Parish Delegates Conduct Meetings Over Archdiocese Parish delegates to the Lay Congress of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and alternates have conducted meetings in practically every parish of the archdiocese to explain the purpose of the Congress, and to invite suggestions from members of each parish concerning the post-Vatican II Church in North Georgia.

The full, voting session of the Congress will be held on May 20 and 21 at the Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta, with a final session on May 22 probably at the Cathedral Center.

James Callison, of Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, is president of the Congress. He announced this week a timetable for events leading up to the Congress:

Suggestions from each parish to be mailed by April 5, concerning the preliminary reports which have been filed by the ad hoc (temporary) lay committees in the general areas of education, administration and future expansion and development. Other topics may be suggested to the Congress, according to Mr. Callison, if they represent a consensus of group thinking and discussion and are submitted through the elected delegates.

By April 19, the preliminary reports will be redrafted by the full committees (of elected delegates) on education, administration, and future development, in light of suggestions developed at the parish meetings.

On May 3, delegates will mail suggestions to the committees concerning the revised reports.

At the May 20-21-22 full Congress meeting, the final committee reports and such other suggestions as are properly submitted and reported out to the floor of the Congress, will be debated, voted upon and passed as formal recommendations by the laity to the archbishop and the clergy.

While the laity of the archdiocese are meeting in parish gatherings, at the formal Congress’ Committee meetings, and finally at the Lay Congress in May, priests and religious will also be meeting to consider their own suggestions. Pastors and their assistants have been urged to meet with their own parishioners to consider the implications of the Second Vatican Council.

The final step will be Archdiocesan Synod, to be called later, which will consider the laity’s proposals and make the ultimate decisions concerning them and the proposals of the sisters and the priests’ own committees.

Delegates, alternates, and all the laity, must be familiar with the documents of Vatican II. “Without a full understanding of those documents and their spirit,” said Mr. Callison, “we cannot properly fulfill our obligations before and at the Lay Congress.”

Several courses of study concerning the documents have already been held. Several additional sessions have now been scheduled at Ignatius House.