Click here to print this survey as a pdf file.

Saint Anthony Catholic Church
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Parish Survey

Executive Summary

Father Jerry Singleton convened the Saint Anthony Catholic Parish Stewardship Council in September 2007.  This leadership body discerns the mission of the parish and envisions ways in which the parish membership is being called by God to carry out that mission.   Its goal is to develop a mission-focused parish organization rather than a programmatic or finance-driven one. 

In December 2007, the Parish Stewardship Council requested that parishioners take part in a survey.  Those wishing to be a part of the survey were asked to complete a contact information card and to indicate their preference to complete the survey online (via e-mail) or to complete a hard-copy paper survey. The request had a very high response rate with 427 families representing approximately 40% of the parish membership expressing an interest in taking part in the survey to guide the future of Saint Anthony Catholic Parish.

The Parish Stewardship Council developed a survey based on seven elements that form the essence of parish life as presented in Revisioning the Parish Pastoral Council (Gubish, Jenny, McGannon, 2001).  They are:

Knowing the seven essential elements and understanding their interrelationship is central the functioning of the Parish Stewardship Council. The survey was posted to the parish Web site on Monday, May 12, 2008. An e-mail was sent to the 225 parishioners who had requested electronic transmission with instructions on how to access and complete the survey. A random sample of parishioners was also polled to test the functionality of the electronic version. A hard-copy paper survey was mailed to another 225 parishioners who had requested the survey in that format. The paper survey was also made available to parishioners at the Sunday Masses. Announcements also were made at all Masses and in the bulletin regarding the availability of the survey either in either format.

Response Rates

A total of 450 surveys were sent to parish families that had requested to be part of the survey. A total of 331 surveys (249 online and 82 paper) were returned. Six additional surveys were returned to the rectory after the deadline and were not included in the final analysis, although these surveys were reviewed and comments noted. These six additional surveys have no measurable impact on the final analyses of the survey items. We are unable to determine precisely the rate of return of the responses because of the wide access the survey at Masses or by going online independently. However, this total of 337 responses represents approximately 33 percent of all families currently registered in the parish.

Analyses of Item Responses

There were six possible responses to the items in the Saint Anthony Catholic Parish Survey: Strongly Agree, Agree Somewhat, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Disagree Somewhat, Strongly Disagree, and Don’t Know. Responses were grouped into two categories of agreement and disagreement. Agreement consisted of the Strongly Agree and Agree Somewhat responses. Disagreement consisted of the Strongly Disagree and Disagree Somewhat responses. This report highlights the results for items that represent a concern or an improvement. That is, items with less than 60% agreement or more than 60% disagreement are highlighted as they may show areas of concern.

Evangelization
The term “evangelization” encompasses any way that a parish continues spread the Good News of Jesus through the personal and communal sharing of faith. All members of the Catholic Church are to practice their faith with enthusiasm, to invite others to share their faith, and to transform society. Evangelization is at the heart of the call to bear witness to Christ.

Responses to the items related to Evangelization reflect areas of strength as the majority of responders agreed that newcomers are welcomed to the parish; that the public image of the parish in the community is one of hospitality, invitation, and compassion where no one is excluded; that the parish takes steps to influence the values and decisions of the larger community. An area of weakness was the response to the survey item regarding outreach efforts to those who no longer may be practicing Catholics or those who did not know of the Catholic faith. Almost 51% of responders either did not know, were neutral, or disagreed with the statement that efforts are made to reach out to the alienated, the inactive, and to the unchurched.

Worship
The spiritual life of a parish animates its mission. In the celebration of Sunday Eucharist and in other sacramental and liturgical rites, individuals gather together to manifest a communal proclamation of faith.

Respondents to the survey overwhelmingly agreed that the Sunday Eucharist is the priority in the life of the parish as well as to the statement that preaching is directly related to the scriptures and relevant to the real life experiences of the parishioners. Additionally, respondents agreed that the individuals responsible for liturgical celebrations were competent and that the Missalette and hymnal were user-friendly, though there were some comments that guests at services were not comfortable using the Missalette. Further comments concerned the wish for more familiar hymns and more participation by the congregation.

Many responders commented on the purchase of the pipe organ with most expressing that the purchase should be weighed in relationship the other needs of the parish.

The survey items addressing Worship had the most added comments and were positive in substance.

Word
Spiritual formation is an ongoing process of growth on the Christian journey. The deepening of faith results from echoing God’s word. The spreading the word takes place in many formal and informal ways within the parish: adult, youth, and children’s education and spiritual formation; the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA); sacramental preparation; family formation; renewal efforts; and Sunday homilies.

Most respondents registered positive answers to items that addressed the skill and knowledge of parish and school staff. Most respondents agreed that the need to strengthen families and marriages were being met by parish staff. Although most agreed that adequate funds, resources, staff, and space are allocated to carry out the catechetical efforts of the parish, more than 33 percent responded that they did not know.

Community
A parish is a place where everyone belongs. Community is an essential element of parish life that draws parishioners together in mutual support, activity, celebration and growth. An experience of Christian community is both a premise and a product of parish life.

Items related to Community in Saint Anthony Catholic Parish had the highest positive responses of any in the survey. Responses to the statement that Saint Anthony Catholic Parish recognizes itself as a Christian community, rather than as a purely social or civic organization had an agreement percentage of 92 percent. However, many stakeholders, 32.2 percent, did not know if the parish made efforts to provide for the special needs of those who might feel excluded from parish life. A second part asked which group the respondent felt needed more outreach efforts. Youth (31 percent) and the Elderly (15 percent) were the two groups most often cited.

Service
Jesus’ own mission was characterized from the beginning by what the Church has come to call social ministry—outreach and service to others. Three items in the survey addressed how Saint Anthony Catholic Parish fulfills this mission: The needs of parishioners, the needs of the local community, and the need for continuing instruction on how to deal with current issues.

There was strong agreement that Saint Anthony Catholic Parish ministries reach out to those parishioners in need of service (63%) and to the needs of the community and the world (68.2%). Nearly 75% of respondents indicated support of an organized program of instruction in dealing with current issues in light of Catholic social teaching.

Stewardship
Stewardship can be defined as simply as making the most responsible use of one’s gifts and resources and helping the Church’s mission. Saint Anthony Catholic Parish places a high priority on regular sacrificial giving of time, money, and personal resources of all kinds. Parish leaders exercise good stewardship by consistently reporting how all parish resources are being used.

Responses to items related to the stewardship in Saint Anthony Catholic Parish reflect areas of strength, as the majority of respondents agreed with items related to understanding the responsibility for stewardship of their gifts (69.2%) and that the facilities are appropriately maintained and adequate for the needs of the parish (83.3%).

An area of concern was expressed by respondents about the parish being overly dependent on fundraisers to support the ordinary budget with 20.5% of respondents expressing agreement with the item. As to the item asking about the resources of the parish being adequate to accomplish its mission and goals, 42.9% of respondents agreed. However, another 35.4% responded that they did not know.

Leadership
Leadership can be defined as influencing a group of people to move towards their shared goal. Effective parish councils require a shared leadership between clergy and parishioners. Though Father Singleton bears the ultimate responsibility for leadership within the parish, the talents of parishioners are sorely needed and are welcome as well. The Saint Anthony Catholic Parish Survey has four items that address leadership in the parish. These items specifically speak to the leadership role of the pastor, the leadership role of the Parish Council, the role of parish staff, the training of leaders, and the responsibilities of the leaders. Analyses of these items reveal the following findings:

Summary and Discussion

There was extraordinary response by stakeholders to the Saint Anthony Catholic Parish Survey with over a third (33%) of registered parishioners completing the survey. Overall, the respondents expressed approval of the processes and organizations within the parish. They expressed their perceptions that their input is solicited and valued. Many said that this was the first time this input had been requested and were hopeful that there would be an appropriate response to the concerns raised.

The data revealed a pressing need for better communication among all stakeholders and more transparency on parish finances. Another concern was the reliance of the parish and school on fundraisers. Review of the data and plans to address concerns should be presented to the parish by October 31, 2008.

References

Cecil A Gibb (1970). Leadership (Handbook of Social Psychology). Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

Mary Ann Gubish; Susan Jenny; Arlene McGannon (2001). Revisioning the Parish Pastoral Council. Mahwah N.J.: Paulist Press.

Henry P. Knowles; Borje O. Saxberg (1971). Personality and Leadership Behavior. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.