CENTER SECTION: PASTORAL PLANNING AND COUNCILS
Choosing Pastoral Council Members: Making Room For the Spirit

by Ellen Rhatigan

The heater in the old church hall rattled so loudly that having to shout “WE JOIN TOGETHER IN PRAYER!” didn’t quite enhance the sacred space of the prayer circle. Within the circle, parishioners representing five different cultural groups struggled to understand each other through varying degrees of English fluency, the shouting, and the seemingly constant stream of fire trucks outside. The awkward silences during faith sharing soon became deadly. Discernment Night, usually my favorite activity in pastoral planning, wasn’t going so well for this small Brooklyn parish, and for a few minutes I wondered when the Holy Spirit would arrive, since I certainly didn’t know what to do.

Diocesan Initiative

The development of pastoral councils, as a diocesan norm, is still in its infancy in the Diocese of Brooklyn. While some individual parishes have been planning for years, the Office of Pastoral Planning, under the direction of Robert Choiniere, was challenged with the diocese-wide initiative of forming and training almost 180 leadership bodies over the course of about a year.

Due to the sheer scale of the initiative, discernment of council members soon became the number one priority. Identifying the right parishioners to serve on a consultative, visionary leadership body that will engage in pastoral planning is a crucial, yet daunting, task for any parish. Different methods for choosing council members, such as election, appointment, discernment, or some combination of those, each come with their own benefits and outcomes.

However, Brooklyn chose to advocate a four- to six-week full discernment process. Pastoral planning was new to many in the diocese, and we needed a process that not only sought to determine the right people to serve on each parish council at this time, but would also be educational and formational in nature. The premise was that the way in which council members would be chosen should model the type of visionary planning we would ask them to employ. Council members would then be asked to collaborate with the pastor and the staff, discerning the will of God for the parish through Scripture, tradition, and the voice of the people while also respecting where each unique parish and pastor is and needs to go. The thought was that they might as well start that as soon as possible, through their own discernment.

Discernment Process

While the pastor ultimately decides how his council is chosen, a small team of people was trained to hit the streets and firmly advocate a discernment process within the parishes. Pulpit talks, bulletin announcements, educational literature, and information sessions led to an invitation to people to nominate fellow parishioners or themselves for consideration for membership on the pastoral council. Finally, on the night of discernment, potential council members would experience that sacred form of decision-making where room is made to affirm each other’s gifts and to listen for the call of the Holy Spirit. These are often long, exhausting sessions that never failed to leave me rejuvenated in spirit and in awe at the beauty of our God. This brings me back to that frigid evening in the heart of Brooklyn, where everything seemed to be going wrong and the Spirit had left me to my own devices.

As a group, we did come to consensus that it would be preferable to freeze than scream, so we turned off the heater. But something was definitely missing. We went around the circle, discussing what individuals appreciate about their parish and answering questions meant to elicit where their parish should go and what gifts each had to offer a pastoral council. This very often becomes a sacred and precious conversation that raises the level of discernment and adds great spiritual depth to the experience. But if awkward shifting is any clue, we weren’t getting anywhere. An older man, “Juan,” sat still and silent, representing, I thought, just how uncomfortable everyone felt. What was I doing wrong? Did they not understand the questions, or each other? Were the parallel communities fostered by their cultural differences too difficult to navigate? Had I facilitated too many discernment nights and set my expectations too high?

Telling His Story

Juan finally spoke. Ignoring whatever question I had asked, he began to tell his story. He spoke of being a new immigrant, homesick, lonely, and depressed. He walked the streets in despair, crying out in his head for the God he now doubted to save him. He thought he was dreaming when he heard faint, drifting music in his own language. He followed the music to the door of a church where a man welcomed him in his native tongue. He broke down and cried, knowing he was home.

One by one, the others ignored my beautiful discernment questions to tell their equally moving stories. I searched for a way to gently bring the group back to task. Surely, conversion stories are wonderful and powerful, but this is not the time or place! A gentle voice in my head not quite my own (my description of God) scolded me, telling me to practice what I preach and get out of the way of what was happening. Parishioners were relating to each other, and the Spirit was palpable. The pastor read my mind, turning to me to whisper in his own halting English something akin to “Your task for us is not God’s plan right now. Don’t worry, the planning will come. Leadership will rise. Right now, what this parish needs are witnesses.”

The time finally came to affirm each other and ask which participants wished to move forward with discernment and who felt called to serve in another capacity in the parish. There was no need for public discernment. The number of people who felt called to move on in discernment was the exact number being called for, and they equally represented each of the cultural groups of the parish. The evening ended with a dramatic prayer by the pastor that the council bears witness to the welcoming and saving Christ for all newcomers who are searching to find a place to call home.

There are many wonderful books and articles on the criteria for council members and the benefits and challenges of different methods of choosing the right leaders. I have learned much from these and from my colleagues in the field. But through these experiences in Brooklyn, we quickly learned that no matter which approach we advocated, the uniqueness of each parish and pastor would dictate how a council is chosen as well as how the council will function as a leadership body within the parish. If we wanted planning to succeed, we had to continue to pay careful attention to the dynamics at play in each parish, and how the Spirit calls us to respond. I had forgotten that for a moment, and in this situation, the movement of grace in that prayer circle not only led to the formation of a council, but it began a process of parish identity that is being lived out through the work of the council today.

Ellen Rhatigan is associate director of the Office of Pastoral Planning for the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. Her e-mail address is