Dear Parishioners,
Last weekend I mentioned that my cover letter did not make the mailing of the Mass Times Survey. So hearing in writing is what I mentioned from the pulpit in that regard:
Please be sure to fill out the survey, even if you do not want any change in the Mass times. The survey is also an instrument to help me see how many people want things to remain as they are. I would like to hear from everybody.
We assume that most households attend Massed together, so they would really be –for the most part– one opinion per household. But surely there are some households where one adult has a different opinion, so more than one survey might be needed. If you need an extra survey for your household, please call the parish office to have one sent.
The surveys are numbered in order to keep track of how many were sent out, and how many get returned; and to verify that we indeed sent one to each household. This reduces some of the chance for human error, or mistaken claims regarding results later on.
In the introductory paragraph of the survey, there is mention of preliminary questions regarding our parish roster. The original version of the Mass Time Survey included these questions, but they were deleted, since my Advent letter was accompanied with parish roster updating forms. Both projects paralleled each other, and the comment in the introductory paragraph of the survey was mistakenly overlooked. So please ignore that comment in the opening paragraph of the survey.
Please be aware that the survey is not to be considered an absolute voting instrument. My concern is to get a good feel for the opinion of the parish. This survey was created and administered as a response to a handful of comments on the parish survey last spring, in which a number of parishioners asked if there could be a Sunday Mass at our Payne campus. In order to make a change in the current schedule, I would want something like a two thirds majority response for one of the alternate options on the survey. I do not think it makes sense–given that we have lived pretty successfully with the current Mass schedule for over six years–to upset the current schedule based on a simple (small!) majority opinion. For example, if 200 surveys were returned in favor of the current schedule, and 210 surveys in favor of one of the alternate options, I would not make a change. The preference for change is not large enough to upset the current, successful schedule. [Again, we really want to hear from everybody on this, even those who want no change in the schedule.] Remember that the spring parish survey also contained a number of comments from people happy with the current timing of Masses.
We will collect surveys throughout January. So you have till the end of January to return the survey. You can return the survey by dropping it off at the office, by mailing it to the office, or by putting it into the collection basket on Sunday.
Thanks in advance for your participation! I truly have been considering the results of the spring parish survey; and taking a look at the Mass times is a result of such consideration.
Have a blessed week!
In cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Poggemeyer
