www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology How does one find stats?

Are yearly stats published for each parish? If so, where are they to be found? Are they on the internet? Are they published anually in some form? How does one gain access? If they are not, why not?

I'm looking particularly for: Numbers of baptisms and chrismations; Numbers of weddings; Numbers of adult conversions; Number of different age groups in ECF and Adult studies; Numbers of youth active in different ways; Numbers of adult baptisms or Chrismations; Number of families in the parish and how many new enrolled; Average attendance at DL; etc.

These figures distributed on an anual basis seem essential if we are serious about growth.

Additional information for a Church that takes its mission seriously might include: Amount given for missions both to the Eparchy and to/for specific mission beyond each Church; Support for pastors; How many Churches we've partnered with and for what; How many events that included RCs, other Eastern Catholics, and Orthodox. In addition a narrative of evangelization events and efforts participated in during the past year would be very helpful. This report might include: A religious survey of the area; Radio/TV/Newspaper exposure; Website development; In home Churches in which neighbors are invited which would include vespers or matins; How many house blessings have taken place with neighbors in attendance; How many in home bible studies; Efforts at starting or supporting new missions; etc.

And, if you haven't signed up yet, go to the Eparchical Evangelism event sponsored by Bishop John and sign up.

Excuse time is over. No whining about missed opportunities. It's time to grab hold of what God is offering.

Dan L

BTW If our bishops are not receiving such reports from their priests I believe it is past time that they do so. I strongly encourage our bishops to insist upon such reports from everyone of their priests. No more excuses.

It would also be helpful to know if our parishes have reinstituted matins and vespers; How many lectors, cantors, sub-deacons are active and or are in training; How many men and women are discerning vocations and who are they.

Where are these statistics and this information to be found? Must we all travel to the Chancery offices to get this information? Are we obliged to ride donkeys to get there or may we use our ox carts?

Dan L

Dan, you are assuming our church has discovered the wheel. That may be a dangerous assumption.

Charles

Charles,

I was a little afraid that I was going to get whacked for caricaturing our church in such a backward, even Dhimmi, way. I'm glad you took it in good humor and I do believe you are correct.

But where are the stats? Do we have any? If not, why not?

Dan L

BTW Someone else who posts here regularly told me a little story about our backwardness. (If he wishes to claim credit it's up to him.) He wrote that a member of the "official" (which means chit chatting about something means that we've actually done something) Evangelization committee seemed a bit hurt by his enquiries concerning the lack of action in this area. The official said "We've been preparing this for the last ten years." To which our friend replied, "I could get a lay committee together and have an entire program hammered out this evening."

I think some things are too important to be left to some clergy. Just as some other things are too important to be left to the laity. The bishop's task is to discern which is which.

Dan,

I can't speak for the Ruthenians, but the Melkite statistics are reported, but as far as I know are not online or even in an easily accessible format off line!

Fr. Deacon Edward

Father Deacon,

Are they as complete as I suggested they should be? If so and if ours are not perhaps your example might inspire some changes for us.

Dan L

The Melkites aren't afraid to show some stats, though not many. http://www.holy-cross.ca/eglisang.html

But where are ours?

Dan L

I don't know how it is done but every year the Vatican publishes an Annuario Pontificio, which is essentially a statistical book of the entire Catholic Church.

The current Annuario Pontificio is for 2004, which contains the reports as of December 31, 2003.

The facts and figures (1) might have been culled from reports directly sent to Rome by each diocese or eparchy, or (2) these are gleaned from reports of each national conference of bishops, which in turn gathers the reports from each diocese or eparchy under its territory.

Amado

There appear to be more Melkites in Brazil than in all of the Middle East.

Very sad.

Father Ron Roberson, CSP compiles an annual summary of the statistics of the Eastern Catholic Churches based upon the information in the �Annuario Pontificio�. Click here for the 2004 data. [cnewa.org]

The numbers for the Ruthenian Church do not appear to be correct. But we know that it has been awhile since a formal census has been done and the numbers are just estimates. It is my understanding that the best estimate of total numbers of Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholics in the United States is between 40,000 and 45,000. The figure most commonly used by our clergy for the members of the Pittsburgh Archeparchy is approximately 14,000 (60,000 people divided by 87 parishes means over 700 people per parish and we know that is not accurate!). My guess (and it is just a guess) is that Passaic is at about 17,000, Parma at 9,000 and Van Nuys at about 2,900. There is some question as to the validity of the data in 1990, 1995 and 2000. The precipitous drop between 1990 and 2004 is more of a gentle adjustment towards real numbers than a massive exodus from the Church.

The numbers for the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Carpathia also appear inaccurate. The number of seminarians listed in the report is given as 54, yet I know from conversations with the rector of the seminary that the number was near 120 during this past semester. The population numbers for Mukachevo are also probably estimates, as they probably don�t have the resources to do a full census.

Dan, I would not attribute the fact that this information is not posted on any of the official Church websites as someone being �afraid to show some stats�. Putting information on the internet is incredibly time-consuming, both in compiling the information and then putting it in the proper format. In a small Church like ours there is not an extensive budget or plenty of people available to support such work.

Admin

The Catholic Almanac publishes stats for RC and EC eparchies. No data on individual parishes.

Paul

Recently Bishop John estimated about 20,000 people for our entire Metropolia. Setting aside my emotional reaction to that figure it seems to me that such a general figure as that doesn't tell much, even if it is accurate.

I assume from your response that the kinds of information that I requested in my initial post simply does not exist. Am I assuming correctly? I find it a little hard to imagine that it takes much effort to compile that kind of information. I do understand why it may not have been downloaded onto a website, though from my information I don't think it really takes that much effort or person hours to download the data.

What does take some effort is to raise the bar of expectation so that Bishops ask for information that can be useful and that priests actually take the time to report it. What I asked for is about 1/5 of what was actually asked for from pastors in the Methodist Church. The few things I asked for above should be easily calculated by almost any parish priest even if he didn't have a secretary. Surely a lay volunteer could keep such records if they devoted an hour or two each week to the task.

What is needed is a raising of the bar of expectations, not impossibly high, but higher than it is now for areas that could produce growth in numbers.

Frankly, I'd rather have everyone focus most of their attention on the more spiritual matters as we have now than get too bogged down with needless reporting. Nevertheless, some reporting can bring a clarity that is lacking now and can bring great encouragement to the entire eparchy as we share signs of new life.

I plan on making this a major part of my effort at the Aug. 6 meeting.

Am I overly optimistic? Am I naive? I hope not.

Dan L

Every year in the Latin Church we are asked for stats for marriages, baptism, funerals, confirmations, first communions, attendance, etc, which are sent to the Bishop. I would presume he then in turn forward the Diocesan report to Rome.
Stephanos I

I know. It isn't that difficult. Don't get me wrong, I love our priests, but come on this is not rocket science or brain surgery.

Dan L

Regarding the numbers for the Eparchy of Van Nuys, I would confirm that the numbers are more accurate than not. Since the inception of the "Bishop's Appeal", which assigns each parish a goal to reach based on the number of registered members, the pastors have been more realistic in the numbers they report. This may account for the "drop" from 1990 (when there was no "Bishop's Appeal") to 1995 (when there was a "Bishop's Appeal").