Forming an independent laity council

Published: February 7, 2019

By Loretta Purkey

Regarding the Arkansas Catholic article Dec. 8 titled “New Diocesan Pastoral Council engages laity in decisions.”

A question: How does forming a Diocesan Pastoral Council allow lay people to have a greater voice within their diocese? Who does the laity (ordinary Catholic) contact with their concerns or advice? In regards to this article about forming a new Diocesan Pastoral Council, which will consist of two councils: Diocesan Pastoral Council and a Presbyteral Council, I have another suggestion to add.

Why not appoint an independent council that consists of all the secretaries in various parish churches? Whereas the secretaries can email their concerns to members overseeing this independent council. If anyone knows what is going on in the Catholic Church and what concerns need to be addressed it would be the secretaries who hear the concerns of the laity practically every day.

I think this kind of Laity Committee is what Pope Francis was referring to in his statement “encouraging the involvement of the laity more fully in the process by which decisions are made in the diocese and also to receive their insights regarding the life of the Church.”