According to the Code of Canon Law, each parish must have a finance council (CIC, c. 537). The parish finance council is composed of Catholic faithful who offer advice to the pastor in the administration of the parish’s temporal goods.
The finance council is a consultative body that provides the pastor with advice concerning the stewardship of the parish’s fiscal resources. It assists the pastor by:
While the finance council has significant responsibility for the stewardship of parish financial resources, it is not the role of the finance council to recommend directions, priorities, or programs other than those related to its delegation: namely, fiscal stewardship.
For this reason, the other consultative structures must be in place for the finance council to fulfill its role responsibly and effectively.