Archdiocese Of Detroit Surveys Local Catholics For First Time In 15 Years
DETROIT (WWJ) - For the first time in nearly two decades, the Archdiocese of Detroit is asking local Catholics about parish life and issues facing the church.
Joe Kohn, Director of Public Relations for the Archdiocese of Detroit, said the survey is part of their "Together in Faith" planning process.
"Basically, we're asking all members of the Catholic faithful to give us some feedback," Kohn told WWJ's Roberta Jasina. "This survey helps gauge the perceptions of the people who make up our churches."
Click here to see the survey (.pdf format)
Kohn said the survey's primary focus is on the church's "mission priorities."
"The most important thing that we're gleaning from this survey is what do the catholic faithful care about the most and how do they think we can further hone our efforts to grow the church in the future," he said.
Kohn also said the survey sticks to the basics and avoids controversial topics.
"We have questions about church attendance, questions about parish life, questions about Christian service, catholic schools, evangelization, you know, we're not touching on what you might consider hot button topics. The people who are taking this survey, for the most part, are Catholics that belong to the church. We're not putting up for vote how popular church teachings are," he said.
The survey will help paint a picture about what is going on at each individual parish.
"It helps us get a sense of who's coming to church and what they care about. This gives us a chance to figure out where we need to go in the future in terms of figuring out how to fulfill our primary mission which is to share Christ in southeast Michigan," Kohn said.
All adult family members are encouraged to take the survey, which has to be filled out by Nov. 10. Interested parties can also complete the survey online at www.aod.org.
"If you don't know where you are, it's hard to know where you're going and how to get there. We have a mission here, we have to do more to evangelize and share Christ. This survey helps us gauge where we're at so we can do that better in the future," Kohn said.
The last time the Archdiocese of Detroit surveyed parishioners was in 1998.
