Parish Survey Update

Many thanks to all parishioners who completed the Parish Survey.  The data and report have been received from the Christian Research Association.

Responses were received from over 500 people, many of whom provided additional feedback in response to the free text question at the end.  Over 150 people offered to be contacted to participate in subsequent focus groups.  We are immensely grateful to everyone for taking the time to provide your thoughts on what our parish can be doing locally to meet your needs.   The overwhelming response across all of our parishes in relation to the question on what should be the MAIN mission of the parish was that people are seeking to create a sense of community among those who share the same faith.

Some members of the Parishes’ Leadership Teams will be meeting next week to commence a detailed review of the report’s contents.  We will be seeking to define what actions our parishioners are asking us to take, to build the foundations for strong local parishes for the future.  The outcomes from next week’s meeting will then be discussed further in our monthly Parish Council meetings to identify impacts on our strategic plans and our budgets.  A report will be made available to all parishioners after all the Parish Leadership groups have had their monthly meetings.

In addition to completing the Parish Survey in September this year, we asked people if they would be willing to participate in a focus group to provide more detailed feedback on how best to build a local parish for the future.  As mentioned above we received over 150 volunteers which was fantastic.  The Christian Research Association will now facilitate three focus groups for us and provide another detailed report on what is shared in those sessions.

After analysing the responses received in the survey, the three groups that we are wanting to hear more from are youth, parents of children receiving sacraments, and adults who are infrequent Mass attendees.  We are hoping to hold the focus group sessions in late November and to receive the report by mid December.  In that way, the report can be used, with the analysis of the survey responses, to assist our annual strategy planning which is normally undertaken in February.

Thanks again to all the survey participants who offered to be part of a focus group.  Some of you will be hearing from us shortly in relation to the next steps in relation to those focus group meetings.

Liz Tehan

Project Leader, Parish Survey