PARISH CENSUS 2019

PARISH CENSUS 2019

Do I Really Belong?

One of the most common statements I hear from people when I first meet them around our parish or in the broader community is: “I actually belong to your parish”. What I have come to understand over the years is, there is a difference between “belonging to the parish” and “living within the parish boundaries”. When I think about it, this last group doesn’t actually ‘belong’ to the parish, but might need to use it at some time in the future for a baptism, wedding or funeral. I suppose it’s just a sign of how people’s view of parish life has changed over the years, as well as an indication that people belong to a vast range of clubs, groups or social networks that don’t always allow sufficient time for involvement in Church on a weekend. An attitude of “We’ll find you when we need you” is a common attitude.

 Of course, this makes it very difficult for pastors in a parish to know who does belong and who is passing through. In the ‘olden days’ of Catholic parish life, nearly every family who attended Mass regularly was known to the priest and was involved in some way with the ministerial or pastoral life of the community. Given the substantial decrease in priest numbers over the past   10 years, there is now some concern as to how we will be able to provide pastoral care and services to this large and relatively unknown group who are nominal Catholics, unknown to us until they need us. (Of the 90 funerals and 170 baptisms celebrated this year, only a small number were known to the parish.) It is a case of how we will be able to supply services when the possible demands are unknown.

To this end, I have decided to instigate a parish registration program, beginning with a Parish Census to be conducted over the next two weekends at all weekend Masses. Via this registration program, we can at least start with the people who wish to acknowledge Surfers Paradise Parish as their principal faith community. This will allow us initially to know who our “parishioners” are, and hopefully give the parish leadership some idea of how we might best provide a range of programs, liturgies and sacramental services into the future. Secondly, this registration will allow us to communicate with our parishioners through more effective use of emails and newsletters to keep people informed of events, timetables and on rare occasions, cancellations. The days of simply staying in contact by phone or the parish newsletter have become limited and we do want to stay in touch to share good news and the occasional sadness that allow people to stay connected to their faith community.

The information collated through the Census is only for parish use and will be treated with the strictest confidence. I can assure you, we simply want to get a clearer idea of who belongs to our parish and who is prepared to put their name to that belonging; who wishes to be part of the community or who simply wishes to need us when the occasion arises. This is just the first in a few steps towards a more effective way of using our limited resources to stay connected to a large group of faithful people, a group who are proud to be known as “parishioners who belong”. 

Fr Peter Dillon PP

TO FILL OUT A CENSUS FORM PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK:

https://fs19.formsite.com/paulkelly/qkg9cqi3ka/index.html?1574311743665