Dear Friends:
Now that the pandemic is all but in the past, it is time to reconstitute the Parish Pastoral Council, an important body that serves to advise the pastor on the state of the parish and offer ideas on where the parish may improve its life and outreach. As pastor, I consider the Parish Pastoral Council to be of the utmost importance. It is my hope that the membership is taken from a cross-section of the parish, which now includes three combined former parish communities.
The By-Laws of the Precious Blood Parish Pastoral Council call for twelve members to be appointed by the pastor for three- year terms. At this point it seems advisable to have six members chosen by lot for a three-year term and the other six for a two-year term. This allows a healthy measure of turnover, which allows for new points of view and new ideas.
The Parish Pastoral Council meets five times each year: in September, November, January, March and May. Each meeting is topic-focused so as to avoid the tedium of reading committee reports. The September meeting focuses on social activities, the November meeting on the school and religious education, the January meeting on the liturgical and spiritual life of the parish, the March meeting on parish finances, and the May meeting on parish outreach activities. Of course, as issues arise they may be added to the agenda of any particular meeting. The meetings last for an hour, but if there is an important issue on the agenda, it could go for an hour and a half, but no more. This has yet to occur under the revised By -Laws of the Council.
If you are interested in serving on the Parish Pastoral Council, please let either myself, Fr. Lijo, Deacon John or Deacon Nick know and your name will be considered. It is the prerogative of the pastor to appoint members to the Council. I hope that there will be sufficient interest as we all hope that we can make this great parish, one with so much potential, even better. It is my hope to appoint members to the Council by the middle of May and to convene a brief meeting in June to have everyone meet, select officers, and do some basic housekeeping activities.
Looking forward, we will be needing twelve persons to volunteer for the foot-washing rite at the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper which will be celebrated April 7 at 7:30 at St. Agnes. Sign-up sheets are available in the sacristies.
Have a good week