Parish Ministry Assessment
Is your parish meeting the needs of young families? Are you struggling with children in the Religious Education Program who are receiving little to no reinforcement at home? Are you growing as a parish that evangelizes, and welcomes families in all stages of growth? Are you prepared to become the Center of a Family’s Community Life, promoting a mentality of Domestic Church?
Use this assessment to shed light on your parish’s strengths and weaknesses in these areas and to see how you can innovate to become part of the revolution of family-centered ministry in the modern Church. Take a few minutes to step back from the busy day to day of parish operations and think about what you are doing as a parish and how you can better serve God and His Church.
CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY, INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE BEST ANSWER FOR EACH QUESTION
1. Which of the following problems affect your congregation?
a. Children in Religious Education are not brought to Mass or praying at home.
b. Many adults in the parish are poorly catechized in their faith.
c. Many families seem to “disappear” between their child(ren)’s sacramental years.
d. Poor attendance and volunteer turn out for family events.
2. What programs are in place for parents seeking Baptism?
a. Baptism Preparations classes with personal and group attention.
b. Welcome and support programs such as personal letters, gifts, or mentoring
from members of the parish community.
c. Personalized outreach and hospitality by parish organizations inviting parents
to participate in groups and activities.
d. Follow up classes or group meetings.
3. What kind of children’s activities and classes are in place at your parish?
a. Parish school and/or Early Childhood Care
b. Groups and classes for adults with childcare offerings.
c. Drop off programs, clubs and classes.
d. Activities that include the whole family: parents and their children.
4. What age groups do your parish classes and activities address?
a. Teens 14-18
b. School age children 5-13
c. Pre-School Children 3-4
d. Infants, Babies and Toddlers 0-2
5. How would you describe the volunteerism of your congregation?
a. Great . We have many successful ministries that depend on active and capable parish volunteers.
b. Very good. But it is always the same people helping.
c. I don’t know. We prefer the staff to run and execute most events.
d. Weak. We’ve had to cancel events due to lack of volunteers.
6. Describe Mass Attendance at your parish
a. Strong and Regular.
b. Pretty Good. But not representative of our registered families.
c. Inconsistent.
d. A faithful few except on Christmas and Easter.
7. What kind of evangelization efforts are in place to reach out to fallen away Catholics and the unchurched of your area?
a. Aggressive efforts like task forces, advertising, parishioner training, and outreach into the community.
b. Integrated efforts like creating local buzz for parish school and/or activities or hosting
non-denominational activities and events.
c. Hospitality efforts to welcome, include, and educated interested candidates who come to us.
d. Hmmm. We’re working on it.
8. What kind of evangelization efforts are in place to reach the lukewarm Catholics in your parish and the surrounding area?
a. Aggressive efforts like task forces, advertising, parishioner training, and outreach into the community.
b. Integrated efforts like creating local buzz for parish school and activities and designing ministries to
appeal to the less spiritually mature Catholic.
c. Educational efforts to help deepen spirituality and support conviction of faith in the congregation.
d. Hmmm. I think the Pope said something about that a few years ago.
9. Which of these statements describe your parish ministries for children under the age of 5? Choose all that apply.
a. Our ministries are designed to lead children closer to God and the Church.
b. Our ministries are designed to create social opportunities and build community.
c. Our ministries are designed to meet the needs of young families.
d. Really? UNDER the age of 5?!
10. Which statements describe your parish’s efforts in Family Life?
a. Dedicated Minister, task force or action plan.
b. Pastor and Staff seek education in this area through specialized support organizations like NAFLM.
c. Implementation of several Family Life initiatives like Catechesis of the Family, Marriage Encounter,
and programming to support connection between Family and Church Community.
d. We probably should do something about this.
11. How would you describe Parish participation at Mass, particularly concerning music?
a. Excellent.
b. Good.
c. O.K.
d. Disturbing.
12. Which of these statements describe your parish’s experience with ministry for young families?
a. With persistence, we’ve had success with most of our efforts.
b. We’ve tried some activities, but they petered out after a while.
c. We haven’t tried anything.
d. We tried but no one showed up.
13. What is your honest assessment about the faith life of MOST of your parishioners?
a. Strong and passionate.
b. Consistent and informed.
c. Lukewarm.
d. Cold.
14. Honestly, where does the parish fit in the daily life of MOST of your parishioners?
a. Most parishioners are only here on Sunday.
b. Certain groups like youth ministry and school families are very involved in regular activities.
c. Most of the parishioners probably spend most of their time outside home, work and school
at the parish or busy with parish activities.
d. Most parishioners are involved in at least one parish activity or event beyond Sunday Mass.
15. What might hold you back from implementing a program like Making Music Praying Twice?
a. Finding a teacher.
b. Financial challenges for the parish and parishioners.
c. Time.
d. Lack of conviction in issues of Family Life.
Interpreting the Results
-13 – 19 You are facing challenges in your parish and you need answers and action to move forward. Making Music Praying Twice is a prepared, ready-to-go program of the highest quality. We handle everything from teacher training to developed curriculum and materials to support and guidance in advertising and growth. You need a program of this caliber and professionalism to make an impact and compete with secular offerings for your parishioners’ attention. Your program will ultimately pay for itself while changing families at the beginning of their journey as Domestic Church. Help families connect. Build parish community. Introduce prayer into family life with the power of music. It’s time to be innovative. Join us in this new movement in Parish Family Life!
20 – 44 Your parish is making efforts to meet the mandates of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI toward evangelization, outreach, modernization and growth. Always maintaining ministry initiatives or finding the resources and will to move forward with new ideas is a challenge for your leadership and staff. Making Music Praying Twice is an opportunity for your parish to be one of the pioneers of this revolutionary movement in Parish Life that supports family, integrates faith, and recreates Parish as the center of family life!
45 – 67 You have an active and vibrant parish filled with ministry and activity. You have interested and engaged parishioners. Your parish is in an ideal position to support a Making Music Praying Twice program of its own. With your resources and gifts for innovation and action, Making Music Praying Twice can become a great activity used to deepen community for young families, a tool for helping families better integrate faith into the Domestic Church through music, and a resource which attracts new families to your community.
SCORING
1) a. -2 b. -1 c. -2 d. -1
2) a. 1 b. 1 c. 1 d. 1
3) a. 1 b. 1 c. 2 d. 3
4) a. 1 b. 1 c. 2 d. 3
5) a. 2 b. 1 c. 0 d. -1
6) a. 2 b. 1 c. 0 d. -1
7) a. 2 b. 2 c. 1 d. 0
8) a. 3 b. 3 c. 2 d. 0
9) a. 3 b. 3 c. 3 d. 0
10) a. 3 b. 1 c. 2 d. 0
11) a. 2 b. 1 c. 0 d. -1
12) a. 2 b. 0 c. 0 d. 0
13) a. 2 b. 1 c. 0 d. 0
14) a. 0 b. 1 c. 3 d. 2
15) a. 0 b. -1 c. -1 d. -2
