April 17, 2015

Archdiocesan Pastoral Council to have its first meeting on April 18 in Columbus

Criterion staff report

After two years of shepherding the faithful of central and southern Indiana, Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin has decided to re-establish a consultative body known as the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC). The group will have their first business meeting—preceded by a welcome and blessing—at St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus on April 18.

The APC serves as a forum for discussion and dialogue on issues of pastoral significance in the archdiocese, providing a link for communication and a means of unity between the archbishop, archdiocesan departments, parish pastoral councils and the faithful of the archdiocese.

It will function as a consultative pastoral planning team for the archdiocese with a focus on mission and planning— investigating, considering and proposing practical conclusions about those things which pertain to the pastoral works in the archdiocese.

The recently formed council of 19 includes members representing the broad spectrum of the faithful in the archdiocese. Members hail from the entire central and southern Indiana region and include men and women, lay, clergy and religious, various races and ethnicities, and a broad range of ages.

The concept of an archdiocesan pastoral council stems from a Second Vatican Council document, the “Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church.” The document states that it is “greatly desirable that in each diocese a pastoral commission be established over which the diocesan bishop himself will preside and in which specially chosen clergy, religious and lay people will participate. The function of this council will be to investigate and weigh matters which bear on pastoral activity and to formulate practical conclusions regarding them” (#27).

In a future edition, The Criterion will report on the first APC meeting, its members and its goals. †

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