The timely and practical book traces the parish pastoral council back to the Decree on Bishops (no. 27). It concedes that the decree recommended pastoral councils only at the diocesan level. They were permitted at the parish level in 1973, however, and written into law in 1983. Subsequent Vatican documents have confirmed this "pastoral" ideal--namely, that the pastoral council serves the pastor's apostolate by helping him plan for the parish's future...