The cover of the Diocesan Pastoral Council’s guide booklet for parish councils.
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Every parish in Hawaii has a pastoral council, a group of parishioners selected to advise the pastor in parish matters spiritual, instructional and charitable. But councils have been known to veer off-topic with discussions about paving the church parking lot or organizing the annual parish potluck.
To help them focus, the big brother of pastoral councils, the Diocesan Pastoral Council, has written an eight-page guide to steer them back to their mission, gently, with a list of questions to ponder rather than orders to follow.
There are about 40 questions in all in the aptly-named “Discussion Questions for Parish Pastoral Councils” booklet, divided into eight categories from “Family” to “Evangelization.” Questions like: “How does our parish celebrate the sacred nature of family life?” and “How do we engage youth in the mission of evangelization?” and “How do we equip parishioners to sensitively but boldly reach out to Catholics who no longer practice their faith?”
“The purpose of the Discussion Questions for the Parish Pastoral Councils booklet is to assist and guide pastoral councils in the diocese to focus on the spiritual and pastoral needs of the parish, beyond just fixing a building or two,” said the Zachary Ramones, chairman of the Diocesan Pastoral Council.
Ramones, 25, has been on the council for about a year and chairman since June. His parish is Resurrection of the Lord in Waipio where he works as the parish secretary and pastoral assistant. He is also a full-time student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Among the issues the parish groups should be raising, he said, are how to reach out to those living on the streets, and introducing Jesus to youth and young adults and to those who have not yet encountered Jesus in a personal way.
The booklet developed “over the span of a few meetings,” said Ramones, who represents central Oahu on the council. “Bishop Silva asked us to come up with questions that parish pastoral councils could talk about to help direct their minds to the spiritual and pastoral needs of the parish.”
“When determining which topics to use and what questions to ask, the DPC had to really dig into the ‘why’s’ for each topic,” he said. “Why was homelessness important to discuss in the parish? Why was mission and evangelization important?”
“This booklet was created not to be a mandatory guideline, but a tool,” he said. “We hope that each council utilizes this tool to keep their discussions focused on our overall goal, which is to witness to Jesus.”
Fellow Diocesan Pastoral Council member Faith Leasiolagi, who helped on the booklet project, said she hopes it will “yield fruitful discussions for each pastor and his parish pastoral council.”
Leasiolagi, 27, has been on the council for about three years representing youth and young adults. She is a teacher at St. Theresa School, Honolulu, and a parishioner at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
“Our prayer remains that, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we continue to ask the right questions to truly address the needs of our community (parish and at large),” she said, “and with that discussion, foster right relationships with each other and essentially with God.”
Read the new booklet questions at https://hawaiicatholicherald.com/2020/07/22/parish-pastoral-council-questions/.
