplifting liturgy, life-long formation, faithful stewardship, joyful fellowship, and compassionate service to our members and the larger community beyond our boundaries.

 

 

There is hereby established one central Parish organization representing all of the people of St. Francis - St. Maximilian Parish, known as the St. Francis-St. Maximilian Parish Pastoral Council.

 

 

 

Membership of the Council shall consist of the following:

 

 

 

 

The purpose of the Parish Pastoral Council is to provide a collaborative structure that will assist the Pastor in accomplishing the following:

1.      Enable the people of this community of God to reveal their needs, express their opinions and implement their decisions.

2.      Enable the laity, in accordance with the directions of the Second Vatican Council, to express their dignity and responsibility in the formation of Christian objectives.

3.      Enable all within this Community of God to enter into frequent and meaningful dialogue with each other in order that community objectives may be brought to successful fruition for the ultimate good of the parish family.

4.      Guide the parish community to the fulfillment of the Mission Statement.

 

 

The responsibilities of the Parish Pastoral Council are as follows:

1.      Receive reports from each Commission and act on any reports when necessary.

2.      Review the procedures and activities of the Commissions and be responsible for seeing that each is fulfilling its assigned area of responsibility.

3.      Keep the Parish informed of all plans and activities, using the most appropriate means available.

4.      Provide overall direction and vision for the parish community.

5.      Set broad parish goals such as:

a.       Approval and final adoption of all budgets.

b.      Plans or programs requiring the expenditure of sums in excess of $500 unless included in a previously approved budget.

c.       Proposals involving construction of parish buildings, additions, or major alterations.

d.      Parish Fund raising drives.

e.       Any further matter which the Parish Pastoral Council may from time to time designate as a broad Parish Goal.

 

 

The duties of the members of the Parish Pastoral Council are as follows:

1.      Attendance at all meetings of the council is required.

a.       Any member absent from two consecutive meetings without good cause and without prior notification to the Chairperson of the Council may be immediately dropped from the roles by a vote of the majority of the Council.

2.      The members of the Parish Pastoral Council shall elect from their lay members: a Chairperson, A Vice-Chairperson, and a Secretary of the Council. Election may take place in a variety of ways- acclamation by Council, lottery, or voting. Method of election will be determined by the council. A vice chairperson will be selected from the two members completing their first year of participation. This person will serve as vice chairperson during their second year of participation and become Chairperson during their third year of participation.

 

The duties of the elected officers will be as follows:

 

The Chairperson shall:

1.      Preside at all meetings of the Parish Pastoral Council.

2.      Call the Parish Pastoral Council into session.

3.      Be responsible for all activities of the Parish Pastoral Council.

4.      Be an ex-officio member of all commissions.

5.      Appoint such special procedural committees as deemed necessary.

6.      Make reservations for all meetings of the Parish Pastoral Council.

7.      Develop an Agenda for each meeting and transmit to the secretary for advance distribution.

8.      Be responsible for the advance notification of Council meetings, and any special meeting, and the arrangements for any guest attendees based on the needs of the agenda.

 

The Vice-Chairperson shall:

1.      Perform duties of the Chairperson in their absence.

2.      Directly assist the Chairperson under their direction.

 

The Secretary shall:

1.      Keep accurate minutes of all Parish Pastoral Council meetings.

2.      Maintain an official list of officers of the Parish Pastoral Council, council members, and commission chairpersons.

3.      Keep a current attendance record of all Parish Pastoral Council members.

4.      Maintain a current copy of the Parish Pastoral Council guidelines reflecting all amendments.

 

The office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, and Secretary will hereafter be called the Executive Board.

 

 

 

 

1.      Nomination for membership in the Parish Pastoral Council shall take place on the first Sunday in June, depending upon other scheduled activities of the parish. All registered, active parishioners 18 years old and over are eligible to participate.

2.      New Parish Pastoral Council members will be selected by lottery from the list of all willing persons nominated. This lottery will be held at least two weeks after all voluntary nominations have been received and take place in the month of June.

3.      The Chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council shall appoint a committee that shall have the responsibility of preparing for and conducting the lottery.

4.      All volunteer nominees must be contacted one week prior to the lottery and confirm their willingness to participate before their names are listed and placed in the drawing. All nominees are expected to keep their names in an alternate pool for one year.

5.      The new members of the Parish Pastoral Council shall assume office at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the business year.

6.      If an active council representative-at-large is unable to fulfill their term, an interim replacement will be selected from the current candidate pool to serve out the remainder of that term.

 

 

Section 1

There are hereby established the following commissions:

1.      Stewardship: Their main responsibility is the development of an overall annual plan to promote faithful stewardship, encompassing Prayer, Time, Talent and Treasure. They also assist in the development of the annual budget and the monthly monitoring of that budget. They evaluate any needs for capital improvements and make recommendations to the Council on those proposals.

2.      Worship: In order to provide meaningful and uplifting liturgy to all, the worship commission plans and coordinates all liturgical celebrations. With our pastor, we strive to always offer an inspirational experience through music, properly trained liturgical ministers, various forms of prayer services and a warm and welcoming environment that will unite all and enhance each worship celebration.

3.      Education: We, the members of the Parish Education Commission, are committed to sharing the gospel and promoting the teaching mission of the Church. We strive to fulfill this commitment with respect for a wide range of learning styles and abilities, as well as the diversity of cultural backgrounds in our Parish community. As we develop, promote and evaluate programs that provide our community with life-long formation opportunities, we are reminded that all people are teachers, as well as learners; thus, we value inter-generational learning experiences.

4.      Christian Outreach: The Christian Outreach commission offers social interaction in conjunction with liturgies and prayer services as well as opportunities for joyful fellowship.

We also provide compassionate service to our members and the surrounding community by promoting outreach projects such as welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and visiting the sick.

 

Section 2

 

1.      The Pastor or his representative shall be a voting member of each commission.

2.      The Commissions will meet each month that the Council meets and hold individual additional meetings as needed.

3.      Each commission will publish minutes and submit them to the Council in time to include in the monthly council briefing packages.

4.      Each commission is authorized to establish such sub committees as they deem necessary.

5.      Each commission shall select from its members a chairperson and a representative to the Parish Pastoral Council. This may be the same person.

6.      The appropriate staff member will attend the commission meetings.

 

 

 

The Pastor must ratify all decisions of the council. He will not ratify when, in his opinion, church Law, the Theology of the Church, or known policy of the Pope or our Archbishop, or the overall spiritual welfare of the congregation is at stake.

 

The Guidelines may be amended by the Parish Pastoral Council by a vote of at least two thirds of the members of the Council provided such a motion to amend shall have been made at a meeting prior to the meeting at which such a vote shall be taken.

Copyright St. Francis-St Maxmilian Parish