The parish council empowers people

Catholic New Times, June 20, 2004 by Barry McGrory

We see the mutual interdependence emphasized by the Council, all within a communion that reflects the love within the Trinity. That would lead one to expect the Code would ringingly affirm councils. Instead, a different hand took over. It is true that different sections of the code were written by different committees. For example, Canon 536 specified that councils may be established by the local bishop after he has consulted with his priests.

They are to be consultative only; Cardinal Bernardin's request that the "only" be dropped was denied. Canon 537 directs that each parish must have a finance committee of the faithful, reflecting the traditional practice of the church. These two canons, squeezed between those on church records and what happens when a pastor leaves, are the only two of 1752 canons to speak of parish councils. Their tone is defensive and controlling. And yet it is only here, in parish pastoral councils, that most Catholics will ever have an opportunity to share in church governance.

Consultation less threatening to pastors

On the other hand, leaving the councils' constitution up to local bishops means that dioceses have the freedom to develop their own traditions, and they have done so. Their very optionality may make them more acceptable and real. Their consultative nature may be less threatening to pastors, and it is difficult to deny a council's unanimous decision. Of course, any parish may decide to have a pastoral council, and finance councils are obligatory.

What a long way we have come! The 1917 Code saw parishes as mere benefices or endowments in a feudal way. Now the Code defines the parish as a community of Christ's faithful that continues Jesus' mission. The councils have been a great success. Pastors find their power multiplied, not curtailed, by them. If the church is not a democracy, even less is it to be an autocracy.

Which style is closer to that of the Crucified Foot-Washer?

The most important factor for parish vitality is the encouragement given to lay involvement. Surprisingly that factor surpasses even well-executed liturgies. By the 1980s, the famous Notre Dame study on parishes found 75 per cent had established councils. A U.S. Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops survey, just completed this Spring, revealed that among the responding 112 of 195 U.S. dioceses and eparchies, a whopping 85 per cent of parishes have pastoral councils--two-thirds of these are bishop-mandated. More than half have Diocesan Pastoral Councils.

As the clergy shortage worsens, and pastoral needs grow, pastoral planning will be more urgently needed. Some councils have matured into performing prayerful discernment of pastoral priorities, allowing priests to do what is priestly, and the laity to do what belongs to them.

The Vatican and CCCB websites had nothing on councils, but Mark F. Fischer, a Los Angeles seminary professor, is a fountain of wise information.

Barry McGrory is a priest living in Toronto.