London parish response to Synod

One central London parish - The Holy Apostles in Pimlico, Westminster - has responded to Pope Francis' call for the laity to take part in the Synod, by inviting parishioners to take part in a questionnaire.

The results are in now and will be the subject for parish group discussions in the coming weeks.

Parish priest Canon Pat Browne speaks about the results in his message to parishioners with this Sunday's newsletter.

Fr Pat writes:

Some months ago we put out a questionnaire to all parishioners inviting you to tell us what you think as members of the church and parish. This was how we chose here in The Holy Apostles to take part in the Synodal process and consultation of the Laity Pope Francis has asked every parish in the world to do. We asked people in our parish to fill in a questionnaire.

We put 44 questions to you, and we had a total of 193 responses, of which 177 were filled in online and 16 offline. We made it clear that the questionnaire was not an exam. It is an attempt to listen to the people of the parish, to know where they are at and to know what they think. It was completely anonymous. No questions were mandatory, and so not all questions have the same response rate. People were entirely free to share as much or as little as they wanted. Of those who took part 67.5% were female, 32.5% were male. Three people said they were homosexual. The rest were heterosexual. 28% of those who answered were between 50 and 65 years old; 31% were over 65; 24% between 30 and 50. The rest were under 30.

The questionnaire has two functions: to help prepare the parish to be more synodal, and to enable the parish to contribute to the synodal process, by identifying those issues and areas where people want to be heard or feel they are not being heard. But above all, to try and discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to us all as a church in this particular time in history.

To the question if the synodal process could be effective and is worthwhile doing, 94% answered positively. So the people who responded took the questionnaire seriously and see it as a source for dialogue and progress. Of those who responded 89% regarded themselves as practicing Catholics.

Over 74% prayed at least once a day (this is 135 people out of 154 who answered this question).

We also asked questions where the respondents were invited to write down in their own words answers to questions such as "Describe in a few words who the Holy Spirit is..." Q.7 or "In my parish there needs to be an opportunity to..."Q.17

Whilst it is hard to collate these answers for the purpose of this report, it has given me as your parish priest a beautiful insight into the Faith of those who responded. It also gives me a myriad of rich, fertile soil for topics to preach about and discuss in the future. So on a personal level, it has been an immensely worthwhile process to involve the parish in Pope Francis' Synodal efforts. This week I have sent a copy of what you have said to the Diocese.

The report is available in paper form at the back of the church and online on our parish website. Please read it. There are some very interesting answers and observations.

See the survey questions and answers in the link below:

www.holyapostlespimlico.org/index.php/2022/02/12/questionnaire-results-2022/