Mission Statement

We, the Parish Pastoral Council of St Mary’s Stranorlar Parish will, with the help of others, build a faith-filled community where everyone is welcome, valued, and encouraged to play their part.

“Therefore, welcome one another as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God”

(Romans 15:7)

A Parish Pastoral Council is a faith-filled consultative group through which the priests, sisters, and people work together as partners in furthering the mission of Christ in this parish. This group is informed by recent developments of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan; Forward Together, Ar aghaidh le chéile, and the Synod.

Description of Work:  Group members (priests, laity, and religious) come together to talk about all aspects of parish life.  Together they plan new projects, encourage, and support existing ones and continually look at new ways of bringing life to the parish.

The time commitment involved:  Meetings once a month, except in July and August.  Meetings are on the second Thursday of the month and last two hours.

Any special skills or talents required: The ability to think outside the box would be helpful.  Organisational skills are always needed. Being a good listener and being open to listening to different points of view is also helpful.

The following are some areas in which the Parish Pastoral Council might nurture and further the mission of the parish.
a) Promoting the prayer life and the faith life of the parish
b) Evangelising outreach
c) Familiarity with the Scriptures
d) Adult religious formation
e) Support for family life
f) Support for the faith life of young people
g) Parish liturgical celebrations and liturgical ministry
h) Ongoing skills training and formation for those on the Parish Pastoral Council and for others in the parish along with the care of people – the poor, elderly, the bereaved, those with additional needs, and those who live alone, etc
i) Outreach to newcomers to a parish
j) Outreach to those on the margins of the Church and society
k) Working to improve communication throughout the parish, especially through the medium of a good, informative, and attractively produced parish newsletter and social media platforms
l) Bringing Catholic insights and action to social issues such as alcohol, drugs, poverty, housing, etc, which affect the life of the parish
m) Developing appropriate parish policies regarding such issues as the times and number of Masses
n) Building up good relationships with other Parish Pastoral Councils in the local area, the deanery and the diocese
o) Pastoral care of the sick, those in hospital, the dying
p) Supporting the implementation of safeguarding children/vulnerable persons policies and procedures