PARISH SURVEY REPORT, PART I

Greetings and thanks from the Pastoral Council to all parishioners who participated in our parish survey! We had a great response rate-over 320 surveys were filled out. Here's a brief summary of some of the results, with more to come over the next couple of weeks.

· We are a parish of both long-time Bay Area residents and newcomers. Over 20 percent of respondents have been Bay Area residents since the 1960's or earlier; on the flip side, almost 48 percent of our parish have moved to the area in the 1990's and 2000's.

· Most of our parishioners have started coming to Our Lady of Lourdes recently. Only about 16 percent of respondents have been coming to Lourdes since the 1980's or earlier, and almost 47 percent of respondents have become parishioners in the last four years.

· Sunday at 11:00 is the most popular Mass, attended by 44 percent of respondents, followed by Sunday at 9:00 (38 percent) and the Saturday vigil (13 percent).

· We are a young parish overall, but have a diverse age range among our parishioners. Almost 58 percent of respondents are under 50. The two largest age ranges are 51-60 and 32-40 (23 percent each). But we have a significant contingent of parishioners over 70, which total 11 percent.

· Most of our parish is single (almost 60 percent), and two-thirds of respondents are female.

· Lourdes is doing an excellent job of providing spiritual enrichment; almost 99 percent of respondents said that Lourdes enhanced their spiritual lives.

· The sense of welcome and the powerful liturgies draw people to Lourdes. The five reasons for coming to Lourdes that respondents named most often are: 1. "I feel welcome" 2. "I like the liturgies" 3. "It's close to where I live" 4. "I like the people" 5. "It inspires me."

· Parishioners are thirsting for additional ways to come together as a community. A bare majority (52 percent) agreed with the statement "Our Lady of Lourdes enhances my social life." And the most popular activity that respondents would like to see added is an annual parish picnic; "personal welcome to newcomers" was fourth on the list.

· Respondents indicated a strong interest in learning more about and strengthening their faith. The second-most requested additional activity was Bible study, and the second-most requested additional ministry was adult faith/spiritual formation.

· Respondents are very interested in seeing new ministries formed around specific social issues. The most popular among the new ministries that respondents expressed interest in was Peace and Justice; significant numbers of respondents also expressed interest in ministries focusing on homelessness, Catholic social teaching, and AIDS.

· Parishioners would like to see ministries focusing on families and children. Young children, older children and youth, and young families were among the ministries that garnered a good deal of interest from respondents.

Your Pastoral Council will incorporate these survey results in our planning as we craft our goals for the next few years. We'll need your help to make that plan a reality and put all of these great ideas into action! Keep an eye on the bulletin for more information from the survey as it is compiled.