Blessed Sacrament Pastoral Council 2024/25
A parish depends upon effective pastoral leadership to successfully live out the Church’s mission and provide meaningful and relevant ministry. Effective parish leadership occurs when the pastor is co-responsible with the faithful. This is achieved through meaningful consultation with parish advisory councils in accord with Catholic teaching and canon law. To that end, the Blessed Sacrament Pastoral Council was formed by Fr. Brian in May, 2022 to supplement the existing Finance Council. The purpose of the Pastoral Council is to provide leader-ship to the life of the parish.
In selecting the members of the Pastoral Council, Fr. Brian chose parishioners with varied skill sets and interests so that they can help guide the implementation of the parish plan for the future. Members are chosen for 2-3 year terms. Previous members who resigned in 2024 in-cluded Ed Caldwell, Margaret Esposito and Dee Papp. Following is a brief summary of the cur-rent Pastoral Council members.May 16, 2021
As you have heard in previous communications, one of the purposes of the Pastoral Council was to review and update the mission of Blessed Sacrament Parish. The Council was provided direction to evolve our mission keeping the following ideal in mind:
To that end, the Pastor’s Advisory Council with Father Brian’s approval is excited to debut our new Blessed Sacrament Mission Statement.
“SUSTAINED BY THE EUCHARIST, WE WELCOME ALL TO WORSHIP, SERVE AND PROCLAIM.”
The Pastor’s Advisory Council will be using this mission to test the strategies and objectives being developed for our Parish Plan focus areas which include: Worship and Liturgy, Faith Formation, Engagement, and Parish Life, Stewardship of Resources, Parish Operations, and Communications.
Parish Plan Focus Areas
April 18, 2021
The Blessed Sacrament Pastoral Council (PC) was formed in October 2020 as a consultative body to the Pastor. The purpose of the council is to examine best practices and build upon the traditions established at Blessed Sacrament. PC's primary goals are to examine and focus on our mission statement and to develop a multi-year parish plan. The plan will be built on the specific focus areas of Liturgy and Worship, Faith Formation, Engagement and Parish Life, Stewardship of Resources, and Parish Operations and Communications. The PC is a diverse group of 10 parishioners with varied skills whose average parish membership at Blessed Sacrament is 11 years, ranging from 1-27. Here is a summary of each member to help you know a little more about them.
Parish Life & Planning for the Future in the Midst of COVID
It is now necessary to look more closely at the communion and participation of the lay faithful in parish life. In this regard all lay men and women are called to give greater attention to a particularly meaningful, stirring and incisive passage from the Council: ‘Their activity within Church communities is so necessary that without it the apostolate of the Pastors is generally unable to achieve its full effectiveness.’ …. Ministries and charisms, being diverse and complementary, are all necessary for the Church to grow, each in its own way (n27). – Pope St. John Paul II Christifideles Laici
One of the keys to our future is the formation of a new consultative body called the Pastor’s Advisory Council.
You may recall in the Spring of 2019, when Msgr. Prus was the Temporary Administrator of Blessed Sacrament Church, one of his final acts was to disband the parish council established under our previous pastor, Father Rick, in order to allow his successor to begin anew. Unfortunately, within a few months, COVID-19 roared in and our plans were put on hold as we adapted to new ways of doing things.
The purpose of our new council is to examine best practices and build on the rich traditions established at Blessed Sacrament. I’ve invited a diverse group of parishioners to help us get started. We’re currently reading Great Catholic Parishes (Ave Maria Press) and will hold a workshop on November 21st under the leadership of Deb Caldwell (pro bono) to kick off our work. Deb has consulted extensively with schools, churches and other nonprofits as to their planning for the future, as well as serving on the Board of Trustees for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Metuchen.
One of the council’s goals is to examine and focus our mission statement and to develop a multi-year parish plan. Be assured that during this process, your input will be sought.
Further communication will be forth coming regarding those opportunities, and updates will be communicated via our website and Flocknote.
I am excited about this new entity for the parish and hope you will pray for success in our efforts. Please stay safe and may God watch over you and protect you and your families. Fr. Brian