The final meeting of the Archdiocesan Planning Committee included an announcement that an Archdiocesan Planning Council has been formed.

Pat Chivers, communications director of the archdiocese, said the Planning Council will meet quarterly to review progress made toward the goals that were recommended by the Planning Committee and approved by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory for the long-range planning of the archdiocese.

“The Planning Council will receive reports, and Archbishop Gregory will seek the wisdom of the council,” she said.

Mike Cote, chairman of the Planning Committee, who will serve on the newly formed council, observed, “This (planning) process is an ongoing process and it does not end. Archbishop Gregory has established the Planning Council to continue to review the implementation progress on current initiatives, understand the changing needs of the archdiocese, update the strategic plan, and provide input to him.”

The length of service for members of the council has not yet been determined. The first meeting of the council is Sept. 3.

Chivers, who has also been asked to serve on the council, believes that it will work “to meet the sacramental needs as well as the changing cultural needs within the church in North Georgia.”

“The Planning Council offers Archbishop Gregory a wider perspective from a variety of views. The shared wisdom of the group is of great value to the work of the church,” she said.

In addition to Cote and Chivers, the members of the new Planning Council are: Bishop-elect Luis Zarama and Msgr. Joe Corbett, vicars general; several who served in leadership roles on the Planning Committee and its subcommittees, including Bill Hughey, Jim Judson, Valerie Landau, Paul Maggard, Monica Oppermann, Chris Reynolds and Karen Vogtner; representatives from the North Highland Group, Peter Faletti and David Deiters; and Brad Wilson, chief financial officer of the archdiocese.