Trustees & Councils: Adding Trustees and Council chairs/member to the Pastoral Council and Finance Council Standard Committees

This article is also available via a 1 min video which provides more details on the process. 

Click here for the Video: Adding a Member to a Committee  
Although the video demonstrates the Church Committees, the same process applies to Standard Committees.

 

Pastoral Council, Finance Council Committees are Standard Committees; those committees that all parishes should have. In Standard Committees there are also committees for Parish Staff, Parish Mission Planning Team and Executive Committee. If associated with a school; the committees would also include School Board and School Staff. Do not create a committee for the same group in the Church tab. This ensures consistency among all parishes. The goal is to be able to use this committee for Councils and Trustees and save parishes from having to complete surveys each year for updates.

 

The Pastoral Council Committee includes -  Chairperson, Trustee Secretary, Pastor/Pastoral Leader, Recording Secretary, Members, Resource

The Finance Council Committee includes -  Chairperson, Trustee Treasurer, Pastor/Pastoral Leader, Recording Secretary, Members, Resource

 

Your Standard Committees are already set up in Gabriel. If you have Church Committees by the same or similar name or function, they should be removed.

 

Note:  When a trustee is re-elected, the start date remains the same, but the end date is updated. Once the date range is 6 years, a new Trustee must be elected to that position.

Note:  Before deleting a Trustee or Chairperson - make sure they have an end date in their committee assignment. Add the end date, Save, then you can delete them. This will ensure you maintain terms for these positions. (Trustees can have up to three 2-year terms consecutively. Chairperson's can have two 3-year terms.) 


There are two ways to add members to committees.

  1. Member Maintenance or  2.  Committee Maintenance.

 

*Tip:    If you are adding a significant number of Committee members, the quickest way to add them is via Committee Maintenance. You avoid having to search for each individual member.

**Tip:   To avoid confusion while transferring between Church Committees and Standard Committees with the same Committee Name, you will want to update the Church Committee Name (like Finance Council to Finance Council2) so you can distinguish them from Church vs. Standard Committees – especially when assigning committees using Member Maintenance.

 

Adding a Member to a Standard Committee via Committee Maintenance

 

  1. From the menu, Click Committees > Committee Maintenance and Select the Committee by clicking on the Committee Name where you wish to add or edit members.

     

 

2.  In Full Name, type the last name, comma, first name of the member (like Younger, Pat) and select the member from the list. 

 


3. Committee Position is used to define the position within the committee, for example, Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Member, etc.. For Standard Committees, the position (attribute) options have been set for you. Click the arrow next to Positions to get the drop down list.
 

 

4.  Start Date and End Date is used to indicate a member’s term on a committee. These fields are particular important for Trustees, Pastoral Council and Finance Council Chairpersons. When a trustee is re-elected, the start date remains the same, but the end date is updated. Once the date range is 6 years, a new Trustee must be elected to that position.

Note:  Before deleting a Trustee or Chairperson - make sure they have an end date in their committee assignment. Add the end date, Save, then you can delete them. This will ensure you maintain terms for these positions. (Trustees can have up to three 2-year terms consecutively. Chairperson's can have two 3-year terms.) 


 

5.  Click Save, and then repeat the process until each member is added.

 

6.  Preferred Service, Family Schedule, Month Week, Max Per Month are fields that are used for Ministry Scheduling.  Please refer to this Solution article for Ministry Scheduling. ( Ministry Scheduling - Committee Assignments

 


 

 

Adding a Member to a Standard Committee via Member Maintenance 
 

1. Scroll to Families > Member Search (Using Family and Member Search ) 

 

2.  On the Member Maintenance form, click on the Committees tab

 

 

3. Click on New Committee. You will see the list of ALL committees – both Church Committees and Standard Committees. You should delete the Pastoral Council and Finance Council Committees from the Church tab, as going forward you will only use the Standard Committees for Councils/Trustees. 

 

4. Select the Committee that you wish to add the member to from the drop-down box.

5. Committee Position is used to define the position within the committee, for example, Chairperson, Trustee Secretary, Treasurer, Member, etc. For Standard Committees, the position options have been set for you.

 

6. Start Date and End Date is used to indicate a member’s term on a committee. These fields are particular important for Trustees, Pastoral Council and Finance Council Chairpersons. When a trustee is re-elected, the start date remains the same, but the end date is updated. Once the date range is 6 years, a new Trustee must be elected to that position. 

Note:  Before deleting a Trustee or Chairperson - make sure they have an end date in their committee assignment. Add the end date, Save, then you can delete them. This will ensure you maintain terms for these positions. (Trustees can have up to three 2-year terms consecutively. Chairperson's can have two 3-year terms.) 

 

    a. Preferred Service, Family Schedule, Month Week, Max Per Month are fields that are used for Ministry Scheduling.
  

7. Press the Save button and the member is now on the Committee

 8. A sample of a Pastoral Council Committee is below

 

 

Once you’ve created your Standard Committee lists, you should delete the Church Committee with the same name from the Church Committee list – there should only be one Committee for Pastoral/Finance Councils, Parish Staff, etc. in the Standard Committee tab.


To delete someone from the Committee, if it's a Chairperson or Trustee, edit  (view) their committee assignment to include an end date. Hit Save, Then from the Committee Maintenance view - click Delete to the right of their name.  

 

Edited: 8/16/2022 Pyoung for Diocese of Green Bay