St. Bernard Pastoral Council
About the St. Bernard Pastoral Council:
Catholic pastors consult pastoral councils in order
to be better leaders. Bishops and priests ask their councillors to
investigate some aspect of the church, reflect on it, and recommend
their conclusions. In brief, the work of the pastoral council is
pastoral planning.
The church, as an ordered communion, needs a
structure that provides for the sharing of responsibility through
advisement, advocacy, and accomplishment.
Various Vatican II and post-conciliar documents
established norms and guidance about just such a structure that we have
come to know as pastoral councils.
Pastoral councils are to be consultative in nature,
a medium for communication, and models of cooperation and
collaboration. An important and perennial question facing every
diocesan and eparchial pastoral council is how to select members who
will advance the mission of the council and help to ensure its
effectiveness. Many factors account for council effectiveness, but
quality membership is among the most critical.
For more information on the St. Bernard Pastoral
Council, call (323) 255-6142.
