Pastoral Council, council of Priests(Senate of Priests) and Diocesan Consultors:

Diocesan Officials :

Bishop                       : Most Rev. Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza

Vicar General                : Rt Rev. Msgr. Denis Prabhu

Chancellor                     : V. Rev Henry Sequeira

Procuratot                     : V Rev Maxim Noronha

Episcopal Vicar 
Udupi district                 : V Rev. Baptist Menezes

 Judicial Vicar                : V Rev Henry Sequeira



In accordance with the principle laid down by the IInd Vatican Council, in order to share the apostolate with others, as well as to obtain their cooperation, the Bishop formed the Pastoral Council as early as in 1970. Our Diocese was one of the first in India to have the Pastoral Council.

Nature:

The Pastoral Council is an instrument of a Consultative and advisory nature, to assist the Bishop of the Diocese in all pastoral matters, in fulfillment of the fundamental mission of the entire people of God, entrusted to the Church by Jesus Christ.

Its objective is to study matters pertaining to pastoral work, examine it and formulate practical conclusions, and make recommendations and suggestions on pastoral matters, promote and co-ordinate the apostolate of various diocesan associations and parish pastoral councils as well as the pastoral work, individual and corporate, of the clergy, religious and laity. The Original Constitution has been changed in recent years in the light of experience. The present amended constitution was promulgated on 1 March 2001.

Make up:

The Council consists of 122 members representing a cross section of the ecclesial community of the Diocese: priests, religious and laity. The Bishop is the President of the Council. He presides over the meetings; however, in his absence the Vicar General chairs the meetings.

The Council has three categories of members – elected, ex-officio and nominated.
Elected by their respective groups are: 15 priests, representing fifteen Deaneries.
Priests & Lay people representing deaneries – three from each deanery having ten or more parishes and two from each deanery having nine or less parishes – total number of these is 53.

Ex-officio:

Besides the Vicar General and Chancellor, fifteen Vicars Forane, Presidents of the various Diocesan associations, Major Superiors of Religious Congregations of men and women. The total number of these members is 63. Nominated by the Bishop: Bishop nominates six persons from various categories, as per need.

Duration of the Council is 3 years and hence the Diocesan Pastoral Council is reconstituted once in three years.

The Council has an executive Committee consisting of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and 4 members, who are elected from among its members. They hold office for three years. This Committee is responsible for the implementation of the Council’s decisions.

The Council ordinarily meets 4 times a year but for extraordinary meetings provision is made in the statutes.

The Diocesan Pastoral Council is a great help in the effective pastoral activities in the Diocese. The people of God, living in every corner of the diocese are reached through them and is a great help in carrying out the pastoral activities successfully.

Senate of Priests: (Council of Priests)

The Senate of priests now called Council of Priests, was started in this Diocese in September 1968, and ever since it has played a prominent role in the Pastoral ministry in diverse ways. It has now completed thirty four years of activity.

It is a representative body of priests consisting of ex-officio, elected and nominated members. It represents both religious and diocesan priests.

Though the Senate is a consultative body in a spirit of co-responsibility and co-operation, the members of the Senate by their counsel effectively assist the Bishop to serve the Diocese in pastoral and administrative work. With the Bishop they discuss and decide matters of pastoral and administrative nature. The Council of Priests had its constitution revised in 1999 and the representation is made deanery wise. There are 41 elected members, 4 ex-officio members and 4 nominated members having a fair representation of the presbyterium.

The Bishop is the ex-officio President of the Senate who presides over all meetings, directs and guides the discussions in the meeting and conducts the proceedings. There is a Secretary and a Joint Secretary elected by the members. Each meeting is supervised by a moderator.

The duration of the senate is 3 years after which fresh elections are held to form the new Senate. To be effective each deanery elects two members as their representatives.

There is an agenda committee consisting of the President, Vicar General, Secretary, Joint Secretary and three other elected members of the Senate to screen matters for the agenda, to list them on priority basis and gather necessary information and documentation on the matters raised.

As per the new constitution there are four ordinary meetings in each calendar year but extra-ordinary meetings can be had if found necessary.

From experience, one is able to say that in this diocese, the Senate has contributed much in every way both towards the administration of the Diocese as well as in the implementation of the teachings of the Vatican Council II and the Synods. However much is still to be achieved by the Senate.

College of Consultors:

This body helps the Bishop in serving the diocese in making decisions -–form policy in administration, in accordance with Canons 502 $ 1 C.I.C.

The total number of Consultors are six. Vicar General and Chancellor are ex-officio members. For the rest, four are freely chosen from among the members of the Council of Priests as per Canon 502/1. 3 Episcopal Vicars are appointed.

The names of the Consultors are:

The Vicar General (Rt Rev. Msgr. . Denis Prabhu)
The Chancellor (V. Rev Henry Sequeira)
V. Rev. Baptist Menezes
V. Rev. John Baptist Crasta
V. Rev. Stany B Lobo
V. Rev. Patrick Rodrigues
V. Rev. Vincent Monteiro

Diocesan Council of Administration:

Vicar General
 Procurator
Fr. Onil D’Souza
Fr William Menezes
Mr. Archie Pais
Mr. Felix Albuquerque
Mr. J.R. Lobo
Mr. Rajan D’Souza

Council of Priests:

Secretary: V. RevStnay Goveas
Jt. Secretary:V. Rev. Fr. John Baptist Crasta

Diocesan Pastoral Council:

Secretary: Mr. Stephen Quodras

P.R.O.

Rev. Fr. William Menezes
Mr Marcel Monteiro

Diocesan Building Committee

The term of office of the Consultors is five years as per Canon 502/1. The number of meetings varies according to the need arising for the Bishop to consult, on an average about one meeting is held every month.
The Diocese is divided into 15 deaneries called Varados. Each Deanery has a Vicar Forane. Vicars Forane enjoy a honoured place among the priests of the Diocese. They preside over the acts of installation of a new parish priest as per Canon 527/2. They are given special faculties to grant dispensations from one marriage banns in the diocese. They are to organize meetings, conferences. recollections in the deanery, and propose the agenda of the meetings of the Council of Priests on behalf of their deaneries.