The Spiritual Needs Survey:

Supporting Engaging Parishes,Calling People to Holiness, Together

Opening Reflection

“. . . some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit . . .” (Matthew 13)

Who or what has been good soil in your life of faith?

What has been the impact of that good soil in your life?

Engagement and Parish Life

Context for the Survey: Why do people switch the faith communities of their youth? Why the rise of the “nones” (the unaffiliated)? And how to encourage parishioners to move from “present” to “engaged”?

Previous Research (Pew and Gallup): Importance of intentional engagement for parish life:

Knowing what is expected of us as members of the parish

Feeling that our spiritual needs will be met Having the opportunity to do what we do best

The process of engagement is one of bringing people to a deep sense of belonging within their parish communities - belonging leads to faith that is lived in very particular ways in daily life.

In building engagement, parish leaders often focus on clarifying expectations and helping parishioners discover their talents. Engagement often increases following intentional action in these two foundational areas of stewardship

St. Michael’s has had great success in this!

The Spiritual Needs Survey supports parishes in moving from these foundations of engagement/stewardship to meeting people’s spiritual needs, which can be more complicated

What is meant by “engagement” ?

Engaged People:

Pray daily

Say their faith is involved in every aspect of their lives

Speak words of kindness when encouragement is needed

Are more willing to forgive others and find inner peace as a result of their faith

Are willing to take unpopular stands to defend their faith

Engagement and Spiritual Needs:Calling People to Holiness

Good Soil for Engagement and our

Call to HolinessKey Insight:

When asked who or what has been good soil, most people speak first of someone – a person or group of people - through whom the person experienced Christ’s presence and was led to an awareness of God’s love in their lives.

THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS

SURVEY

The Survey: Who is Being Surveyed?

An “International Focus Group” of 3000 – Parishes throughout United States and Canada

At St. Michael’s, Over 260 survey responders – among the highest participation and percentage participation among all parishes in the survey

The Survey: What are we trying to discover?

What are people’s spiritual needs?

Do people realize that our spiritual needs are met within the Mass and sacraments?

Where do we start? Focus: Build on what is already present and working in our parish life. What is that? How do we build on that?

The Respondents

Each respondent likely to fall into one of three categories:

1. Active members of the parish interested in spiritual growth

2. Those who attend Mass regularly enough to have an interest in the survey

3. Those among the actively disengaged who want to be sure their negative impressions have been heard

Focus of Survey: “what is contributing to the spiritual growth of those who are engaged and what is leading them to

engagement, knowing this will have lasting impact on the lives of individuals and the parish community” (L. Anslinger)

Survey’s Preliminary Conclusions

What helps you grow spiritually?

1. Participation in Mass

2. Daily prayer

3. Belonging to my parish

4. Good friends who share faith with me

Preliminary conclusion: The deeper our spiritual friendships, the more we are

likely to grow spiritually. People recognize this in their lives and experiences.

At St. Michael’s

In their answers, respondents at St. Michael’s touched on a number of ways that their spiritual needs are met, or could be deepened, through parish engagement and relationships, including:

St. Michael’s as a welcoming community (90% affirmed)

Parish Ministries/Service/Stewardship (96% affirmed)

Small Faith Sharing Groups (Particularly desired among 35-50 ages)

Bible/Faith Study (Particularly desired among those 50 and older)

Diversity of faith formation offerings/times for adults

A Possible Focus:Establishing and Sustaining Good

Friendships in our Parish

Parish Engagement:Relationships First

The deeper personal relationships that make up our lives have to be part of our experience of faith in community.

Our life of relationship with God is best, most deeply experienced, when we have someone with whom to share and grow.

In our spiritual longing, we not only yearn for a deep relationship with God who is love, in our hearts we know that we need to walk this journey of faith with others.

The Role of the Parish:Relationships and

HolinessWhat is the role of the community in fostering deep faith lived in communion with one another?:

When our need to be drawn into communion is met, we are ready to embrace holiness.

We know in our hearts that having someone with whom we may express our greatest hopes, dreams, doubts, and longings will make a great difference in our willingness to embrace Christ and to be embraced as the persons we are. This is, it seems, a person-to-person thing.

The Task

Creating a culture of holiness in the parish by helping people to form deep friendships with one another.

When we engage people we lead them to holiness, a life of faith that is lived in the daily circumstance of their lives.

Parish leaders as mentors and companions.

What benefits will there be in belonging here?

The more we make good friends at the parish, the more likely they will be engaged

The more people are engaged, the greater the culture of holiness

The more engaged the community, the more likely it will engage others

The more engaged the community, the greater the impact in people’s lives and in the

world.

Engagement: Relationships, Spiritual Life,

Parish Research points to the depth of relationship as being

key to the process of building a sense of belonging.

Do I have a best friend at my parish?

The congregation is only as strong as the relationships within it.

Build on what is working, on what is helping to engage people already

Build up those who are engaged, encourage others to parish engagement and spiritual growth through relationships

Reflection Questions for Focusing on Friendships:

In what ways do parishioners impact one another in our lives of faith? How do we help each other recognize that?

How do we draw people into deeper relationships with one another in a natural way, and include simple yet meaningful conversations with each other?

What aspects of parish life might be fertile ground for the cultivation of this holy ground?

How do we systematically (i.e. in our programs) create opportunities for such good friendships?