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Archdiocesan development director Rod Linhares, left, and vice chancellor Robert Graffio review completed survey cards at the Pastoral Center in San Francisco Jan. 8. The surveys, available in both English and Spanish with an online option available, went out Dec. 22 and will be collected until Jan. 31. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)
Jan. 13, 2020
Christina Gray
On the fourth Sunday of Advent, Massgoers found a survey card in their pews with 11 questions from the archdiocese about household demographics, Mass attendance, parish life, spiritual practices outside of Mass and even where they think the Catholic Church falls short.
A single line at the top described the purpose of the anonymous survey: “Your input in this archdiocesan survey will help us better know and communicate with you.”
Robert Graffio, archdiocesan vice chancellor and tribunal manager, told Catholic San Francisco Jan. 8 that the survey is an “outgrowth” of the annual Sunday Mass count, which literally counts the number of men, women and children attending Mass on one Sunday in October in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Comprehensive findings of the 2019 Mass count will be presented to the presbyteral council in Feburary, but Graffio released limited figures to Catholic San Francisco along with those for the last five years for this story. October’s 2019 count of 69,538 showed a consistent downward trend over the past five years of about 4% a year. In 2015 the Mass count was 80,395.
“After doing the October Mass counts for a couple years, I thought we should try to find out more information about who is in our pews besides just counting heads,” Graffio said. “Perhaps parishes know who their people are better than what we do, but I wanted to see if we could find out more on an archdiocesan-wide basis.”
Graffio said he was initially focused on obtaining better demographic information about parish households. Archdiocese development director Rod Linhares, who eventually partnered with Graffio on the survey, convinced him of the value of gaining insight into the views of the faithful as well.
“My thought was that it would help with communications,” Linhares said. “Instead of communicating what we think people want to know, I thought we should find out.”
With the acknowledgement and input of Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and the presbyteral council, the pair developed and refined the survey to include a combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions that will yield both demographic and attitudinal information.
Information gleaned from the survey which includes an online version and was available in both English and Spanish, will be shared later in 2020 first with pastors and parish-specific information. Broader summary results and “general themes” will also be shared, said Graffio, and may be useful for planning and communication.
“I would not say my motivation was concern,” Graffio said about the need for an archdiocesan survey, acknowledging that declining Mass counts “are not a surprise.”
“It’s more about how to move forward as an organization,” he said.
Linhares agreed that the survey is “not about solving a problem but helping us be more targeted about what we do.”
Before presenting the survey concept to priests, Linhares said he thought some might take it as “a referendum on what they are not doing right.” Surprisingly, their questions primarily had to do with administration of the survey.
“We try to emphasize with the pastors that there is no mandate to work with the information,” Graffio said. “Feel free to use it as you desire.”
Graffio and Linhares said they designed the survey card to be brief. “We even timed it with a completion goal of less than six minutes,” said Linhares.
An online version of the survey was also offered for those who wanted the ability to offer longer and more comprehensive answers.
The pair is trying to “make it as easy as possible” on pastors and parishes by picking up the completed cards at local deaneries.
Graffio said that some people have taken the time to complete the card but have mailed it in along with an extra sheet of thoughts.
“They have concerns about the church but when you talk to them it comes from a point of caring,” he said. “That’s why they take so much time.”
With several weeks left before the Jan. 31 closing date, survey responses seem to be “all across the board,” said Graffio.
Some are very devout and express disappointment to the question about why certain people in their family or their friends don’t go to Mass, he said. Others really want to express their displeasure about what they don’t like about the church generally, globally, in the United States at the archdiocesan level or in their parish.
“Even though we took a long time and put in a great amount of effort with others in crafting these questions, the one I am most interested in hearing responses to and I’m disappointed in seeing is left blank, is this open-ended one,” said Graffio, pointing to question 11 on the form, which asks for additional comments.
“I am sincerely interested in hearing what people have to say,” he said. “This is not necessarily going to radically change the archdiocese, but it will help us understand better what’s going on out there in the pews and in the minds of the people in the pews.”
The online parish survey is available at: sfarchdiocese.org/parish-survey-english or sfarchdiocese.org/parish-survey-spanish. The deadline is Jan. 31.