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Parish Pastoral Council Following on from this the Council is planning an ‘open day’ for all groups contributing to the life of the Parish. With this in mind Sunday 25th March is set aside for all the members of the different ministries to come, to promote and to share what they do and to provide an occasion for new members to join. I wish to advise that Dolores Kennedy was elected Chairperson, Linda Murphy as Vice Chairperson and Joan Sutton as Secretary. Fr. Moore is President of the Parish Council. We ask your continued prayer and support in the months ahead. Joan Sutton, Dolores Kennedy, Fr. Brian Moore, C.M. The following is the Prayer of Commitment made by the members of St. Peter’s Parish Pastoral Council at their inauguration on the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul, Wednesday 27th September 2006.
Prayer of Commitment
promise to listen to and honour the life of this Vincentian parish community. We will strive to direct, develop and to serve the needs of the people who come to worship here. This we will do, sharing in the philosophy and spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, whose life’s work was based on a true respect for human dignity and a profound awareness of his own poverty. We will endeavour to promote works of justice, mission, catechesis and evangelization which find a home here. We will encourage and support the structures which have made this parish a place where the elderly, the young, the broken and the pilgrim find safety and a spiritual home. We will seek to develop a liturgical and spiritual vision in harmony with that of the Second Vatican Council which will serve the growing needs of our community and lead it into the future. We will seek to include others of all faiths, all nationalities, all spiritualities, to respect difference and to promote unity. We understand our need to deepen and nourish our own faith journey and, from a true sense of prayer, communicate the values of the Gospels in all our work. We will honour this Church as a sacred and beautiful place of devotion, spirituality and prayer both now and as far into the future as our days will be. We remember that we now walk in the footsteps of those worshipping communities who came before us and accept the challenge which they too faced in proclaiming the Scriptures, in gathering in holy sacrament and sacred song and in sharing the bread of life which sustained them and around which we now gather. Above all things, we serve to know God, to love God and to do all things to enable others to know the love of the God in whom all things were made. The God of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
The Good News from God is proclaimed daily in our Parish. It is a word that reveals God’s love for us, a word that seeks a home in us both individually and collectively. During this Lenten season it is a transforming word leading us into the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This year we want to welcome this Good News collectively through the formation of a Parish Pastoral Council in St. Peter’s Parish.
Parish Pastoral Councils are at the service of the local community working together for mission showing how the Christian faith is the response to the problems and hopes of contemporary society. In particular the Council should facilitate the co-ordination of parish services regarding Proclaiming the Word and forming a faith community. Fostering the sacramental, liturgical and prayer life of the Parish. Supporting marriage and family life. Enabling the baptised to carry out their Gospel calling. Encouraging and developing a community of social justice and care. Encourage leadership to younger people. Look to new members of their communities and ensure that people of different nationalities and culture find their place in the liturgy and parish life. Address the particular social challenges of the parish.
In order to carry out this mission, Parish Pastoral Councils should see their task in terms of : Discerning the needs of the parish community and involve the whole parish in response to these needs.
Enabling the baptised to discover their call as Disciples of Christ by discerning the gifts of the parishioners and developing these gifts through ongoing formation.
Providing structures that will allow the gifts and resources of parishioners respond to the needs of the parish.
Ensuring that effective dialogue takes place both within the parish and the diocese.
Reviewing present activities so that parishioners can embrace their call to mission in the Church.
Archbishop Martin sees the changing society of the Archdiocese of Dublin being served through the development of Parish Pastoral Councils and Adult Faith Formation programmes. I ask you for an openness and generous response to the process of setting up our Parish Pastoral Council to fulfil the demand in the Gospel of to-day. “Repent and believe the Good News.” Fr. Brian Moore, C.M.
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Copyright © 2004 St. Peter's Phibsboro, Dublin 7. |