Shannon Pastoral Council

The Shannon Pastoral Council was formed about 8-10 years ago after a parish-wide consultation meeting in the Great Southern Hotel involving a broad range of parishioners. It grew out of the Pastoral Council which in turn grew out of the Parish Finance Committee. It differs from the earlier organisations in one important respect - the first two organisations were advisory only whereas the pastoral council is constituted with executive functions. All decisions relating to the running of the parish are ratified by the pastoral council. So at our next meeting in a few weeks we will be ratifying the new appointments to the boards of management of the various schools.

The pastoral council is designed to be as representative as possible of the parish with people elected on both a geographical basis and also invitations to all parish organisation to appoint a representative.

Initiatives discussed/sanctioned at the pastoral council include the Goradiche Orphanage Jubilee year project, the children' liturgy (3 masses), the celebration of new life ceremony, the school leavers mass. A critical resolution on a graveyard for Shannon seems to have been catalytic in finally achieving agreement on Illeanmanagh Cemetery and while most credit for the graveyard maintenance group must go to Nicole personally, the pastoral council was the platform she used to get it moving.

Web: http://www.shannon-parish.org

Catholic Churches:

• SS John & Pauls Church : Tullyvarryga
• Mary Immaculate Church : Drumgeely