2026 Members
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The Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) is a consultative body designed to foster pastoral activity within a parish. Its primary purpose is to investigate, consider, and propose practical conclusions regarding pastoral works under the authority of the pastor.
Canon 536 §1: “If the diocesan bishop judges it opportune after he has heard the presbyteral council, a pastoral council is to be established in each parish, over which the pastor presides and in which the Christian faithful, together with those who share in pastoral care by virtue of their office in the parish, assist in fostering pastoral activity.”
Canon 536 §2: “A pastoral council possesses a consultative vote only and is governed by the norms established by the diocesan bishop.”
Apostolicam Actuositatem 26: “In parishes, as far as possible, there should be councils which assist the apostolic work of the Church either in the field of evangelization and sanctification or in the charitable, social, or other spheres; and here the clergy and Religious should appropriately cooperate with the laity.”
The Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) is not merely a “suggestion box” or a board of directors; it is the primary engine for “walking together” (the literal meaning of synodality) at the local level.
The relationship between the PPC and the pastor is defined by a shared search for God’s will, rather than a debate over personal preferences.
Christifideles Laici 27: “The many reports from the recent Synod… have spoken of the need for Parish Pastoral Councils as a supplementary way of enhancing the participation of the lay faithful in the life of the Church. The Councils can be a way of promoting a ‘communio’ (communion) that is more intense and more lived in the parish.”
The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community 26: “The Parish Pastoral Council is a consultative body… It is not a body that has decision-making power over the pastor, but a body that assists him in his pastoral office. It is his duty to preside over it, to decide on its agenda, and to ratify its conclusions.”
“It is necessary to avoid any form of ‘parliamentarianism’ or ‘democratization’ of the Church… which would run contrary to her hierarchical structure.”
The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish 113: “The Parish Pastoral Council ‘possesses a consultative vote only’, in the sense that its proposals must be accepted favorably by the Pastor to become operative. The Pastor is then bound to consider the indications of the Pastoral Council attentively, especially if they are expressed unanimously, in a process of common discernment.”