Our Annual Parish Meeting took place last night, immediately after our 6pm Mass. I was very disappointed at the poor turnout of parishioners, especially considering we have between 650 and 700 people attending our Sunday Masses. Only about 25 people were present at the meeting.
Nevertheless in spite of this, I am very happy with the life of the parish in general. I just wish I could discover the secret of how to engage people in the activities of our parish. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to improve the situation, I would be delighted to hear from you. Please leave your comments here, anonymously if you wish.
4 comments:
It's a perennial problem. ;-)
I think, though, that if people aren't turning up to meetings, you can take it that the large majority are broadly happy with the way things are going, Fr Mícheál (I wish I could find out how to do aspirates on the keyboard!). If there was a problem, you'd have to employ bouncers.
Having meetings right after the main Mass on a Sunday sometimes works if you really need to assure yourself of support in some particular venture.
Best wishes to you all,
Fr Seán Finnegan
I know I am not alone in being disappointed not to be able to attend the Annual Parish meeting this year. I like to hear the report of the year and parish plans for the future. I have been to the previous 5 or 6 meetings and they have all been poorly attended, though this is not from lack of interest. Perhaps the timing of these needs to be considered and particularly avoid clashing with other big events such as the Going Forth. Perhaps you could publish your report of the year in the next parish magazine?
I realise that this is a bit of a late comment on this post. From the point of view of an "ordinary parishioner", even one who is an "active Catholic", I always ask myself: Why am I involved in my parish? And part of the answer I give to myself, is "not so that I can go to more meetings". The parish AGM may look like an important date in the diary, but I suspect that most key decisions and discussions take place at other points in parish life. Being a bit of a political animal, I prefer to spend my time at meetings where I feel I can make a contribution that will influence outcomes. Which is why, as it was put to me by a former parish priest, "You don't do AGM's, do you?".
Meetings are generally boring
and exclusive that's why!
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