Dear Friends,
I am away from the parish for a week guiding the pre-ordination retreat for the men who are going to be ordained deacons for the Archdiocese of Omaha this spring. The retreat is taking place at the Broom Tree Retreat Center in South Dakota. Please say a prayer for me and for the men. We will do the same for you.
I want to thank all of you who participated in the survey we did a couple of weeks ago. We are just beginning to work through your responses. Your responses will guide us as we create the next steps in creating a “clear path” to form disciples at Cabrini. Here is a bit of the info that has surfaced thus far in the data.
Three hundred and nine parishioners participated in the survey. We were delighted to have that number given the size of our parish. Almost fifty percent of the people who responded were boomers and almost fifty percent were a combination of Millennials and Gen Xers. Women made up fifty-nine percent of those who responded. Of those who responded, just over sixty percent had participated in Alpha at Cabrini and that same number are presently participating in a Cabrini Community. Ninety percent of those who participated feel always cared for or usually cared for by those around them. Eighty-seven percent of parishioners feel satisfied with their everyday life. Less than five percent always or usually feel lonely while most parishioners only rarely or sometimes feel lonely. Those same percentages hold true for parishioner’s experience of sadness.
The responses of our parishioners to those questions certainly reflect what is seen nationally for Christians who are active in their churches. Studies have shown that people who are active in their local church have a more positive outlook on life and experience less sadness and loneliness. In a recent Barna study, “data showed that half of U.S. 18–35-year-olds (49%) expressed anxiety over important decisions and were afraid to fail. Over three in ten said they often felt sad or depressed (39%) or lonely and isolated from others (34%).” According to the research by Barna, individuals who regularly attend church tend to report experiencing less sadness, with studies showing that churchgoers often feel more encouraged, inspired, and connected, leading to a positive impact on their emotional well-being compared to those who do not attend church regularly. Our survey certainly reflects the pattern of less loneliness and sadness among those who are engaged in their church.
While your responses show active engagement in the parish and an overall feeling of well-being in your life, an area of future growth for us comes in being discipled by others and discipling others. Eighty percent of you said that you had a spiritual mentor or that you were being discipled by someone. However, more than seventy-five percent of you said that you were not mentoring or discipling others. You are receiving guidance along your spiritual path by someone, but you do not feel comfortable offering that same spiritual guidance to someone else. Or, maybe you are doing this for others, but do not see yourself as a spiritual mentor or guide.
This perception is crucial for those of us in leadership at the parish to be aware of as we formulate the next steps along the path of discipleship. We need to do a better job of describing those next steps, because more than half of you said your next steps for spiritual growth at Cabrini were not clear to you.
Stay tuned. I will share more with you as we mine the data.
Peace,
Fr. Damian