Parish Council
Council By-Laws
ARTICLE IV
Section I - Nominations and Elections
a) The annual election of Council members shall be performed in the following manner:
At the May meeting, the Council shall select six adult candidates and two youth candidates to be placed on the ballot for the parish election. The election will take place during the weekend Masses on the first or second week in June. In addition, the ballot must provide spaces for write-in candidates. The three adult candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall thereby be deemed elected members of the Council for a three-year term. The youth candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall thereby be deemed elected for a one-year term, and the second highest youth vote recipient shall be the alternate.
The nominating procedure shall be as follows:
Before the May Council meeting, via notices in the parish bulletin and/or announcements at weekend Masses, the parish at large will be invited to suggest candidates for adult and youth Council seats. These suggestions must be submitted to the Pastor in writing before the May meeting. The Pastor then presents all suggested names to the Council at the May meeting.
The below procedure is then used twice, first a series of votes to determine the adult candidates, then an entirely separate series of votes to determine the youth candidates.
To be eligible to be considered a candidate, an individual must be a registered member of St. Aloysius parish, and as best as can be determined, be living as a faithful, practicing Catholic who will not cause scandal or disrepute to the parish, the diocese, or the Church universal.
A currently serving elected member whose term is about to expire but who is eligible to stand for election for another term will be deemed automatically nominated if he/she is willing to stand for election again
1. In addition to the names suggested by parishioners, each Council member may nominate up to two additional candidates.
2. Once the pool of potential candidates is closed, those members of the Council present go through a series of voting rounds until six adult nominees and two youth nominees are selected for the parish ballot.
3. In each round each Council member, by secret ballot, may vote for up to three candidates from the remaining candidate pool.
4. Any candidate receiving a vote from a majority of the members voting is placed on the parish ballot.
5. Candidates receiving no votes or the least number of votes in that particular round shall have their names removed from further consideration.
6. Successive votes shall be taken until six candidates have each reached a majority.
7. In each round Council members may cast a maximum of three votes, or the number of votes as there are vacant positions remaining on the parish ballot, whichever is less.
b) No elected member of the Council shall serve more than two consecutive three-year terms. A person who has served two consecutive terms will become eligible to run again after a one-year absence. The youth representative shall serve no more than two consecutive one-year terms.
c) Officers shall be elected at each annual meeting, chosen from the nine elected members, and shall hold office until the next annual meeting and their successors shall have been duly elected. No officer shall serve more than three consecutive years.
d) All parishioners who have reached the age of 18 years shall be eligible to vote for the adult and youth Council nominees. Those 14 and over but under 18 years of age may vote for the youth representative.
e) A vacancy in one of the three offices shall be filled through election by the remaining members of the Council, and chosen from the elected members, to serve until the next annual meeting.
If one of the elected Council members is unable to complete their three-year term, the remainder of that term will be served by one of the other candidates who stood for election when that term began. The seat will be offered first to the fourth place finisher of that election. If that person is unable to assume the duties, then it will be offered to the fifth place finisher, and if that person is unable, then to the sixth-place finisher. If none of these persons is able or willing to assume these duties, another procedure will be devised at the time.
Contact Us
Saint Aloysius Parish
Main Office
40 Maple Street, New Canaan,
CT 06840
Tel. (203) 966 0020
Fax: (203) 972 7691