Does your diocese have a council?
Broderick, Bill
Bill Broderick
DOES YOUR DIOCESE HAVE A COUNCIL?
No sacralization without representation
Does your diocese have a Diocesan Pastoral Council? I learned recently that mine does not, but since it is...
...Also in 1984, the survey was complemented by three regional convocations "to explore the successes, the frustrations, and the hopes of shared responsibility as it is being lived out in the church in the United States...
...Eighty-one dioceses were represented at one or another of these convocations, and some 200 persons-bishops, priests, religious, and lay persons-took part, many working together in small groups...
...and good relations with priests' councils (not always present...
...Nevertheless, in the light of Vatican II's revaluation of the lay vocation, and given our bishops' respect for church law, one might expect that thirty years after the council most bishops would be willing and eager to make use of the relevant experience and expertise of lay people in dealing with a range of pastoral concerns...
...Conceivably, these discussions might benefit from participation by lay men and women...
...Is it conceivable that a group including Catholic parents would have advised the kind of actions (denial, cover-up, blaming the victims, transferring known offenders to other parishes) that some bishops actually took...
...To see how the optimism of the 1984 meetings was translated into action in the following decade, I turned to the massive 1995 Official Catholic Directory, which lists all offices, councils, boards, and committees of every diocese, and found-to my dismay-that the number of pastoral councils has now shrunk to 67, or 38.5 percent of the current total of 174 dioceses-a decline of 25 percent over ten years...
...I learned recently that mine does not, but since it is quite conservative in many ways, I assumed that it was in a small minority...
...How free are members to press their views...
...Not all parish councils (or priests' senates) work well...
...Could be...
...And Vatican II did give us a new understanding of the People of God on pilgrimage...
...but likely...
...How might such councils help...
...if it's not a mandate, it's at least a strong suggestion...
...archdioceses and dioceses, only 89 "had active pastoral councils as of May 1984" (Building the Local Church: Shared Responsibility in Diocesan Pastoral Councils, September 1984...
...a clearly defined role for the councils...
...How are the members chosen...
...Surely somebody should be discussing when "pastoral circumstances recommend" creation of a council...
...But there truly is a lot of talent out there...
...But consider the many tragic cases of pedophilia among a minority of our clergy: clearly a pastoral problem...
...It would be a start...
...dioceses had pastoral councils...
...Until quite recently, the actions taken by some bishops in dealing with the issue have been morally questionable, illegal, counterproductive, and/or expensive...
...Or do they...
...But there's a catch...
...More importantly, the revised code reflects the Second Vatican Council's affirmation that lay persons, through baptism, have an indispensable role in the mission of the church...
...Bill Broderick DOES YOUR DIOCESE HAVE A COUNCIL...
...At this point, only 52.7 percent of U.S...
...After all, there are explicit provisions in the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law (Canons 511-514) setting up guidelines for how the council is to operate, specifying, among other things, that membership should include "especially lay persons," who should "reflect the diverse regions, social conditions, and professions of the diocese...
...Suppose that a bishop faced with this problem ten years ago had sought advice from his pastoral council...
...and who better than the National Conference of Catholic Bishops...
...It would be a start.en...
...Since Canon 511 makes utterly clear that the councils are purely consultative bodies without indepen dent power, are they in practice only for show...
...Conceivable, maybe...
...What access to information do they have...
...It's obvious that merely creating a diocesan council will not guarantee its effectiveness...
...Their concluding view was that "despite the issues and problems, diocesan pastoral councils are surviving and growing in effectiveness...
...If not, what does that say about these bishops' adherence to Vatican II...
...And there is that Canon 511...
...Apart from the shrinking numbers, there is little information publicly available about how the existing councils actually function-that is, how and how often they are put to use by their bishops...
...In dioceses without councils, how do their ordinar ies seek counsel from representative lay people other than employees of the church...
...According to Journeys Together, published by the Bishops' Committee on the Laity in 1985, participants were in agreement on three requirements for success: the commitment and support of the local bishop...
...I propose that at an early date it set out to explore and answer these questions in a public way: Why haven't more bishops set up diocesan councils...
...Or so I thought, until I looked further...
...Obviously, thaf s not a requirement...
...According to Canon 511, the pastoral council "is to be established" in each diocese "to the extent that pastoral circumstances recommend it...
...What is the experience gained in those dioceses that do have councils...
...No sacralization without representation Does your diocese have a Diocesan Pastoral Council...
...Would they be one more church bureaucracy, impeding action, leaking confidential information, possibly creating dissension...
...In contrast, Canon 492 mandates the creation of a Diocesan Finance Committee...
...From a 1984 study on diocesan pastoral councils, sponsored by the Bishops' Committee on the Laity of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, I learned that of the then existing 169 Latin rite geographic U.S...
Vol. 122 • October 1995 • No. 18
