parish mission

Parish Mission

Research to make a difference to your work

Aims

• To draw together themes from previous modules

• To apply these themes to the work you do in Parishes

• To construct and conduct a research project (e.g. a survey) which demonstrates the student’s understanding of principles and their practical outworking in Parish life.

Learning Outcomes

• Clarity of purpose and expectations of your Parish work

• Measure how far these are achieved• Understand different research methods and

how to use them• Produce, analyse and interpret data from your

parish in the light of learning over past year

What do you mean by Mission?

What do you mean by Parish?

How is what I do Mission?

Parish as Territory

• Rooted in Place and History

Culture(s)DemographyNeedsPossibilities

• Balance of prioritiesPastoral CarePrimary EvangelisationNew Evangelisation(Cf GDC 58)

Parish as Territory

• CIC 102, 518: Territory in which people live

(NB Pre Vatican II juridical emphasis of Parish purely territorial)

• Still typical emphasis of CoE

Implications for parish Mission:

How do we serve this territory and all the people who live within it?

• What do we do for those outside or on the fringe of believing and belonging?

• How is what we do experienced/perceived by those outside or on the fringe of believing and belonging?

• Engagement with context, collaboration with partners (Ecumenical, Inter-faith, secular)

Parish as Portion of People of God

• CIC 515: Community of Christ’s faithful

• (Cf CIC 369 Diocese as ‘portion of people of

God’)

Emphasis on sacramentally initiated community

Implications for Mission:• Constructed of people who

choose to be part of Parish• Primarily care for regular

and occasional worshippers

• Witness to surroundings: Openness to allow others in

• Equipping insiders to engage in world.

Mission

Sending:

Sending of Divine Son and Holy Spirit

Sending of the Church

Mission

‘Evangelising mission of the Church’

Evangelisation Evangelism

Usual language for Catholics Usual language for Churches of the Reformation

The bringing of the Good News to all that is human, which includes but is not limited to making new Christians

Primarily verbal proclamation with aim of making new Christians

Mission In the Church's evangelizing activity there are of course certain elements and aspects to be specially insisted on. Some of them are so important that there will be a tendency simply to identify them with evangelization. Thus it has been possible to define evangelization in terms of proclaiming Christ to those who do not know Him, of preaching, of catechesis, of conferring Baptism and the other sacraments.Any partial and fragmentary definition which attempts to render the reality of evangelization in all its richness, complexity and dynamism does so only at the risk of impoverishing it and even of distorting it....For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new.

EN 17,18

Mission

• To live, share and celebrate the Good News of Jesus

Proclamation Missio Dei Transformation

Cf Constants in Context

Mission

Missionary activity is nothing other and nothing less than the manifestation or epiphany of God's plan and its fulfilment in the world and in history; in this history God, by means of missions, clearly accomplishes the history of salvation.”What paths does the Church follow in order to achieve this goal?Mission is a single but complex reality, and it develops in a variety of ways. Among these ways, some have particular importance in the present situation of the Church and the world.

RM 41

Mission is a single but complex reality

Mission• Witness

Life of missionary, families, communitiesConcern for people, charity to the poor

• Initial Proclamation of Christ the Saviour• Conversion and Baptism• Forming Local Churches• Incarnating the Gospel in cultures• Dialogue with brothers and sisters of

other faiths• Promoting Development

Forming Consciences

• Works of CharityRM 42-60

The What of Mission

– Witness and proclamation– Catechesis and formation– Liturgy, prayer and

contemplation– Justice, peace and the

integrity of creation– Interreligious and secular

dialogue– Inculturation– Reconciliation

The How of Mission

• Spirituality of MissionSpirituality OF x Spirituality FOR

Dialogue:– Discovering how the Reign of God

is already present

Prophecy– Discovering how the Reign of God

is Not Yet Present

• The Practice of Mission• Table Fellowship as Goal of

Mission in its fullness– Daily Life, Eucharist, World

What is your mission?

• What do you aim to do for the evangelising mission of the Church through the work you do?

• Write a concise (max three sentence)

“Mission Statement” for your own ministry

Research Methods

• More from Dr Birute Brilute next week

Quantitative Qualitative

Research Methods

Statistical analysis


Numbers (Quantity)

Measurable/Empirical

Closed Questions

The stuff you can put in a graph

Research Methods


Numbers (Quantity) Words, images, ideas

Measurable/Empirical Stories, thoughts, feelings

Closed Questions Open Questions

The stuff you can put in a graph

The things you can best describe in an essay

Statistical analysisDiscovery, explanation, directions

• How many RCIA candidates did you have in 2010?

• Why was RCIA good this year?

Most worthwhile research has elements of both Qualitative and Quantitative

Typical Research process

1. Awareness of area that needs study

2. Possession of some initial questions

3. Review of what is already out there in the field

4. Prepare survey/questionnaire– Draft– Pilot

5. Introductory letter (Ethics and legalities)

6. Roll out survey/questionnaire

7. Analyse results8. Qualitative reflection

Some examples of Mission Research

• Analysis of Mission Trends(Literature Review)

• Questionnaire:– 1,200 Parishioners (5,000

distributed)– 450 Parish Priests (1,250

distributed)– 60 Bishops and Diocesan

Officers and Staff

• Interviews and ‘lenses’• Recommendations


• PAK undertook audit– Produced Questionnaire– Information entered into

Database– Face to face interview

with Each Dean– Examined Demographic

Data from ODPM and Local Government

– Wrote report

Audit Questionnaire

• Mix of closed and open questions

• Mostly numbers which could be fed into spreadsheets

• Bare numbers cannot tell whole story, needed to hear people’s stories and feelings

Have a look yourself.Quickly fill in Section 5 about

your own Parish as best you can.

Audit Questionnaire

• What sort of questions were being asked?

• What sort of information would the answers give?

• Why ask these things?• Who can use the results?


• Time frame too ambitious

• Too many ‘stakeholders’ wanting too many questions

• Lack of focus• Not enough action in

consequence


• No Questionnaire!• Completely Qualitative!• Gathered people for

colloquium‘Talking Together’Listening to storiesCritical FriendMirroring back and

signposting

• Diversity and Vitality


1. Commission from Edinburgh 2010 Study Process

2. Discussion by ecumenical research team

3. Web analysis4. Questionnaire and

analysis5. Interviews with sample of

those who filled in the questionnaire


1. Survey Introduction– Page 1 and 2 of

questions

2. Interview – Letter to interviewees– Focussed questions for

interviewer

What do you want from your research?

• What context/situation needs examining?

• What is the background in existing thinking (literature review etc.)

• What information do you want to find out?

• What learning are you seeking?

• What questions do you need to ask?

• How do you need to ask them?

BibliographyStephen B. Bevans Constants in Context: A Theology of

Mission for Today (Orbis Maryknoll 2004)Roger P. Schroeder What is the Mission of the Church: A

guide for Catholics? (Orbis Maryknoll, 2008)Philip Knights and Andrea Murray Evangelisation in

England and Wales (Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales , 2002)

Philip Knights Changing Evangelisation: Themes and Stories from Catholics in local Mission (CTBI, London, 2007

Anne Richards et al Foundations for Mission (CTBI, London 2010)

parish mission

Spiritual

goal of mission

missionevangelising

parish life

parish workmeasure

parish missionresearch

sentence mission statement

juridical emphasis of

worthwhile research