St. Charles borromeo
Leadership Structure
The gospel today concludes with “… the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to
a people that will produce its fruits” (Mt. 21:43). We know that the Church is the “people of God” made up by all who are baptized. This people’s work is the three ministry pillars – learning, liturgy, and living. To ensure that these ministries of Christ are effective, grow, and long-lasting there is the need of leadership. Parish leaders come in two kinds: Council and Staff.
COUNCILS: PLANNING/DECISION/OVERSIGHT/GOALS
Councils are groups of the people who are chosen to plan, make decisions, set goals or directions, and oversee the overall achievement of the church’s mission. Members of the councils are volunteers, chosen through varied processes. By church law the councils’ decisions are advisory to the pastor, and in many parishes the pastor makes final decisions together with the councils. There are two main councils in every parish: Pastoral and Finance.
The Pastoral Council, suggested by Canon Law 536, is concerned with pastoral goals of the parish. Pastoral goals involve the Church’s learning, liturgical, and living needs.
The Finance Council, mandate by Canon Law 537, is concerned with church temporal goods such as finances, buildings and infrastructure, resources of time, talent, and treasure.
STAFF: STRATEGY/EXECUTE DAY-TO-DAY ACTION/OBJECTIVES
Staff is a group of paid or volunteer parishioners or non-parishioners with the appropriate training, who are tasked with actively carrying-out work that meets the goals the pastoral and finance councils have set. The staff are not planners of the goals; they are doers by practically leading the people to minister. The staff produces objectives – practical ways – to achieve parish goals. Therefore, the staff reports their work to the councils and the pastor who, in turns, report to the parishioners. Like the councils, there are two groups of staff: pastoral staff and administrative staff.
Pastoral Staff and Deacons collaborates with the pastor to carry out the work of the church. Thus, they are directors and coordinators, responsible for the day-to-day actions concerning learning and faith formation; liturgy, prayers and devotions; and living, service, social justice. These works are done within the limits of the council’s goals and never outside them.
Administrative Staff collaborates with the pastor to support the parish with administrative needs including day-to-day management of finance, office, communication, facilities, safety and security, etc. The business manager oversees and reports the work of administrative staff to the pastor.
In sum, the leadership of the Church involves planners of goals and doers of objectives to meet those goals. I encourage you to go on our website to see the organizational chart of Saint Charles Borromeo. To conclude this expose of how Saint Charles works to be the household people of God, it is fittng to introduce to you two of our ministry directors here. The director of learning is forthcoming.
