Three evening workshops across the Archdiocese of Sydney this August will help parish pastoral councils make the most of what they have and reach the people who aren’t yet in the pews.
Parish pastoral councils meet on weeknights after work, often in a parish hall carrying a responsibility that shapes the life of a whole community.
They are among the quietest and most consequential bodies in the church, the group a parish priest turns to when he asks what his people actually need, and who is missing.
The Parish Renewal Team within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation is inviting parish priests, administrators and their councils to Purposeful Planning, a series of workshops designed to sharpen exactly that work.
A new video, released by the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, gives councils a look at what the workshops cover and what parishes stand to gain.
“The Parish Renewal Team is here to support all parishes within the Archdiocese of Sydney to live out the evangelising mission of the church in our respective parish communities,” said Tania Rimac, Parish Evangelisation and Formation Coordinator with the team.
“Our parish pastoral councils have a very important role, and a particular role, in identifying those needs and making that come to life in our parishes according to the unique needs of every particular parish.”
The workshops will focus on effective planning, one-off events, annual calendars, new initiatives built around four questions that any council will recognise: who is really in the pews, who else can we welcome into our midst, what are the genuine needs of our people, and how can we best coordinate our parish efforts to avoid wasted time and energy?
For Sr Anastasia Reeves OP, who will help lead the evenings, those questions cut to the heart of why parishes sometimes work hard for modest fruit.
“Often in parish life we can spend a lot of time planning and preparing for beautiful, spiritual courses and events, and then find that the same few people come along,” Sr Anastasia said.
“This workshop will help us truly evangelise, that is, to help all sorts of people take another step with Christ, not only the committed.
“Every parish has limited time, energy and financial resources. Let’s make the best use of what we have to maximise spiritual fruitfulness.”
Parish pastoral councils bring together people from very different backgrounds and stages of life, and the Parish Renewal Team’s approach is to form them as a team first.
“We’re able to provide the formation that they need to have a better understanding of the purpose and how best to interact with one another,” Rimac said, “but also understanding a process of discernment, so that they are able to identify the needs of their parish and then put into action some strategic plans to be able to execute that which has been identified through spiritual discernment.”
If last year’s workshop at Our Lady of Fatima, Kingsgrove, is any guide, one of the greatest fruits of the evening is simply the room itself. Council members from 13 parishes across Sydney gathered to share ideas, receive formation and take home practical tools.
Another put it more simply when asked what she’d be taking back to her parish: “How to be more effective, and more doers. I feel like some of us are doers and I feel like after this, we’re all going to be doers.”
That, Rimac said, is the hope for 2026.
“Parish council members will be able to walk away with practical ways of being able to function in their role but also take away really practical ideas and ways to live that evangelising mission of the church in the parish, so that we can, as parish communities, flourish in our own faith — keeping a missionary lens, always looking out into the wider community to see who is not there.”
Purposeful Planning: PPC Workshops 2026
The workshop is offered on three occasions at three venues to make it accessible across the Archdiocese. Each parish is asked to choose one date and attend together. All sessions run 7pm–9pm, with doors open at 6.45pm.
- Wednesday 19 August — Our Lady of Fatima Parish Hall, 89 Shaw Street, Kingsgrove
- Tuesday 25 August — St Martha’s, 38 Renwick Street, Leichhardt
- Thursday 27 August — Our Lady of Mt Carmel Hall, 230 Humphries Road, Mt Pritchard
Registration is free and open now at trybooking.com/events/landing/1585686
Watch the short video explaining how the workshops run and the difference they can make for a parish here.
