PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL
The Good Shepherd Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) is a consultative, advisory body to the Pastor and the parish. The Pastor appoints members of the council for three-year terms after a discernment process and interviews of those who apply.
The Parish Pastoral Council has a very different purpose than the parish councils that coordinated and guided parish activities so well for many decades. Put into place as part of our parish Re-Visioning effort and based upon more recent guidance from our Church, the role of the PPC is to formulate long-range plans and set goals that enrich the spiritual and communal life of Good Shepherd parishioners. Earlier parish councils, which many may recall from the past, assisted the Pastor in coordinating and managing the day-to-day activities of the parish ministries and committees. The PPC is charged with discerning and guiding a deliberate and consistent strategic path for the parish.
The purpose of the Parish Pastoral Council is threefold:
- Lead the process of setting long range parish plans and goals is a shared partnership with the Pastor, clergy, parishioners, Finance Council and the Pastoral and Administrative Teams
- Establish an ongoing system of evaluation that charts how well the parish is achieving its goals
- Serve as a consultative resource to the pastor, clergy, parish ministries, committees and the Pastoral and Administrative Teams, as each group charts its own unique path of focused plans, goals and activities centered on living Good Shepherd’s vision and mission.
Good Shepherd’s vision and mission statements are the central focus of planning and evaluation activities. Pastoral planning and evaluation use principles and tools from leadership and the management sciences. To these principles, Good Shepherd’s PPC members add prayerful discernment, reflection on Gospel values, and attentiveness to parish and Church history, tradition and The Codes of Canon Law--all integrated with the expressed needs of today’s parishioners, the local community and the Church.
The Parish Pastoral Plan (PPP) guides the parish toward the vision. The PPP was developed in conjunction with parishioners sharing the Ideas, Hopes and Dreams. This process included seven listening sessions and other opportunities for parishioners to be part of and support the development of the plan. This plan set a path forward to help Good Shepherd parishioners discern their God-given gifts and talents and use them to help the parish achieve the vision as well as spiritually enrich their own faith life.
The PPP is based on input from a large number of parishioners, and is compiled into a plan with desired parish Outcomes, Goals, Objectives and suggested Actions. The PPP also provides for Advocates to help ensure that the parish, collectively, is addressing individual Objectives sufficiently.
The PPC has functional teams that are necessary to carry out the work of the council.
- The Parish Pastoral Plan (PPP) Implementation Facilitation Team oversees the parish-wide implementation of the PPP. This team advises committees and ministries as they develop annual plans ensuring alignment with the PPP.
- The Strategic Planning Team works to oversee any parishioner-led evaluation of parish programs that emerge during the PPP Implementation.
- The External Communications Team manages parish-wide messages from the PPC. This team coordinates receipt of parishioner concerns or questions and forwards them to the appropriate ministry or to the Shepherding Committee for resolution.
- The Council Formation Team plans and sustains programs of spiritual enrichment and team building for the PPC.
- The Recruitment Team works with the Pastor and Parish Administrator to maintain and carry out a coordinated PPC selection process. This team is responsible for effective orientation of new PPC members.
- The Coordinating Committee provides leadership and coordination of PPC work and is composed of the Pastor, Father Tom; other clergy as appropriate; the Parish Administrator, Claudia Fiebig; and the Council Chair, Ralph Tindal; Vice-Chair, Bob Faherty; and Council Secretary, Rick Denham.
PPC members look forward to engaging and communicating with you. Feel free to contact us at council@gs-cc.org or leave a message in the PPC box in the parish office.
Together we will create an environment that will support each parishioner’s need to fulfill his or her baptismal call to growth in faith by:
- Reflecting on Gospel values and Church teachings;
- Acknowledging the need to evangelize the parish community; and
- Empowering each parishioner to meet his or her full potential.