New Parishes Pastoral Council to be commissioned

After months of discernment our new combined Parishes Pastoral Council will be commissioned on Pentecost Sunday.   I am pleased to announce and introduce the new council members.

Balwyn and Deepdene Parish:  Frank Peck, Aloysius Gomez and John Cunningham

Surrey Hills Wattle Park Parish: Jane Edge, Faye Dennis and Phil Mann

Camberwell Parish: Joyce Ferng and David Rush

Seconded expert: Cathy Jenkins

Parish Priest and Assistant Priest: Fr Brendan Reed and Fr Trac Nguyen

I am grateful to each of these people for taking on this leadership role for our parish.  Each member has provided us with a small biography and some thoughts on their hopes for the new Parish Pastoral Council.  You can visit the Parish Council page of our website to learn more about our new Council members.

Our new Council will have its work cut out for them.  We are now three partnered parishes with five Churches, three schools and a retirement village.  Living through a pandemic we have seen a decline in the number of regular church goers and a general decline in church affiliation in the wider culture.  So, the challenges are real.

It is fitting that the new Council be commissioned on Pentecost Sunday.  Pentecost is the celebration of the animation of the first disciples.  It is the day when the disciples experienced the inspiration of the Spirit within and around them.  It is the day when the gifts of courage, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, reverence, awe and wonder filled the hearts and minds of the early believers.  Our new Council members will need these gifts too.  They will need to be good at listening and good at discerning where the Spirit is leading us today.

The role of the Parish Pastoral Council today is challenging.  As well as supporting and promoting parish life within the parish community the Council needs also to have an eye to the wider world and to the concerns of the people of our world.  A spirit of engagement and dialogue with the concerns of our day also makes up the agenda for the Parish Council.  These concerns include the discrepancy in wealth and opportunity in the world, the environmental threats that human communities are experiencing, the displacement of people around the globe and the quest for meaning and purpose among so many.   These and other challenges will be taken up by our Council I am sure.

The new Council will meet for the first time in July this year.  Please give these representative members your support, encouragement and prayers.  Thank you to all those who have been involved in the process of forming our new Council and our recently commissioned Parish Life Teams.  The spirit continues to animate and inspire our communities.

By Fr Brendan Reed

Main image (L-R): Cathy Jenkins, David Rush, Faye Dennis, Phil Mann, Joyce Ferng, Aloysius Gomez, John Cunningham, Jane Edge & Frank Peck