Parish Development Strategy Survey
Some strong views expressed from the congregation about the quality and tone of the questions in the parish development tool questionnaire.
"I wasn’t impressed with ‘high tone‘ of questions in the Parish Development Tool leaflet. I couldn’t see how I could air my views. Too much ‘telling us what to do’ and too few uplifting services. Nothing to bring the young back and inspire children to stay, The Catholic Church is going backwards!"
"The Parish Development Tool questionnaire had all the appeal of an A-level test paper. When will they learn to speak in meaningful language we can all understand? Will be interested to know the response. In plain English."
"Our young people are not encouraged to attend Mass, which is the main problem. Whole generations have dropped out and mostly it is parents and the need of more religious instruction to blame for this."
The Parish Council will respond after Easter once the intensity of Holy Week has ended. It has been mentioned that the parish newsletter is for news items, not for points of debate - our Parish Council meetings are the place to bring things up to discuss such views. However, had these views not been shared, the next SSPAM Parish Council meeting doesn't take place until AFTER the submission to the Archdiocese so the communication of these concerns is apt and timely before the submission date itself. The Parish Council (SSPAM), will be holding its AGM after mass on Sunday 12th April and the monthly meeting for April, the following evening at 7:30 p.m. If you wish to discuss any of these issues, please attend one or both of these meetings.
The views expressed above, have been included in our submission to the Archdiocese. Hopefully, these views, and others like them, will be considered and taken seriously and we look forward to real solutions being proposed or adopted as the Archdiocese journey becomes clearer.
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Parish Development Strategy
As we move into 2026, the Archdiocese continues its development and implementation of the Pastoral Plan created during Synod 2020. It has taken some time to start to come to fruition, but there are primarily two tracks of activity which require all of our input. The two tracks focus on pastoral issues and business itself. Business might seem like a strange term to use when talking about the forward journey of our future church, but it is as important as the discussions on more clergy, young people, attracting more people to the faith and trust in God's guidance.
The business aspects must focus on resources, shared services, consolidation and cost, to ensure that our Archdiocese can meet the demands of our faithful, and secure our Diocese, into the future.
We invite you to read / download the information below to get an idea of what we are being asked to do and the aspects of which we are asked to provide our opinion.
Please read and digest. More information will be made available during the coming weeks about which we need your input. We will keep you regularly updated on how you, our parish and our whole community can be actively involved.
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