Online Survey - The Church's Mission to Evangelise

speak2julie

As part of an overall project on evangelisation I have been asked to survey the views of a wide cross-section of people on what the Church's mission to evangelise is calling the Irish Church to do at the present time.

Below is a link to a survey that has been prepared and I would be most grateful to you if you could take the time (less than 5 mins) to complete it. it is anonymous. Perhaps, you might also like to leave some comments on this thread as to what you believe the Church's mission to evangelise is calling the Irish Church to do at this time.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PRAFDevangelisation

PDN

The survey has a big flaw.

It allows answers from people who identify as non-Catholic - but then asks questions about attitudes to 'the Church'.

This is highly ambiguous as it is unclear as to whether that refers to the Catholic Church, or to the respondent's own church. Therefore those questions, when answered by non-Catholics, will produce a skewed set of statistics.

Perhaps the designers of the survey should have taken more time and thought it through a bit more?

speak2julie

I can ask for the survey to be updated to specifically state the Catholic Church and thanks for your feedback.

totus tuus

Done!

philologos

speak2julie wrote: »

I can ask for the survey to be updated to specifically state the Catholic Church and thanks for your feedback.

It's quite telling of the mentality that exists about non-Roman Catholics from within the RCC.

Benny_Cake

philologos wrote: »

It's quite telling of the mentality that exists about non-Roman Catholics from within the RCC.

I suspect it is more telling of the position of overwhelming dominance (in terms of numbers) that the Roman Catholic Church has traditionally held in this country and that it was an sin of omission rather than a deliberate slight against other Christians. It was a point worth making though.

megafan

& Why include Orthodox with Roman Catholic..... Would have thought Protestant religon closer to Roman Church than Orthodoxy?

totus tuus

megafan wrote: »

& Why include Orthodox with Roman Catholic..... Would have thought Protestant religon closer to Roman Church than Orthodoxy?

There are 23 churches that make up the Catholic Church, some with their own Rites, all in communion with the Holy See. I call myself a Catholic (Roman/Latin Rite)

Gumbi

Done. Didn't like some of the questions. Quite a few made assumptions and/or weren't clear.

speak2julie

Gumbi wrote: »

Done. Didn't like some of the questions. Quite a few made assumptions and/or weren't clear.

Thanks for taking the time Gumbi. I will be giving all this feedback to the task group involved.

speak2julie

totus tuus wrote: »

Done!

Thanks for taking the time Totus tuus.

megafan

But why not have a seprate box for Orthodox churches as well as Protestant as all call themselves "catholic"

Peregrinus

megafan wrote: »

& Why include Orthodox with Roman Catholic..... Would have thought Protestant religon closer to Roman Church than Orthodoxy?

No, Orthodoxy is much closer, at least so far as doctrine is concerned.

But I agree - the bracketing of Orthodox believers along with Catholics is odd. Since Orthodox believers in Ireland are so few in number, the likely result of bracketing this way will simply be to swamp whatever distinct perception they may have to offer.

A Catholic/Other Christian or Catholic/Protestant/Other Christian analysis would look like much more obvious choices.

JimiTime

Done, but like what others have said, its flawed in parts. Some of the options for example couldn't really be answered accurately by a non catholic. The sacraments question springs to mind. I believe strongly in baptism, marriage and indeed confessing my sins to God. However, when its spun as 'sacrament', then I can't say I believe in the 'sacrament' of baptism etc.

Peregrinus

JimiTime wrote: »

Done, but like what others have said, its flawed in parts. Some of the options for example couldn't really be answered accurately by a non catholic. The sacraments question springs to mind. I believe strongly in baptism, marriage and indeed confessing my sins to God. However, when its spun as 'sacrament', then I can't say I believe in the 'sacrament' of baptism etc.

Fair point.

But, actually, from the point of view of those who commissioned the survey, this confusion may not matter so much. If you’re a Protestant answering the survey, they’re probably not that concerned with whether you share a Catholic understanding of sacramentality, or with whether you have been “confirmed”, or something similar, in your own tradition. But they’ll be much more interested in your perceptions of the Catholic church, and in whether Protestants, as a group, differ from Catholics in their view of what gets in the way of their sharing the Good News.

In other words, your anwer to the question “what religion are you?” may lead them to disregard your anwers to some questions, in which case they don’t mind if the question confuses you or seem ambiguous or irrelevant to you. But it should also lead them to pay close attention to your answers to other questions, and those questions do needed to be worded in a way which will make your answers reliable and meaningful.

speak2julie

JimiTime wrote: »

Done, but like what others have said, its flawed in parts. Some of the options for example couldn't really be answered accurately by a non catholic. The sacraments question springs to mind. I believe strongly in baptism, marriage and indeed confessing my sins to God. However, when its spun as 'sacrament', then I can't say I believe in the 'sacrament' of baptism etc.

Thanks JimiTime for answering the survey and your feedback. I am personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one asking for a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today. I appreciate that the questions are not conducive to all denominations answering accurately. I'm assuming the analyses of the results will only group the Catholic responses with the sacraments and Mass questions. I think the nub of the survey is to gain insight from everyone on what helps or hinders the sharing of the Good News and what would you say to church leaders about what this is asking of us today in Ireland.

speak2julie

Peregrinus wrote: »

Fair point.

But, actually, from the point of view of those who commissioned the survey, this confusion may not matter so much. If you’re a Protestant answering the survey, they’re probably not that concerned with whether you share a Catholic understanding of sacramentality, or with whether you have been “confirmed”, or something similar, in your own tradition. But they’ll be much more interested in your perceptions of the Catholic church, and in whether Protestants, as a group, differ from Catholics in their view of what gets in the way of their sharing the Good News.

In other words, your anwer to the question “what religion are you?” may lead them to disregard your anwers to some questions, in which case they don’t mind if the question confuses you or seem ambiguous or irrelevant to you. But it should also lead them to pay close attention to your answers to other questions, and those questions do needed to be worded in a way which will make your answers reliable and meaningful.

Thanks Peregrinus. I think you put it far more eloquently than I could have.

speak2julie

Peregrinus wrote: »

No, Orthodoxy is much closer, at least so far as doctrine is concerned.

But I agree - the bracketing of Orthodox believers along with Catholics is odd. Since Orthodox believers in Ireland are so few in number, the likely result of bracketing this way will simply be to swamp whatever distinct perception they may have to offer.

A Catholic/Other Christian or Catholic/Protestant/Other Christian analysis would look like much more obvious choices.

I am personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one asking for a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today. In such a survey I think it would be only appropriate that every possible faith perspective is honoured.

I will be giving all your feedbacks to the task group and supporting a fuller/comprehensive survey.

Manach

Done - would be interesting to see the total results when completed.

Gumbi

JimiTime wrote: »

Done, but like what others have said, its flawed in parts. Some of the options for example couldn't really be answered accurately by a non catholic. The sacraments question springs to mind. I believe strongly in baptism, marriage and indeed confessing my sins to God. However, when its spun as 'sacrament', then I can't say I believe in the 'sacrament' of baptism etc.

Agreed. I think the sacramanet of baptism can certainly be meaningful - but not in a religious context.

speak2julie

Thanks Manach. There will hopefully be an evangelisation publication produced early in the New Year by the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference and the findings of this and other surveys will be available there. I will also post the results of this survey back on this thread once those who do the analysing and collation get them to me. I'd imagine it will be by the end of the month.

speak2julie

I am personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one taking a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today from all faith and non-faith perspectives.

JimiTime

speak2julie wrote: »

Thanks JimiTime for answering the survey and your feedback. I am personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one asking for a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today. I appreciate that the questions are not conducive to all denominations answering accurately. I'm assuming the analyses of the results will only group the Catholic responses with the sacraments and Mass questions. I think the nub of the survey is to gain insight from everyone on what helps or hinders the sharing of the Good News and what would you say to church leaders about what this is asking of us today in Ireland.

speak2julie wrote: »

I am personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one asking for a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today. In such a survey I think it would be only appropriate that every possible faith perspective is honoured.

I will be giving all your feedbacks to the task group and supporting a fuller/comprehensive survey.

speak2julie wrote: »

I am personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one taking a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today from all faith and non-faith perspectives.

Tell me, are you personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one taking a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today?

Sorry Julie, couldn't resist:)

speak2julie

LOL! No prob. It is because I actually "am personally hoping that this short survey preempts a more substantial one taking a comprehensive look at religious practice and belief in Ireland today"

Doc Farrell

Welcome to the forum Julie. I guess by now you realize that the views expressed here by many aren't exactly orthodox Catholic! Or even Christian actually. I hope you don't take their responses to heart.
Good luck with the survey, I filled it out.

JimiTime

Doc Farrell wrote: »

Welcome to the forum Julie. I guess by now you realize that the views expressed here by many aren't exactly orthodox Catholic! Or even Christian actually. I hope you don't take their responses to heart.
Good luck with the survey, I filled it out.

*scratches head*

endacl

Done.:-)

speak2julie

Doc Farrell wrote: »

Welcome to the forum Julie. I guess by now you realize that the views expressed here by many aren't exactly orthodox Catholic! Or even Christian actually. I hope you don't take their responses to heart.
Good luck with the survey, I filled it out.

Thanks for the welcome Doc and for filling in the survey. I'm brand new to boards and just getting to grips with how it all works. I have to say I love the concept and love that everyone gets an opportunity to express their views. I haven't sensed any aggression or received anything personally hurtful so I'm a "happy camper" right now!
Thanks again for the welcome J.

JimiTime

speak2julie wrote: »

Thanks for the welcome Doc and for filling in the survey. I'm brand new to boards and just getting to grips with how it all works. I have to say I love the concept and love that everyone gets an opportunity to express their views. I haven't sensed any aggression or received anything personally hurtful so I'm a "happy camper" right now!
Thanks again for the welcome J.

Sure you'll soon get to know us

speak2julie

JimiTime wrote: »

Sure you'll soon get to know us

Getting to know different people, voices and views. Sure it can only be good

Benny_Cake

Done!

And welcome Julie, there are all kinds of people here but all the better to get a cross-section of views.