Bishop Joseph F. Martino's Remarks on Parish Pastoral Councils
September, 2006

Following Benediction, a DVD of Bishop Martino was played for participants in the September Training Session for Parish Pastoral Councils. He stated his reasons for mandating Parish Pastoral Councils and outlined a plan for consultation in the Diocese of Scranton. First he established new directives for Parish Pastoral Councils. Now we are in the process of implementing the Directives for Uniform Parish Pastoral Councils. After developing or revising a parish mission statement based on the Diocesan Mission Statement and the needs and resources of a parish community, a disciplined parish self study will be directed by the Pastor and Parish Pastoral Council. The next step will be a Pastoral Council for every Vicariate or Pastoral Region and eventually a Diocesan Pastoral Council. These structures for consultation and collaboration will lead to the development of a diocesan pastoral plan. His text follows."  

May Jesus Christ Be Praised!

With these words I publicly accepted my appointment as your new Bishop in 2003. I said these words then because, like you, I have come to understand that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. I have also come to appreciate that Jesus has given us membership in His Church in order to evangelize, that is, to proclaim Jesus as the unique Savior of the world in a manner fitting for our times.

Though we all belong to the worldwide Church, we experience that membership in a concrete manner as part of a diocese. A diocese is made up of its parishes, and a diocese is only as healthy as its parishes are healthy. A healthy parish is one in which the Word of God is proclaimed boldly, where the Eucharist and the Sacraments are lovingly celebrated, and where every member visibly loves Jesus Christ and one's neighbor. Such healthy parishes are beacons of light. They lead the sinner, the suffering, the poor, and those yearning for authenticity to peace and life in Jesus Christ.

How can we achieve healthy parishes? How can we come to a complete spiritual and pastoral renewal of our parishes and Diocese as we progress through this new century and new millennium? We must, above all, drench ourselves in prayer. We have taken concrete steps in this regard by the renewal of our Sunday and daily Masses, through the restoration of the Forty Hours Devotion and other devotions. These efforts assist us to comprehend Jesus' love and presence in the Church. We have turned increasingly to the recitation of the Rosary and we have sought the intercession of our Blessed Mother, Mary, and the other Saints. In this intense environment of prayerfulness, we must then look at every one of our structures: our parishes, schools, institutions, buildings and programs. Are these entities the right ones for the 21st century? Are these entities currently prepared to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ as Jesus intends them to do?

Our spiritual and pastoral renewal cannot be an abstraction. It must have a concrete beginning and a tangible starting point. 

Since the parish is the basic life cell of a diocese, I have chosen to lead you in a complete renewal of parish life in the Diocese of Scranton. I intend to commence the renewal of our parishes by establishing in every parish a uniform Parish Pastoral Council. The Parish Pastoral Council will be the pastor's chief advisory group --- I repeat: ADVISORY group, NOT board of trustees --- in planning for the parish's renewed vigor in evangelizing all the people in the parish's area. There can be no authentic parish life unless it is missionary in its life. And the Parish Pastoral Council will help the parish's priests, deacons, religious men and women, and laity to live out the call to holiness and zeal for souls.

As you know, I have also reminded all pastors that each parish is required under the Church's Code of Canon Law to have a Parish Finance Council. The Parish Finance Council helps the pastor draw up the parish's annual budget and budgetary projections for coming years. The Finance Council will help pastor and parishioners to be truly realistic about the financial health of the parish.

Once Parish Pastoral Councils and Parish Finance Councils are in place, all parishes will begin a period of Parish Self-Study. The Parish Self-Study will not look backwards. Rather, through a carefully disciplined process involving everyone in the parish, each parish will obtain a snapshot of how well it is fulfilling --- or not fulfilling --- sufficiently its mission to announce the Good News in Word, Sacrament, and through a serving Community. Once each parish sees its strengths and weaknesses, its proud accomplishments and its inevitable deficiencies, it can come up with a Plan for Evangelization for the parish. The parish will also be equipped to plan with neighboring parishes to see if there is a better way to proclaim the Word of God through the neighborhood of parishes. Are joint efforts with neighboring parishes possible, for example, instead of overlapping separate efforts?

Once our pastoral planning is accomplished at the various grassroots levels, we will then begin to see the contours of a diocesan pastoral plan. The diocesan plan will take into consideration the rich diversity of our Diocese throughout its entire 11 counties: the areas of population growth and decline, the economic realities faced by our people, and the new immigrants who deserve a generous Scranton diocesan welcome. I also envision Vicariate and Diocesan Pastoral Councils of clergy, religious, and laity to provide good advice from the grassroots to make the Diocese of Scranton shine as one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic.

Thank you for joining us today. The Lord, who has begun this good work in us, will not fail to sustain us in His grace through the intercession of the Saints, especially our Mother Mary, Star of the New Evangelization and Help of all Christians. 

###