Article I – Membership

Section 1. Membership on the Parish Council shall consist of the Pastor, associate pastor (s), President of the Finance Committee, the President of the School Commission, the Principal of the school, parish trustees, and nine members “at large”.

Section 2. The nine “at large” members shall be men or women of St. Paul’s parish and not less than eighteen (18) years of age.

Article II – Selection and Term of Office

Section 1. The term of office for the “at large” members shall be three fiscal years, beginning July1 of the selection year and ending June 30 of the third year.

Section 2. The number of vacancies on the Council, along with the qualifications, shall be posted in the parish bulletin for no less than four (4) Sundays prior to the Council’s regular April meeting. Members who wish to be considered shall submit their names no later than the regularly scheduled April meeting.

Section 3. During the month of May, on a date selected by the Pastor, there shall be a prayer service and the names of the new members will be drawn.

Section 4. Members will be selected using the method of choosing new apostles, as found in Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1, 23-26). Those desiring to serve on the Parish Council shall submit their names to the Pastor. On the selection date, the prospective members, current members and all parishioners who wish to attend shall gather in the Church. Appropriate prayers said by the Pastor, including the words from Acts: “Lord, you know the thoughts of everyone, so show us which of these you have chosen”. All the names submitted shall be read by the Pastor or a trustee and then placed in a chalice. Then, a member of the Parish shall blindly select one name for each of the open positions. Individuals so selected shall become a member of the Council.

Section 5. The names of the members so selected shall be posted in the parish bulletin.

Section 6. New members will participate in an orientation session prior to the Council’s regular July meeting, following the selection. The Pastor, at least one trustee and one Council member will conduct this session. New members will be inducted at the last meeting in June.

Article III – Termination of Membership

Section 1. Membership on the Council shall automatically expire at the next regular meeting following one of these events:

a. the death (or inability to act) of the member;
b. ceasing to be a member of St. Paul’s parish;
c. resignation as evidenced by submitting a letter to that effect to the Council;
d. missing more than 50% of the regular scheduled meetings during any twelve (12) month period.

Section 2. In the event any of the foregoing occur prior to March 1 of any year, the Executive Committee of the Parish Council, prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting, may select another member of the parish to serve the unexpired terminating member.

Section 3. In the event of a termination after March 1, the Council shall not select a replacement but rely on the selection method outlined in Article 2, Section 1 for a replacement.

Article IV – Officers

Section 1. At the July meeting of the Council, following the selection, the members of the Council, including the newly selected members, shall elect from their membership, a President, a Vice-President and a Secretary to serve for one (1) year in that capacity. A simple majority of the votes is required to elect a person to an office. Officers shall serve no more than two consecutive terms in their respective offices.

Section 2. The President shall have the following duties:
a. to call and chair all meetings of the Council;
b. to oversee the activities of the Council;
c. to serve on the Executive Committee of the Council;
d. to appoint an individual to take minutes in the absence of the Secretary;
e. to moderate Council meetings.

Section 3. Then Vice-President shall have the following duties:
a. to chair meetings in the absence of the President;
b. to assist the President in overseeing activities of the Council;
c. to succeed the President in the event of President’s termination;
d. to serve on the Executive Committee of the Council.

Section 4. The Secretary shall have the following duties:
a. to maintain written records of all Council meetings;
b. to maintain an attendance record of all Council members;
c. to maintain a record of the names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of all Council members;
d. to distribute, prior to Council meetings, the agenda for the upcoming meeting and the minutes of the prior meeting;
e. to be responsible for all
Council correspondence;
f. to distribute an informational packet to all incoming members prior to the July meeting;
g. to serve on the Executive Committee of the Council.

Article V – Executive Committee

Section 1. The Executive Committee shall consist of the Pastor, the parish trustees, and the officers of the Parish Council.

Section 2. The Executive Committee shall have the following functions:
a. meet, either in person or via e-mail/telephone, to set the agenda for each parish Council meeting;
b. to meet between regularly scheduled Council meetings to attend to such Parish business that cannot wait until the next regularly scheduled meeting;
c. to propose parishioners to complete the unexpired term of any Council member(s) whose membership has been terminated prior to March 1.

Article VI – Areas of Ministry

Section 1. The Parish Council is assisted in its duties by parish committees, boards, and organizations which are categorized in the following four (4) areas of ministry:

a. Spiritual Life;
b. Social Action;
c. Parish Life;
d. Communication.

Section 2. The Parish Council shall also interface with other freestanding Councils of the parish:

a. Finance Committee – whose President shall be an ex-officio member of the Council;
b. School Commission – whose President shall be an ex-officio member of the Council.

Section 3. The four (4) areas of ministry shall have the following duties:

a. Spiritual Life – promote the spiritual life of the parish by developing and coordinating its sacramental activities, including:

1. Eucharistic liturgy – planning and preparation;
2. Other liturgy – planning and preparation;
3. Lectors – training and scheduling;
4. Extraordinary Eucharistic ministers – training and scheduling;
5. Acolytes – training and scheduling;
6. Sacristans – training and scheduling;
7. Ushers – training and scheduling;
8. Music ministry – scheduling and interface with clergy.

b. Social Action – development, coordination and promotion of activities that take the Catholic faith into the outside community, including:

1. Outreach ministries
2. Community programs
- Crop Walk
- Right to Life
- Jesse Tree
- Faith In Action

c. Parish life – development, coordination and promotion of activities for parishioners to develop their feeling of family and commitment to the parish, including:

1. parish picnic
2. youth organizations
3. funeral dinners

d. Communication – development and implementation of the various modes of communication to keep the parishioners informed and feeling a part of the community, including:

1. Sunday bulletins
2. Press releases
3. Parish directory
4. Internet
- Church/school web site
- bulletin boards
- mailing lists
- posting of sermons

Section 4. A member of the Parish Council shall be an ex-officio member of each of these areas of ministry. Members will be elected at the July meeting of the Council. The basic selection process will be to ask for volunteers for each area. If sufficient volunteers are not forthcoming, then the Executive Committee shall select members based on their collective judgment. Members so selected will retain this position for one year; after one year, the member may resign the position or volunteer for another year.

Section 5. The Council members so selected will be responsible for the annual organization of each of these areas of ministry, developing their objectives within the larger framework of the goals of the Council. The member of the council shall also assist in committees and sub-committees as necessary to accomplish the goals of each area of ministry. The Council member will help each group select their own officers and to ensure reporting on a monthly basis back to the full Council.

Section 6. The committees and subcommittees in these areas of ministry shall meet as often as is necessary to achieve their objectives. Reports will be made to the regular parish Council meetings.

Article VII – Parish Council Meetings

Section 1. No meeting shall be called, held or conducted by the Parish Council without the consent of the Pastor.

Section 2. Regular meetings will be held on the fourth Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m. or at a date chosen by the Council at a previous meeting.

Section 3. Regular meetings are open to all parishioners.

Section 4. The Pastor or the President may call special meetings. All members shall be notified of the time and place of any such special meeting. A quorum shall be met with a simple majority of the voting membership of the Council, provided that at least one officer is present.

Section 5. A majority of the members present is required for the adoption of proposals before the Council at either regular or special meetings. Since it is desirable that the decision making process be unanimous, once a vote has been taken, any member may ask that the voting reflect a unanimous decision.

Section 6. Since the Council is a consulting body to assist the Pastor, the Pastor may determine that any given proposal passed by the Council is not appropriate and will not be implemented. In that event, the Pastor will so inform the council at its next regular scheduled meeting providing the rationale behind his decision so that the Council members may properly respond to any questions from the parishioners. Such reasons shall be made a part of the minutes of that meeting.

Section 7. The meetings of the Council shall be conducted according to Robert’s Rules of Order, as long as such rules are not in conflict with the Constitution and By-laws of the Council.

Section 8. Regular meetings shall not exceed two (2) hours without the consent of a majority of the members present.

Section 9. Unless otherwise determined by the presiding officer or the Pastor, the following order of business shall be as follows:

a. opening prayer
b. roll call
c. reading of the minutes and their approval and/or correction
d. comments by the Pastor
e. reports:
1. St. Paul School
2. Schlarman High
3. Finance Committee – this will include a year-to-date income and balance sheet and a report on buildings and grounds.
f. report from each area of ministry
g. old business
h. new business
i. closing prayer
j. adjournment.

Section 10. Any parishioner may have an item placed on the agenda by presenting a written request to the President at least seven (7) calendar days prior to any regular meeting.

Article VIII – Grievance Procedures

Section 1. Any parishioner has the canonical right to go directly to the Bishop with any concerns about the parish or its staff or operations. However, canon law suggests that the following steps be taken:

a. the grievance should be taken up directly with the Pastor; should that fail to resolve the issue, then
b. the grievance should be taken to the Pastor with several people to support the grievance; (going to the Parish Council meets this requirement); should that fail to resolve the issue, then
c. the grievance should be taken to the Bishop.

Article IX – Amendments

Section 1. Any member of the Council may submit amendments to these By-laws in writing to the Parish Council at any regular meeting. Amendments shall be discussed at the next regular meeting and acted upon by the following meeting. A three-fourths majority is required by the Council to approve any amendment.

Approved 8/1/2006