Led By the Spirit

A New Way to Share Your Thoughts about the Future

In an effort to listen to the hopes and dreams of parishioners in the Diocese of Trenton, the Office of Pastoral Planning introduced a new feature to the diocesan webpage in January. By clicking on the "Led by the Spirit" logo, people were able to complete a short questionnaire about the challenges that face the Church and what they would like the diocese to focus its energy and resources on over the next decade. Those without internet access were invited to reply by mail to the same questions which appeared in the Monitor and in parish bulletins around the diocese. The initiative will continue with new questions posted each month.

The responses illustrate the willingness of the people of the Diocese to take a hard look at the present conditions and make some clear choices to better serve the mission of Jesus Christ now and into the future. While some age groups are underrepresented in the January survey, it is hoped that the number and age range of respondents will build with each new set of questions.

The Challenges

Some of the challenges named by parishioners included meeting the needs of youth, young adults, and young families, educating our children in faith, in the midst of a growing anti-religious society, and rekindling the faith of nominal and inactive Catholics. There were concerns expressed about the decreasing numbers of Catholics attending Mass, about the declining number of priests and religious, and about the loss of trust in Catholic leaders that has resulted from sexual abuse and financial scandals.

Naming What Is Important

More than 60% of respondents want the Church to devote energy and resources to connect youth and young adults with Christ and with the parish community. "It is a challenge to attract young Catholics (college age, recently married, young families) to attend Mass and get involved in working for the Church," one person wrote. "We need to find a way to be more inviting to this age group and finding programs that will draw them into parish life." Another was just as direct, "Focus on the retention of the younger generation after graduation from grade school, high school, and college as parishioners of their local parishes." Many of those who answered the survey echoed this sentiment.

Helping Catholics of all ages to grow in faith and helping Catholics to live their faith more actively were also named as important by more than half of those surveyed. "We must educate our youth-attendees of both Catholic and public schools," wrote one parishioner. "One of the greatest challenges is feeding the spiritual needs of the adults in the Church," wrote another. Over and over again respondents name "reaching out to inactive Catholics" and "energizing the Catholic population for participation and service" as places where energy and resources should be dedicated.

The majority of respondents also indicated that ensuring quality pastoral leadership (priest, deacons, and lay persons) for our parishes needs to be among the top priorities. Focusing on vocations, taking care to put the "right person in the right place," and building collaboration between clergy and laity all surfaced with regularity.

Parishioners clearly want a church that is up to the task of caring for the poor, standing against the influence of the media/consumer culture, and speaking in support of life from the pulpit and in the world. They place a high value on the faithful celebration of the liturgy, "good, solid preaching," and the transmission of correct doctrine.

In addition to these most widely cited priorities, respondents acknowledged the need to welcome and meet the needs of many people of different language and culture groups. They want support for Catholic schools, a commitment to the use of media, efforts to address addiction and mental health, and dialogues with other faith.