1 St. Joseph Catholic Church Richardson, Texas 2016 Parish Survey Results SURVEY COMMENTS Category 7: Administration 1. I would appreciate the afternoon confessions that I've had at all my other churches before moving here. 2. Hard to get acknowledgement for Guild events 3. My children had to attend faith formation @ Sacred Heart 4. Need more confession times. 5. Emails to reserve facilities are often not returned. Rooms are double-booked. 6. Had to go to other church for confession 7. Nice administration 8. Seems awareness/marketing is an issue 9. It is difficult to schedule a room and you never really know whether you will actually have it when you arrive for your event. The door may be locked the room may not be set up even if you schedule a room 6-8 months in advance you may very well get bumped. And the room you actually end up with may not really be suitable for event 10. This too is improving 11. Parish staff not always friendly - act like you are a stranger. 12. Needs to be easier to schedule Baptism and weddings. Need more people to contact besides Mary Robinson. Too much for one person. 13. Why no traffic cops after Masses? Confession should be every day! 14. More availably hours for confession or dates instead of only one day 15. Depending on what is done with survey results will change / confirm my "1" rating on "Parish encourages and uses feedback". 16. Need faster feedback then trying to reserve rooms. 17. Deacons have been very helpful. Occasionally, parish staff can be difficult and overly adherent to "rules" (not precepts of Church). 18. More confession times would be nice
2 19. Confession times could be offered more. 20. Would like more times for Confession. 21. My wife had a hard time finding a Confession time that she could attend with work 22. There is a lot of conflict in scheduling the gym for practices for the school. If there is an event on Sunday, a lot of times the gym is closed on Friday for practice. 23. Need more space for Mass intentions. It takes a year ahead to be able to get a Mass for loved one. This is too long. 24. Re: parish using feedback: Have a suggestion/comment box available. There is no way to input ideas at present. 25. Takes too long to have reservation confirmed. 26. The school gets priority on the facilities, not the people paying the bills. Takes too long to get confirmation on scheduling rooms. 27. More large votive candles needed in Eucharistic chapel. 28. There should be more candles in the Eucharistic Chapel. 29. Unfortunately, still have a difficult time understanding Father 30. Saturday confession only is not enough. 31. The priests and deacons in the past are friendly and speak to only the chosen few--the same little group that if you volunteer for something never return your call 32. Many times all the rooms are booked 33. Very happy with all. 34. Wish to have more Masses that are available for special intentions. Have to reserve almost a year ahead. Thank you. 35. In the past sometimes felt it was all what pastor wanted. We will see with new pastor! 36. I assisted at 2 parish events and the music was very worldly. I hope this is corrected. 37. Too limited or restricted. 38. Have been to events at church where the music has not been what Jesus would like to listen to. Ex the father daughter dance 2 months ago and last year s summer event. Told (church staff member) some of the music was completely out of place for a church event. Why not Christian music and not secular music. 39. Response time for scheduling space at the church is sometimes delayed. 40. Priest must be able to do funerals on Saturday morning
3 41. The Confession times work for our family, but it seems like they could be expanded a little more or made more visible (Sundays?), especially during this Year of Mercy. 42. Parish facilities are difficult to schedule; use is secondary to very conservative views of those in charge. Under used facilities due to this. 43. I ve called upon the priest 2 times in all the time I ve been here. Someone was available each time for an appointment. 44. Another Confession day added 45. Need more priests for Confession 46. Sometimes difficult to schedule a room 47. I have written admin many times about those who park where they shouldn't / in handicap spaces. 48. Need additional confession times 1. An explanation of deacon duties should be shared by the deacons from the pulpit. 2. The parish should have a suggestion box to allow input from parishioners. 3. The parish council should introduce its members as well as their roles in the parish. 49. Please post information on room reservations and policies to reserve 50. Have not used some of the resources 51. We should have a suggestion box. The parish advisory council should get feedback from parishioners. 52. Maybe 1 day a week the office could be open late; staff do a great job. 53. My family loves this church 54. Confessions should be moved starting at 8am or 9am not 9:30. Thus people can go to communion at 9am Sat. Mass 55. Don t feel calling on priest day or night 56. It's very unpleasant and uncomfortable when I needed to call the Parish when I need to schedule an event or ask for something. The receptionist is not too nice with her voice and direction. 57. Impressed by Fr. Cargo's welcoming ways! Priests are all a blessing to our parish. This was not always true 58. Difficult to reserve space. 59. I wish each priests reconciliation time was posted in the bulletin. 60. Reserving parish facilities has been a problem for a long time. Heads of ministries should be able to register for events easily
4 61. Why is it still hot in the sanctuary after spending $300,000 on a new HVAC system? Why does our roof still leak after spending $200,000 to fix it? We could have left it the way it was and saved the money. 62. At times, cannot receive confirmation on facilities use 63. I am surprised that there is not a least one priest in the office at most times. 64. Don't like incense 65. What about general absolution? 66. Offer confession more days. 67. There appears to be conflicts with reserving and scheduling things here too close to one another. The cleaning crew should NOT be cleaning during events. 68. Facilities manager seems overwhelmed with demands. 69. I think there should be confession before all Masses or most Masses not just two days a week and at 2 times only. 70. Deacons and lay people are relied on too much. I have seen priests and deacons sit down while lay people distribute communion. This should never happen. 71. Usually staff is accommodating about use of facilities but my experience is very limited. 72. I think church facilities staff is so overworked that it becomes difficult for them to get back on room reservations in a timely manner 73. I love my parish. Continue the good work of the Lord. 74. Front desk secretary in parish office can be very rude. Needed a candle one time and it was a priest who helped since the staff was uncourteous and rude 75. Church facilities staff is not responsive in a timely manner. 76. We can do more. 77. We more confession schedules 78. Dislike church politics in our ministry 79. The facility is not always available for events 80. Saturday AFTERNOON is preferable for Confession. 81. The staff is excellent 82. Add another confession time 83. Establish a working schedule to avoid overlapping of weekday Mass and confessions
5 84. Very difficult to offer Mass for departed love ones - was told schedule is booked years ahead; secretary was not very sensitive to our needs-she said only one Mass is offered for only departed at a time. Too long of a backlog 85. We'll see (regarding if parish uses feedback...) 86. Difficult to reserve rooms for events 87. Priests and deacons should also participate in church social events 88. Could not get a priest or deacon to say rosary for father's funeral and was difficult to get priest for graveside service. 89. Office personnel always make me feel welcome. 90. Would like more confession times. My husband works 8 am to 7 pm M-Sat. 91. Switch weekly confession times to 6:30-7:30 p.m. 92. I believe the administration takes into account parishioner's needs 93. Hard to schedule a room for events 94. Church facilities staff can be obstinate w/ scheduling. I haven't had need to reach out to priests often, so not sure about how they make themselves available. 95. I dislike the current system of not being able to see online which rooms are available to choose from. 96. Middle of the week confessions; have not experienced facilities reservations but heard that sometimes this can be an issue due to availability of staff to open, set up etc. 97. Religious Education office should be open on Sundays to help families register. 98. Too few priest - too many parishioners. This is a big parish so it s harder to meet everyone's needs. I think we try but it s difficult. 99. Hard to get by the church in the middle of the day when the office is open; hard to get responses when trying to reserve a space 100. Would like opportunities to know priest better 101. Too formal. Needs to be more liberal. 102. More confession times are necessary! 103. Offer a speaking series of history / background of previous sermons