Archdiocesan Pastoral Council

• Typically, a lay member will first be recognized and nominated by the pastor (through consultation with his Parish Pastoral Council, if possible) of their parish as having the qualities befitting a parish delegate. The priest will have a conversation with the prospective parish delegate nominee regarding the responsibilities of the role.

• Should the Parish Delegate nominee accept the role, the pastor or the parish secretary email the office of Pastoral and Educational Ministries the information of the nominated parish delegate to the office.
  1. Information needed is name, active phone number, active email, and home address. All information is for the exclusive use of archdiocesan business and will be treated as confidential.

• From there, the office of Pastoral and Educational Ministries will determine the need of a parish delegate for that specific parish (if a Parish Delegate has been nominated for the parish). Once a need is confirmed, the lay person will then be recorded as the Parish Delegate for their parish for a period of three years.

• After the nomination of parish delegates, the next phase of the archdiocesan pastoral council is the discernment of APC lay deanery representatives from the group of parish delegates. From the entire roster of parish delegates, two will be discerned from each deanery in the archdiocese. 
  1. Central deanery, Northeast deanery, Southeast deanery, Northern deanery, Eastern deanery, San Jacinto deanery, Galveston/Mainland deanery, Bay Area deanery, Southern deanery, Bluebonnet deanery, Western deanery, Southwest deanery, Northwest deanery.

• Discernment takes the form of an in-person meeting with all the parish delegates of a particular deanery at a parish in said deanery. The meeting is conducted by the director of Pastoral and Educational Ministries or by a facilitator appointed by the director of Pastoral and Educational Ministries. The meeting can take up to three hours and is usually held on a Saturday morning, 9am-12pm.

• Once the discernment is completed, two parish delegates will be designated as APC lay deanery representatives and will serve on the quarterly council meetings with Archbishop Vasquez at the St. Dominic Chancery. This process is repeated for each of the 13 deaneries to reach the requisite goal of 26 APC lay deanery representatives. The office of Pastoral and Educational Ministries will record the names of the new APC lay deanery representatives who will serve a term of three years from their discernment.

Preferred Qualities

• Prayerful and reflective
• Willingness to listen well and speak honestly
• Verbalizes well in groups
• Generous with volunteer time
• Creative and innovative
• Practical
• Conscientious
• Respects confidentiality
• Open to diversity
• Analyzes and synthesizes information
• Flexibility and openness with people and ideas
• Catechetical and ecclesiological preparedness
    

Criteria

• Fully initiated, practicing Catholic
• At least 21 years of age
• Has been a registered member of a parish or a vowed member of a religious congregation for at least 3 years
• Participates in the ongoing life of a parish or religious community
• Experience with church-related parish council or board

Parish Delegate Responsibilities

• Lay member will first be recognized and nominated by the pastor of their parish as having the qualities befitting a parish delegate. 
  1. (Done with consultation with his Parish Pastoral Council, if possible.)
• Attend the Deanery Discernment to determine two APC Representatives from the deanery.
• Pray for the success of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council plan process
• Assist with APC initiatives, relate information back to their parish, and provide feedback from the parish to the APC.
• Attend a meeting of Parish Delegates no more than 2 times per year.

Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC) Representative Responsibilities

• Attend all quarterly APC Meetings.
• Prayerfully reflect on the pastoral realities of the archdiocese and assist the archbishop in a consultative manner through recommendations via a prayerful process of visioning and long-range pastoral planning.
• Be actively involved in at least one working group related to APC pastoral planning.
• Develop, monitor, and evaluate the Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan and other assigned initiatives related to APC pastoral planning.