The Joint Parish Pastoral Council
The Joint Parish Finance Council

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The Joint Parish Council:

The Parish Pastoral Council seeks to provide consultation to the pastor in formulating and making known the mission of the parish and pastoral ministry.
 
This is accomplished through recommendations regarding: the parish vision for the future; the general directions, priorities, goals and objectives, long and short range plans; and the promotion of communication and understanding within the parish, between parishes and with the diocese and universal church.
 
The council committees provide specific focus in the Church's various ministries and develop expertise in those areas. The committees are the council's working arm and deal with details necessary to establish the various ministries and to carry them out.
 
Committees are accountable to the pastor and have a formal relationship to the pastor and the Parish Pastoral Council. They also have an informal close working relationship with the staff, whereby ideas, information and advice may be shared.
 
Although members are appointed primarily for their expertise, recommendations of the committees must also reflect Gospel values. The spirit behind the Parish Pastoral Council and all the parish committees must always be the spirit of the Gospel and its objective, the spiritual ministry of the parish.

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The Joint Parish Finance Council:

The Joint Parish Finance Council is made up of members selected for their expertise and is basically responsible for assisting the pastor in the administration of the parish’s material resources, i.e. its temporal goods. This Council is specifically required by Canon Law¹. Governed by Canon Law and the norms and policies of the Diocese of Marquette, the Finance Council supports the parish’s pastoral ministries and advocates sound management practices.
In supporting the pastoral ministries of the parish and in advocating for sound fiscal management, the Finance Council is consultative to the pastor. Its responsibilities include: resource development, budget preparation and review, overall fiscal accountability, personnel, buildings and grounds, etc.