The Parish Assembly
Where there is no vision, the people suffer. (Prov 29:18)
| Preparation Time: | 8 - 12 weeks |
| Event Time: | 3 hours |
| Participants: | All members of Parish Pastoral Council have some involvement Pastor, Parish Staff Volunteer runners for event |
Pastoral planning is spiritual direction writ large. Every aspect of the pastoral planning process seeks to give direction to the parish to plan for the future. This is done with an underlying assumption that the Holy Spirit is at work in the midst of the community. The surest way to faithfully interpret the movement and desire of the Spirit for the community is to inquire into the feelings, hopes and concerns of the members of the community. A community also learns and grows by entering into a shared dialogue which focuses on mission and the vision of their future life together.
The Parish Pastoral Council is the leadership body in the parish that is charged with fostering this ongoing dialogue, creating the space for the conversation to take place, and distilling that dialogue into a concrete plan to bring that shared vision to life.
This is accomplished in two ways. By focusing the parish on the mission of the Church that we all share and by convening a conversation around that mission. In this way, the Parish Pastoral Council encourages the embodiment of both mission and communion in the life of the parish.
The following is a suggested process to conduct a parish-wide assembly for the purpose of pastoral planning. This assembly should be convened after a period of publicity and education around the mission of the parish and could be the culminating event after a one-to-one listening campaign.
For multi-lingual parishes:
The process explained here is designed for a single language parish. It is adaptable, though for multi-lingual parishes. In fact, it works quite well, but involves a bit more planning on the part of the Parish Pastoral Council. There are several options available for adaptation:
- The parish holds separate assemblies for each language group. In this case, PPC members from each language group facilitate the process and other PPC members provide hospitality.
- The parish holds one assembly, but designated tables where the conversation will occur in specific language. In this case, the large process will occur in one language.
- The parish holds concurrent assemblies in different languages.