About the Parish Pastoral Council or PPC
The Parish Pastoral Council of the Church of St Anthony, or PPC, works to understand and address the pastoral needs of the parish.
The function of the Council is the promotion of active participation and co-responsibility of all the faithful in parish life. The Council aims at the collaboration of the faithful with the Parish Priest to ponder, investigate pastoral concerns and to propose practical conclusions on concerning them.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely; In all your ways be mindful of him and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Vision of the Church of St Anthony
The Parish Pastoral Council’s Vision is the same as the Vision of the church. The vision statement states what our Parish aspires to be in the long term. It reads,
“A Participative Christ-centered Community of Disciples Building the Kingdom of God.”
Our vision is about fostering participation in the Body of Christ and community building. It is about being centered on Christ the head of the Church, following him in word and deed, to form disciples so as to fulfill the Lord’s command to build his Kingdom.
As a church, we intentionally move towards our Vision by incorporating at least one of 3 Key Thrusts in the planning of all our parish level activities, namely Forming Disciples, Building Community Bonds and Facilitating God Encounters.

Mission of the Church of St Anthony
The mission statement reflects how the Parish intends to go about realizing its vision. While the vision statement is unlikely to change, the mission statement can be adjusted from time to time to address the stages of growth and key focus areas within the Parish. Nevertheless, the mission statement always points towards the vision.
The current mission statement is:
“To invite and facilitate God-encounters and to build Christ-centred communities”.
It recognizes that only God can change hearts and bring about the conversion needed to build Christ-centred communities. Our task is to facilitate and encourage God encounters through activities and other means.
Our Vision and Mission and the Parish Assembly
The Vision statement was presented to the Parish Assembly held on August 28, 2012 and responses to the questions asked of participants at the Parish Assembly showed that, by and large, they understood and believed in the Vision.
The Mission statement was discussed in small break-out groups and the results collated and analysed by the PPC. These results provided invaluable feedback and ideas for the PPC to utilise in connection with the development and initiation of programs and activities.
The Parish and its groups at all levels will have to be geared towards the fulfillment of the Parish Vision and Mission. Both statements are in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
What We Do as PPC
The Parish Pastoral Council meets twice per quarter and meetings are held to:
- Make further deliberations on the results of the investigation and proposals recommended by members or at the Parish Assembly.
- Ensure that the Events Keystone follows up and implements the decisions of the Council.
- Review periodically the progress of pastoral actions iv) to pray so as to ensure that the meetings are conducted in the light of faith.
Once every two years, the Council convenes the Parish Assembly in order to understand the changing pastoral needs of the parish.
A representative from the PPC sits in on EXCO meetings where plans to meet the pastoral needs of the church are deliberated upon and also in the Events Keystone meetings where parish level events are planned and discussed. All events are planned to include one of the 3 key thrusts mentioned earlier to move our parish towards its long term Vision.
The structure of the PPC as explained in the Archdiocesan PPC Constitution, its main components and how they interact. The Parish Priest presides over all components of the system and has the final say.
The PPC and Parish Priest work together using feedback from the Parish Assembly to set directions for EXCO and monitor the work of EXCO. The EXCO acts to organise pastoral activities as directed.
The PPC is led by:
- Parish Priest
- Chairperson
- Vice-chairperson
- Secretary
and includes both elected or appointed members.
This organization chart shows all the main bodies in (Church of St Anthony) CSA. The ministries and other church groups are under the Event Keystone in efforts to work towards the Vision and Mission of CSA.
Other keystones that were originally envisaged include the Renewal Keystone which is focus on participation; both encouraging participation and fostering new participation in the life of the Church. Within the EXCO, we have members focused on encouraging participation through the Catholic Neighbourhood Communities or CNCs (also known as BECs and SCCs elsewhere). In addition, an Administration Keystone to look after the church’s physical assets has been replaced by a maintenance team and a full time Facilities Officer.
The PPC gathers once per quarter with the Parish Priest to reflect and discuss on pastoral issues pertinent to the parish needs. Members also meet once per quarter without the Parish Priest to discuss on matters to be raised to the Parish Priest.
Bi-annually, the PPC organises the Parish Assembly so that the voice of the people could be heard. The PPC will then evaluate if the needs of parishioners are being met.
PPC is formed by individuals nominated by parishioners in ministries, thereafter discerned together with the parish priest, the team will decide on the final set of individuals. A PPC member is expected to serve a 2-year term minimally.
Contact Us
For feedback or questions on pastoral issues please send us an email at ppc@saint-anthony.org