Avid runners often record the distances they run, their run times, and their pace so they can track their progress within a specific timeframe.
In a similar way, Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are invited once again to discern where they are in their faith journey and their engagement in their parish communities by completing the Disciple Maker Index (DMI) during the Lenten season.
The survey is a tool to assess parishioners’ attitudes, amount of participation in parish life, levels of satisfaction with pastors and parish activities, and the demographics of those responding to the survey.
In 2022 more than 30,000 Catholics responded to the survey, and the DMI is being used again as strategic processes are underway to determine how the Archdiocese has changed and grown over the past three years.
In 2022, Archbishop Nelson Pérez asked all parishes to share their priorities for missionary discipleship, according to Dan Cellucci, CEO of Catholic Leadership Institute, the organization that developed the DMI.
Cellucci explained that this year’s survey will give parishes data to see how their efforts have helped to grow missionary discipleship and how their communities have evolved.
“As we look to roll out the missionary hubs and identify best practices in the Archdiocese around missionary discipleship, this will be an important tool to help us do that,” Cellucci said, adding “this is a great time to take another snapshot of where we are (and) how far we’ve come.”
Response levels to the survey have been strong since it was released about a week ago. So far, more than 8,100 responses have been received and “we’ve been adding about 2,000 responses a day,” he said.
The DMI will be available for Catholics to complete through Holy Week either online or with paper surveys provided by each parish. All surveys are completed anonymously and must be submitted before Easter.
Surveys that are filled out online are processed immediately, but paper surveys take time for CLI staff to input the data, Cellucci explained.
“We should have all the paper surveys in by the end of April, and we usually have the results ready in May,” he said.
The results will help parishes see where they have grown in a specific aspect of parish life such as hospitality or increasing participation in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation.
“They’ll be able to see longitudinally where there’s growth or change,” Cellucci said. “They’ll now be able to identify the next set of things they should be working on.”
In addition to the dialogue sessions being held across the Archdiocese, the Disciple Maker Index will identify the “real gifts and talents and efforts that are bearing fruit throughout the Church of Philadelphia,” he said.
The survey is a “great opportunity for us individually to reflect on where God is planting seeds in my life, and what do I need right now from my parish and from the Church?” Cellucci said. “The more people who can participate, the better.”
Some 80 parishes in the archdiocese have used the tool for the third time over a number of years, refining their efforts to create pastoral plans, develop evangelization programs and strengthen community outreach.
The survey was designed by CLI in 2014 and has been in use for more than a decade, according to Cellucci.
Its use by more than 750,000 Catholics in over 3,000 parishes in 80 dioceses, he said, allows parishes to benchmark their progress over time and compare it to parishes of like size and setting throughout the United States.
Click this link to find your parish survey or fill out a paper copy available at your parish.
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