The Role of Our Parish Pastoral Council

The Parish PC is a response to the call of Vatican II for shared leadership of clergy and people in the mission of the parish. The PPC is about caring and listening. It is entrusted with the care of the parish. It thinks about the parish as a whole, not just a particular group or activity. It is there to plan for the future, to manage change and to provide leadership and vision.

The PPC is pastoral because it is concerned with the issues that affect the lives of parishioners rather than with parish administration or finances. The members reflect the entire parish mix of people and we try to keep an overall parish focus. We support the Parish Team in their work within the parish. The members of the P PC understand that our role is one of service. We are not in charge. We are at the service of the parish.

In recent years we have, amongst other things, visited every house in the parish, promoted ecumenical services and walks, held a parish social evening, explored the vision of Pope Francis in parish, held the first parish pilgrimage, re-formed our Baptism team and held talks on faith and wellbeing by inspirational speakers.

After much reflection, we have recently put together our plan for the parish covering the years 2019 to 2021. Our agreed Purpose of the PPC of Haggardstown and Blackrock is to be a faith group that aims to promote the Gospel teachings of Jesus Christ within our parish community. Recognising the diversity of our parish community, we commit to doing this by reaching out in an open and compassionate way.

Three subgroups will make this happen by promoting specific objectives.

The Reaching Out and Community Building subgroup will strive to create a community that reaches out and welcomes all. Our identified activities include Ecumenical services, Youth

Development, Ash Wednesday innovation, inspirational talks and   parish initiatives such as a Community Celebration and a Harvest Thanksgiving service.

The Faith Formation subgroup will provide an open and encouraging environment for faith growth. We will make people feel welcome through their experience of faith activities. We will form a Welcome team to make people feel appreciated for their participation in our parish. Other activities will include gospel reflection meetings in Lent, the annual Easter Dawn Ecumenical service and bringing together all parish groups recognising that we all contribute to making our parish.

The Liturgy subgroup will organise, promote and produce Liturgies that we identify as bringing meaning into the lives of parishioners. We will organise an annual Christmas Carol service bringing together all our parish choirs, continue our successful Baptism preparation courses and annual prayer service for the families of children baptised, prepare liturgies for Masses for students sitting State exams and returning to school and we will evaluate and continue to contribute to the full range of liturgies we have in our parish.

These are some of our planned activities for the next few years. We hope that, as a result of our efforts and with your invaluable co-operation, we can all be part of a parish that is open, enthusiastic and compassionate, where each person is noticed and each voice is heard.