Year of Faith - Did it help increase numbers in your parish?

Well it does to the people who post here... dispassionate and reasoned debate, with a good deal of humour thrown in for good measure.

Moderators: Dom Perignon, Casimir

Keraulophon
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:22 pm
Parish / Diocese: Southwark - Kent

Re: Year of Faith - Did it help increase numbers in your par

Post by Keraulophon »

It may be prudent not to deduce too much from the statistics printed in diocesan Yearbooks. I was told by a previous pp that he reported the attendance figure at below (I think) 500 to avoid being asked for higher contributions to various diocesan funds. Whether true or not, priests may well fear that the Finance Office will decide to use such a criterion to determine some amounts demanded - and/or to question the parish's per capita rate of contributing to collections.
JW
Posts: 852
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:46 am
Location: Kent

Re: Year of Faith - Did it help increase numbers in your par

Post by JW »

Keraulophon wrote:It may be prudent not to deduce too much from the statistics printed in diocesan Yearbooks. I was told by a previous pp that he reported the attendance figure at below (I think) 500 to avoid being asked for higher contributions to various diocesan funds. Whether true or not, priests may well fear that the Finance Office will decide to use such a criterion to determine some amounts demanded - and/or to question the parish's per capita rate of contributing to collections.


I couldn't agree more. I understand that the opposite also happens: that figures can be over-estimated, for example, so that a parish can keep it's curate, or just to show that the parish priest is successful. Where a number varies from one year to the next one has to look for the reason rather than take it at face value. I suppose it's even possible for parishes with similar names to get entered incorrectly. The organisation "British Religion in Numbers (BRIN)" has some interesting things to say on the quality of Catholic statistics, see for example this article: http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2014/roman-catholic-and-other-statistics/
JW
Post Reply